ECTs
- PhD candidates of the Graduate School of Life Sciences have to follow 20 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) of education.
- The 20 ECTS load is for the standard 4 years PhD program. PhD candidates that follow a different track can count 5 ECTS/year.
- The minimum number of PhD years is two, which means that during this two years trajectory 10 ECTS need to be acquired.
- A minimum of 40% should be spent on courses organized by the CTO program and a maximum of 20% on attendance of congresses and symposia. See tables below for examples.
European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) point tables
General information on the graduate school system, PhD programs and useful links can be found on www.umcutrecht.nl/research/student/phd
| 4 years | 3 years | 2 years | ||
| 20 ECTS | 15 ECTS | 10 ECTS | ||
| Courses/activities CTO | 40% | 8 ECTS | 6 ECTS | 4 ECTS |
| Generic courses | 20% | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Symposia/conferences | 20% | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Courses outside program | 20% | 4 | 3 | 2 |
Example 4 years/min. 20 ECTS
| Category | Course | # days | # times/4 yr | Total ECTS |
| CTO | Introduction course | 3 | 1 | 1,5 |
| Clinical Trial Development Course | 3 | 1 | 1,5 | |
| Tumor type course | 3 | 2 | 2 | |
| PhD retreat | 1 | 4 | 1 | |
| Outpatient Clinic | 1 | 5 | 1 | |
| Symposia organized by Cancer Center/CTO | 1 | 3 | 1 | |
| Journal clubs (JC) | 30 JC = 1 ECTS | |||
| “Refereer” evenings | 10x = 1 ECTS | |||
| Oncology seminars | 30x = 1ECTS | |||
| Total CTO | 12 | |||
| Generic courses | see GS_LS website | 4 | ||
| Other | Basic Oncology course (NvvO) | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Attending International Oncology Symposia (0.3 ECTS/day) | 3 | 2 | 2 max | |
| Courses organized by other PhD programs | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 21 |
Example 2 years/min. 10 ECTS
NB: in this example the total number of ECTS points is more than 10, which means that one can skip some courses. When you are following a 3 years PhD program, you can use this table as well but ensure that your generic courses make a total of 3 ECTS.
| Category | Course | # days | # times/2 yr | Total ECTS |
| CTO | Introduction course | 3 | 1 | 1,5 |
| Clinical Trial Development Course | 3 | 1 | 1,5 | |
| Tumor type course | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| PhD retreat | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | |
| Outpatient Clinic | 1 | 2 | 0.5 | |
| Symposia organized by Cancer Center/CTO | 1 | 2 | 0.6 | |
| Journal clubs (JC) | 15 JC = 0.5 ECTS | |||
| “Refereer” evenings | 5 = 0.5 ECTS | |||
| Oncology seminars | 15x = 0.5 ECTS | |||
| Total CTO | 8.1 | |||
| Generic courses | see GS_LS website | 2 | ||
| Other | Basic Oncology course (NvvO) | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Attending International Oncology Symposia (0.3 ECTS/day) | 3 | 1 | 1 max | |
| Courses organized by other PhD programs | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 14.1 |
Upcoming
Advanced Molecular Pathology Course
27-28-29 June 2023
Quotes course 2021:
"Very good, leared a lot about the topic and very nice and inspirational speakers"
"Great organisation of the practical session which was very educational and gave me a lot of insight in the application of the knowledge we learned"
"Everything went smoothly, I noticed the effort that was taken for this"
"It covered very well all the aspects of molecular pathology and all the different parts in the hospital were it is applied"
17 November 2023
Quotes PhD retreat 2022:
"Great tips on staying focused and very nice to hear about all the various career perspectives"
"Very interesting talks and nice to bond with fellow phds"
"beautiful location, interesting program, good catering; well done!"