Chapter I GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art. 1. The present methodology regulates the organization and conduct of admission to Doctoral Studies (SUD) at IOSUD - Technical University of Constructions Bucharest, being developed in accordance with:

• Law on Higher Education 199/2023,
• Framework regulation on doctoral studies approved by OME 3020/2024,
• Framework Methodology on the organization of admission to higher education in the undergraduate, bachelor, master and doctoral cycles of short-term university studies approved by the Order of the Minister of Education no. 3693/2024,
• Regulations of organization and conduct of doctoral studies in UTCB,
• Rules of organization and functioning of the Doctoral School of UTCB.

Art.2. For the academic year 2025-2026 IOSUD - UTCB organizes the admission contest to SUD for doctoral fields:

• Civil and Facilities Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Geodetic Engineering

Art. 3. Admission to the SUD is limited to the number of places allocated annually by MEC for doctoral studies financed by the state budget in the form of doctoral grants, respectively within the limit of places approved annually by the University Senate of IOSUD - UTCB for doctoral studies in the fee-paying regime.

Art. 4. The places allocated for the different forms of SUD are made known to the candidates by posting them on the Doctoral School's website after the distribution of the enrollment figures by the MEC. SUD are organized in IOSUD UTCB in the form of full-time education (IF) or in the form of part-time education (IFR).

Art. 5. Admission to doctoral studies is based on the scientific research programs carried out by the doctoral supervisors in accordance with the Internal Procedure for the Analysis and Approval of Proposals on the Themes of Doctoral Studies Programs. Doctoral supervisors are obliged to notify the Doctoral School secretariat of the research programs and the number of places (positions) available for doctoral students no later than May 2025. The research topics related to each doctoral student position will be approved by the SSC. The Secretariat of the Doctoral School will post these topics and the number of places (positions), as well as the topics for the specialized examination, on the website.

Art. 6. If the Minister of Education and Research includes special places for priority fields in the tuition fees, those places will preferably be full-time and with scholarships. Doctoral supervisors will submit to the Doctoral School research topics in the priority areas for these places. Each theme should include a brief description of the proposed research with justification of the proposed research in one of the priority areas and an indication of any additional funding available. Themes should be submitted by the same date as the other research themes (May 2024) proposed for the academic year 2025/2026. The SSC will select and approve the doctoral topics that will apply for places in the priority areas, based on the proposals of the doctoral supervisors.

Art.7. The form of funding for each PhD student position is decided by the CSUD on the basis of the proposed research topic, in accordance with the institutional funding strategy for priority areas. Doctoral theses realized in international cotutelle within the EU-CONEXUS framework will be considered as a priority for funding.

Art. 8. The admission of candidates to doctoral studies is done through a competition organized annually by IOSUD - UTCB.

Art. 9. Doctoral studies can be organized within IOSUD-UTCB in Romanian, English or French.

Chapter II REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES

Art. 10. Only graduates with a master's degree or its equivalent are entitled to participate in the admission contest for doctoral studies, and the cumulative number of transferable study credits acquired, for the bachelor's and master's cycle, must be at least 300.

Art. 11. According to the provisions of the Law on Higher Education no. 199/2023 and the Framework Methodology for the organization of admission to higher education approved by OME 3693/2024, with subsequent amendments and additions, the bachelor's degree of the graduates of long-term higher education from the period prior to the application of the three Bologna cycles is equivalent to the master's degree in the specialization. As a consequence, holders of long-term higher education diplomas are entitled to enrol for doctoral studies without the obligation to follow the second cycle of master's studies.

Art. 12. Candidates (Romanian and EU citizens) who have completed their studies abroad shall present a certificate of equivalence issued by the National Center for the Recognition and Equivalence of Diplomas (CNRED), within the Ministry of Education. After obtaining the attestation, the UTCB diploma equivalence commission will equalize the grades for enrolment in doctoral studies.

Art.13 - Romanian citizens; - foreign citizens, as follows: ethnic Romanians from EU and non-EU states (Romanians from abroad), citizens of EU Member States and the European Economic Area, as well as of the Swiss Confederation, citizens from outside these areas.

Art. 14. Citizens of the Member States of the European Union, of the European Economic Area and of the Swiss Confederation, as well as citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community may participate in the admission to the doctoral cycle of university studies, under the same conditions provided by law for Romanian citizens, including tuition fees. For citizens from outside these countries who have chosen to study at UTCB on their own, the doctoral enrollment fee is set by the UTCB Senate, in compliance with the provisions of OG no. 22/2009 with subsequent additions and amendments.

Art. 15. Foreign citizens other than those referred to in Art. 13 must submit to the Ministry of Education and Research - International Relations Department a study file in order to issue the letter of acceptance, according to the provisions of Art. 45 para. (2) letter a) of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners in Romania, with subsequent amendments and additions. The files will be sent to the Ministry in a centralized manner by the UTCB. UTCB will issue the registration of these foreign citizens only after passing the doctoral entrance exam and after receiving written approval from the Ministry of Education.

