During their enrollment in a program, students may request the following types of leave:

Leave for temporary incapacity, childbirth, adoption, guardianship for adoption purposes, foster care, pregnancy risk, breastfeeding risk, gender-based violence, or any other situation contemplated in the current regulations

These situations will pause the time limit for the duration of doctoral studies. The obligation to renew enrollment will be suspended throughout the entire leave period, and upon returning, the process will follow the enrollment regulations. Therefore, in these cases, academic years in which the student is not enrolled will not count towards the total duration of the program.

• P04 - Temporary incapacity leave request and other cases provided for in the regulations

Temporary leave

• ADMITTED BEFORE THE 2023/24 ACADEMIC YEAR: Doctoral students may request temporary leave from the program for a maximum period of one year, extendable by one additional year, for justified reasons.
• ADMITTED FROM THE 2023/24 ACADEMIC YEAR ONWARD: Doctoral students may request temporary leave from the program for up to a total of two years.

The request must be addressed and justified before the academic committee responsible for the program, which will decide whether to grant the request: P03 - Temporary leave request

Effects of authorized leave (TEMPORARY LEAVE for personal reasons, LEAVE FOR TEMPORARY INCAPACITY, or other situations provided for in the current regulations):

•  During the authorized leave period, the student is exempt from renewing their annual academic supervision enrollment, conducting the annual review of their research plan and doctoral activity document, and, where applicable, requesting an extension. All these obligations will become mandatory again once the authorized leave ends.
•  Once the leave period is over, the student must resume their doctoral training obligations and the development of their research plan.
• The failure to carry out the training activities required by the program and the lack of updates to the research plan during an authorized leave period will not be considered in the doctoral student's annual evaluation. In such cases, the academic committee will adjust the doctoral student's evaluation to reflect the period during which they were enrolled in the program.

  Permanent withdrawal from the PhD Programme

Causes for definitive withdrawal from the programme include the following:

• Express communication, in writing, from the PhD student to withdraw from the programme definitively, addressed to EIDUS management, who will duly inform the programme’s academic committee.
• The expiry of the terms established for the duration of the studies in each study mode according to the provisions in force.
• An unfavourable annual assessment in the two assessment rounds
• Non-renewal of the annual registration for academic supervision, except in cases of temporary leave or leave due to illness, pregnancy and other causes provided for in current regulations.

More information

• Arts. 44 to 47 of the Regulations on PhD Studies (Agreement 6.1/CG 23-7-19).