Legal framework

If a Sandwich PhD student will obtain their PhD degree from the University of Groningen (UG), in many cases it is necessary to sign a Double or Joint Degree agreement with the international partner. The Graduate School aims to limit bureaucracy, while at the same time honoring partner and UG regulations. Important: there is no international consensus on definitions and the differences between the two. In general:

1. The Double PhD degree (DD): an individual agreement for the enrollment of a the student in many cases is a requirement set by the international partner. Technically, it is possible to speak of a Double Degree if a co-supervised PhD trajectory leads to two institutions issuing a PhD degree. The DD agreement does help to lay down important aspects of how implementation will work in practice. An agreement in any case will need to be signed if the international co-supervision should be mentioned on the UG degree certificate.
2. The Joint PhD degree (JD): an individual agreement for the enrollment of the student is a strict requirement set by UG. UG can only award a JD (one certificate issued by both institutions jointly, or two degree certificates that refer to one another and which are not valid without the other) if there is a full integration of supervisory, assessment and examination committees. "Joint" in the UG definition implies a greater integration of the different elements of a PhD trajectory at both Partners. It is a hard requirement that  a representative of the one Partner, will be a member of assessment and examination committees at the other, and vice versa.

In practice, a DD trajectory can have many elements of a JD. This is linked to the various interpretations of both concepts internationally. The PhD system in The Netherlands allows for both. This provides ample opportunity to tailor ourselves to Partner needs, while of course honoring UG requirements for degree award.

Finally, it is also possible that a Sandwich PhD student is not enrolled in a doctoral degree program at another institution, they will then receive a single UG degree at the end of the Sandwich PhD trajectory. An agreement is then not necessary.

With our international Strategic Partners we have aimed to develop templates that facilitate the enrollment of individual candidates, but also with other international institutions templates may already exist (because of existing collaborations at UMCG or other UG faculties). It is the specific aim of the Graduate School to:

• Assist PhD supervisors in fulfilling any bureaucratic requirements that may apply in entering into a Double or Joint Degree collaboration
• Register all DD and JD structures at the GSMS, regardless of whether an agreement is necessary, to be able to assist supervisors as best as possible and build a database of international Sandwich PhD collaborations for future policy design

Important

• All DD/JD contracts need to be handled by the legal department of UG, not the UMCG, because the awarding of (doctoral) degrees is the legal authority of UG
• Take into account that negotiations for the establishment of a double or joint degree agreements may take several months and that the reasons for this generally lie beyond the control of the Graduate School

How do I request assistance?

We request that supervisors fill out the template form "Legal support JD_DD" available for download below and submit this to the Graduate School.