Art. 16. A candidate may be admitted and enrolled in no more than two study programs at the same time, regardless of the study cycle and the organizing educational institutions. A candidate declared admitted may receive funding from the state budget for only one doctoral program, in compliance with the legal provisions in force. The candidate declared admitted to more than one university study program must declare which study program he/she opts for.

Art.17. Enrollment in the admission contest for doctoral studies at IOSUD UTCB is not conditioned by the field in which the bachelor's or master's degree was obtained.

Art. 18.

• Candidates who have obtained an engineering degree, bachelor's or master's degree in a field other than the one in which they are enrolling for doctoral studies must first pass a series of examinations in the specific knowledge of the new field, if requested by the doctoral supervisor.
• The number and content of examinations in the specific knowledge of the new field are determined by the potential doctoral supervisor.
• The examinations are held within the specialized department to which the potential doctoral supervisor belongs, with a committee established by the head of department. The chair of this committee is the doctoral supervisor.
• The study in order to acquire specific knowledge is done individually, based on a bibliography announced in advance by the potential doctoral supervisor.
• These exams are scheduled before the PhD entrance exam.

Art. 19. Candidates admitted to the fee-paying places may move to the places with funding from the state budget that become vacant in the respective series, at the end of each academic year, according to criteria related to the performance obtained in the respective academic year and the ranking in the entrance examination of the respective series of doctoral students, in accordance with the provisions of the “Regulations of the Doctoral School of UTCB”.

Art. 20. Exmatriculated doctoral students have the right to participate in a new admission competition only for places with fee.

Art. 21. Registering candidates

The candidate for the entrance exam to SUD submits online, on the platform https://admitere.utcb.ro/doctorat/ an application file composed of:

1. Application form (Annex 1) - to be filled in online and approved by the PhD supervisor after preliminary validation of the electronic file;
2. Application form (Annex 2) - fill in online;
3. Scanned copies of:
   • birth certificate;
   • marriage certificate (if applicable)
   • diploma of engineer (or equivalent) and transcript of records
   • master's degree and transcript of records, if applicable

(for master's graduates class 2025, a copy ofthe graduation certificate issued by the faculty must be submitted );

4. Scanned copy of your identity card;
5. Curriculum vitae, in Europass format (the format is available on the UTCB website);
6. List of published works;
7. Proof of payment of the registration fee. The fee can be paid online by credit card, by money order or at the UTCB cashier. The following are exempt from paying the application fee: (1) Candidates coming from UTCB employees, (2) children of active or retired teaching and auxiliary teaching staff and (3) persons at risk of losing the ability to meet their daily living needs due to illness, disability, poverty are exempt from the admission fee. Those in situation (2) will bring documents proving that they are in that situation. Persons in category (3) will declare on their own responsibility that they are in that situation.
8. Affidavit that you have not previously been awarded a budgeted place at SUD (for candidates on budget places) - to be completed online
9. Research topic sheet(Annex 3) (Download it from the platform, and fill it in together with the supervising teacher. It can be uploaded after the preliminary validation of the electronic dossier).

Art. 22. The conformity of the documents with their originals will be checked at the Doctoral School Secretariat, after the validation of the electronic file, but before the specialized examination, in accordance with GEO no. 41/2016 on establishing some simplification measures at the level of central public administration and amending and supplementing some normative acts, approved with amendments by Law no. 179/2017 and Law no. 9 /2023.

Art. 23 For international candidates the file with documents in electronic format will be sent to the secretariat of the Doctoral School at the following e-mail address: scoala.doctorala@utcb.ro for verification of the scientific content, assignment of a PhD supervisor and endorsement. The Doctoral School will issue a document of acceptance or rejection of the candidate. In the case of acceptance, the document will specify the name of the doctoral supervisor and the language in which the work will be carried out, and the prospective doctoral supervisor will sign the document together with the Director of the Doctoral School.

Art. 24. In the case of foreign citizens other than those referred to in art. 13, the applications will be forwarded to the Ministry for obtaining letters of acceptance. When the acceptance letter is obtained, the candidates will submit online, on the platform https://admitere.utcb.ro/doctorat/, and subsequently, at the Secretariat of the Doctoral School, the application file for the admission contest, according to the approved timetable. Candidates who have not obtained the acceptance letter will not be admitted to the admission examination and no admission sessions will be organized outside the approved calendar.

Art.25. Registration for the admission competition may be made, on behalf of the candidate, by another person on the basis of a power of attorney.

