The length of the programme is four years of full-time academic research, including three terms of full coursework and a period of one and a half years to complete the doctoral thesis.

The programme is structured as follows:

• a common core section of methodological and theoretical courses (first year);
• specialization courses (first and second year);
• PhD dissertation (second and third year);
• at least one semester spent in a primary foreign academic institution.

Besides the exams at the end of each course, students will be required to submit and present a research proposal to a formal committee in order to be allowed to develop and prepare a PhD dissertation. The committee might be composed of internal as well as external faculty members, chosen for their recognized knowledge and competence in the field of the research.