Doctoral Degrees - Practice By Country - The Netherlands / Flanders

The Netherlands / Flanders

The traditional academic system of The Netherlands provided four basic academic diplomas and degrees: propaedeuse, candidaat, doctorandus (drs.) and doctor (dr.). After successful completion of the first year of University, the student was awarded the propaedeutic diploma (not a degree). In some studies, this diploma was already abolished in the eighties: in physics and mathematics, the student could obtain directly a kandidaats degree in two years. The kandidaat (candidate) degree, which was all but abolished by 1989, used to be attained after four or five years of academic study, after which the student was allowed to begin work on his doctorandus thesis. The successful completion of this thesis allowed one to use the doctorandus title, attainment of which means one's initial studies are finished. In addition to these 'general' degrees, a number of specific titles for certain subjects are available, each of which is equivalent to the doctorandus degree: for law: meester (master) (mr.), and for engineering at a technical university like Delft: ingenieur (engineer)(ir.). In the last few years, the Dutch have incorporated the Anglo-Saxon system of academic degrees into their own. The old candidate's degree has been revived as bachelor's degree, the doctorandus' by the master's degree. However, Dutch regular university programmes tend to include subject matter which, e.g., at Harvard is only taught in PhD-courses (for instance advanced quantum mechanics or general relativity in a Dutch course for the master's degree in theoretical physics).

Those who choose to can enroll in a doctorate system after achieving a masters degree (or equivalent) recognised by the Dutch government. The most common way is to be hired as promovendus/assistent in opleiding (aio)/onderzoeker in opleiding (oio) (research assistant with additional courses and supervision), perform extensive research, and write a doctoral dissertation consisting of published scientific articles (this course is normally four years, although the average duration to completions is about 5.5 years). It is also possible to conduct research without the research assistant status, for example through a business sponsored research laboratory, or in spare time. Regardless of the way, every thesis has to be supported by a promotor (full university professor who has the role of principal advisor) before it can be submitted. The written thesis is subjected to review by a committee of experts in the relevant academic field; who either approve or reject the submitted thesis. Failures at this stage are rare as the supervisors will hold back submission (causing delay beyond the 4 years) rather than allow a substandard thesis to be submitted. The supervisors, and especially the promotor lose face with her/his colleagues allowing a substandard thesis to be submitted; thus gaining supervisor approval is in practice the more demanding requirement. After approval by the reviewers, the candidate will print typically 100-300 copies of the thesis and send it to colleagues, friends and family with an invitation to the public defense. The doctoral degree is awarded in a formal, public, defense session (failure during this session is in theory possible but in practice this never happens). The defense lasts exactly the assigned time slot (45 minutes or 1 hour exactly depending on the University) after which the defense is stopped by the pedel (proctor) who interrupts ongoing questioning by entering the room and announcing that the time is past in Latin (Hora Est). At this stage the candidate is allowed to stop the defense even midsentence, although in practice a short one sentence wrap up is usually given. If one of the examiners is still phrasing a question, no answer will be given.

The doctor's title is the highest academic degree one can attain in the Netherlands. There is only one title "doctor", which as is explained above requires original scientific publications, unlike the Anglo-Saxon PhD., which is only an exam and may or may not include original scientific publications. However, the three Dutch universities of technology (Eindhoven University of Technology, Technical University Delft, and University of Twente) do award a Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng).

In the Netherlands, although the title doctor (dr.) is informally called PhD, there is no such thing as a PhD degree; there is the title doctor (dr.) in stead of PhD. Seeing that all other university titles (BSc/BBa/LL.B/BA M.Sc/MBA/LL.M/MA) are protected by law but PhD is not it follows that any person can call himself PhD in the Netherlands without having obtained that title. Calling oneself "Doctor" without having a doctorate is fraud though. For people who obtained a degree in a foreign country to be allowed to use the Dutch title drs. mr. ir. or dr. a request has to be made at the Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs though according to the opportunity principle there is little incentive to punish such fraud. Dutch doctors may use the letter D behind their name instead of the shortcut dr. before their name.

Those who have multiple doctor (dr.) titles may use dr.mult. before their own name. Those who have received honoris causa doctorates may use dr.h.c. before their own name.

In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium) the system is very similar, except the doctorandus title was only awarded to those who actually started their doctoral work. Doctorandus is still used as a synonym for a PhD student. The licentiaat (licencee) title was in use for a regular graduate until the Bologna reform changed the kandidaat to bachelor and licentiaat to master.