Chapter III ADMISSION COMPETITION

Art. 26. The admission contest is organized by accredited doctoral fields of the Doctoral School, according to the number of available places (positions) communicated by the doctoral supervisors, according to art. 5. The number of places in the competition are approved by the Ministry of Education.

Art. 27. The admission competition includes a language proficiency test for a foreign language and a specialized examination.

Art. 28.

• The language proficiency test for an international language is held in the Department of Foreign Languages and Communication at UTCB.
• The result of the examination is expressed by one of the following grades: “Admitted”, “Conditionally admitted” or “Rejected”.
• For candidates who hold an internationally recognized language proficiency certificate, recognized as such by the Department of Foreign Languages and Communication, and have taken and completed a Master's degree in an internationally recognized language, the language proficiency test is no longer required.
• If the level of the candidate's knowledge does not correspond to the qualification “Admitted” or if, for objective reasons, the candidate did not participate in the language proficiency examination, the Doctoral School may approve the admission of the candidate on the basis of the results of the specialized tests. The language proficiency test will be rescheduled for the date of admission of the next series of candidates to doctoral studies and must be taken by the candidate on a compulsory basis.

Art. 29. The admission to doctoral studies in IOSUD is held in Romanian for places with tuition in Romanian and in English for places with tuition in English.

Art. 30. The specialized examination is oral and consists of two tests.

• The first test consists in an examination of knowledge in the chosen field of study, based on a theme posted at the departments where the doctoral supervisors of the respective specialization work, as well as on the Doctoral School website. For this examination, the candidate must present a bibliographical synthesis in the chosen topic from which knowledge of the field and its current challenges can be demonstrated. It should be based on 5 - 7 recent specialized articles, published in ISI or BDI (BDI) listed scientific journals, and its presentation will be oral in about 5 - 10 minutes. Panel members will ask questions in order to assess the level of knowledge of the topic.
• The second test consists in the evaluation of the candidate's vocation as a researcher, based on an interview within the competition committee. For this test, the candidate must submit the chosen research topic sheet(Annex 3), drawn up after preliminary discussions with the doctoral supervisor and signed by him/her, which includes the topic of the future doctoral thesis, the main research directions to be addressed, the expected results, the means necessary to carry out the research, previous research carried out, etc. The candidate will present the main aspects to the committee, which will then have a clarifying discussion with the candidate in order to assess his/her vocation as a researcher.
• A candidate who has not obtained the opinion of the supervisor of the doctoral program in which he/she has been admitted on the research topic sheet cannot be examined in the specialized examination for the researcher vocation assessment test.

Art. 31. The marking of the tests for the specialized examination is done individually by each member of the selection board with marks from 1 to 10, by filling in an Individual Examination Sheet(Annex 4). The candidate's individual examination sheet(Annex 5) shows the average of each test and the average of the specialist examination, as the arithmetical average of the marks for the two tests.

Art. 32. For the marking of the knowledge examination test, the members of the committee will assess :

• The number and type of articles consulted, their relevance to the topic - max. 3 points
• Quality of the bibliographic synthesis - max. 3 points
• Answers to panel questions - max 4 points

Art. 33. Grading in the examination of the researcher vocation. The members of the committee will assess :

• Timeliness of the proposed research topic - max. 2 points
• The manner and degree of development of the topic proposed for the doctoral thesis, the logical sequence of the proposed research stages - max. 4 points
• Analysis of the means necessary to carry out the research - max. 2 points
• Previous research carried out by the candidate - max. 2 points (if in the same thematic area)

2 points, if related topics - 1 point, if not - 0 points)

Art. 34. The general average for admission to doctoral studies will be calculated by the secretariat of the Doctoral School as the arithmetic average of the following grades: the average of the undergraduate years, the grade obtained in the bachelor's degree examination, the average of the master's years, the average of the dissertation examination and the average of the specialized examination. If the candidates are graduates of the old form of university studies (5 years), the mark in the admission competition for doctoral studies will be calculated as the arithmetic average of the following marks: the average of the undergraduate years, the mark obtained in the diploma examination and the average of the specialized examination. The average will be calculated and displayed to two decimal places without rounding.

Art.35. The minimum average a candidate must obtain to be declared admitted is 7,00. The average is calculated to two decimal places without rounding off.

Art. 36. When it is necessary to separate several candidates who have the same average, the following criteria will be used, in this order: (1) the grade obtained in the specialized examination; (2) the overall average of the undergraduate studies.

Art. 37. In case there will be more than one candidate for the priority places, the ranking will be based on the admission averages, and those who will not qualify for one of these priority places will enter the normal admission ranking, according to the approved Methodology.

Art. 38. In order to organize the admission to the Doctoral School of UTCB, an admission committee will be appointed, composed of the President - the Director of the Doctoral School and 2 members from among the members of the Doctoral School Council. The admission committee will be advised by the CSUD and approved by the Rector of UTCB. The admission committee proposal will be made by 30.06.2025.

Art. 39. For the language proficiency test, the selection board and the procedure for the language proficiency test are established by the DLSC.

Art. 40.

• For the specialized examination, the selection boards are made up of 3-5 members, including a chairperson.
• The composition of the selection boards is proposed by the SSC after consultation with the heads of departments.
• As a rule, the committees are made up of doctoral supervisors of the specialization, who may be joined by other academics and specialists in the field who hold a doctoral degree.
• As a rule, committees are formed for each of the doctoral specializations in the list of UTCB specializations for which the competition is organized.
• The committee may include members from several departments, faculties or, where appropriate, universities.
• Doctoral students may also be co-opted as observers on the proposal of the SSC.
• Proposals for committees will be made until 30.06.2024 and will be endorsed by CSUD, then the committees will be appointed by decision of the Rector of UTCB.

Art. 41.

• You must be physically present for all admission tests.
• As an exception, the entrance examination may be taken online in well-justified cases and with the agreement of the SSC and the Chair of the specialized committee and the Chair of the language proficiency committee. Such an exception is for international candidates or candidates residing in another country.
• International candidates from non-EU and non-EEA countries who have obtained their acceptance letter before the starting date of the specialized examination, but who have not obtained an entry visa in Romania, may benefit from taking the admission examination online, provided that the acceptance letter is sent by e-mail to the Doctoral School Secretariat before the last stage of the admission examination, together with the application file
• Candidates who wish to take the admission exam online must make a request to take the exam by videoconference with the reasons why they cannot be physically present at UTCB to take the admission exam. The request will be sent by e-mail to the Doctoral School Secretariat. The application will be endorsed by: the doctoral supervisor, the chairperson of the examination committee and the CSD.
• Candidates who have been approved to take the online entrance exam will send the completed research paper, signed by the doctoral supervisor, by e-mail to the Doctoral School Secretariat, at least 2 days before the date of the specialized exam.
• On the day and at the time scheduled for the specialized examination, the candidate will have a videoconference with the examining board and will take the 2 tests of the specialized examination, which will have the same content and the same procedure as for the other candidates.
• The committee completes the evaluation sheets and notes that the examination was done by videoconference.

Art. 42. The Doctoral School Council (DSC) and the Council for Doctoral Studies (CSUD) validate the results of admission to doctoral studies.

Art. 43. The lists of candidates declared admitted and the lists of rejected candidates, by fields of study, are published on the website of the Doctoral School of UTCB and on its notice board.

Art. 44. The following shall be complied with in case of appeals:

• Any appeals regarding the results of the admission contest must be submitted within 24 hours after the results are posted at the secretariat of the Doctoral School of UTCB (on working days).
• The Director of CSUD will propose and the Rector of UTCB will appoint an appeals committee composed of a President and 2 members.
• The members of the selection board must not have been involved in the assessment of the candidate who submitted the appeal.
• The Commission will resolve the appeal within 24 hours of the appointment.
• Oral tests cannot be contested.

Chapter IV SCHEDULE OF ADMISSION TO SOUTH 2025/2026

Art. 45. Admission to SUD in IOSUD - UTCB, in the academic year 2025-2026, is organized according to the following calendar:

SESSION I

Registration:

Registration Stage I: 09.06 - 11.07.2025

Registration Stage II: 08.09 - 15.09.2025

Note:

• International candidates who require an acceptance letter can only apply for Stage I in order to obtain their acceptance letters in time.
• International candidates can submit their full applications ȋat the preȋregistration which runsă ȋbetween 06 - 11.07.2025 in order to start the formalities for obtaining the acceptance letter earlier.
• Candidates for places in individual programs of study supporting the priority areas of development can apply only in phase I (July), according to the admission calendar for SUD in IOSUD - UTCB, in the academic year 2025-2026.
• Candidates from another bachelor or master's degree may also apply only for Stage I, for the organization of the specific knowledge examinations.

Language proficiency test: 15.09.2025

Specialized exam: 16 - 18.09.2025

Show results: 18.09.2025

Appeals: 18-19.09.2025

SESSION II (only if vacancies remain for CPV candidates)

Registration of candidates: 19.09.2025

Specialized exam: 19.09.2025

Show results: 19.09.2025

Appeals: 22.09.2025

Note: The language proficiency test for candidates enrolled in session II will be taken in the 2026-2027 admission session.

Chapter V. FINAL PROVISIONS

Art. 46. The validation of the results of the admission contest for doctoral studies and the matriculation of the candidates is made by decision of the Rector of UTCB.

Art. 47. After being admitted to doctoral studies in IOSUD UTCB, the doctoral student will work in the specialized department in which the doctoral supervisor works.

Art. 48. The provisions of this methodology are annexed to the Regulation of organization and functioning of the Doctoral School of UTCB.