The Bio-Engineering Systems PhD program attracts the highest-performing students and involves exchanges with MIT faculty and their laboratories. Curriculum development as well as teaching activities involve the Portuguese institutions as well as MIT faculty.

This part of the program will continue for 36–48 months past the Advanced Studies Course, and the doctoral program will accommodate extensive training periods at MIT (approximately 12-18 months).

Depending on student interest and expertise, other lab placements are possible on an individual basis.

Portuguese and International students and/or faculty visitors may also be hosted at MIT to participate in joint research projects.

The PhD degree is currently awarded jointly by the Technical University of Lisbon – UTL (Instituto Superior Tecnico – IST), the New University of Lisbon (Faculty of Science and Technology - FCTUNL) and the University of Minho (School of Engineering – UMinho). The University of Coimbra (Faculty of Science and Technology – FCTUC, and Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology - CNC) will be part of the joint degree in 2009.

Requirements: candidates must hold a Bologna 2nd cycle degree or a Masters degree or a 4-5 year degree (licenciatura).

The structure of the PhD program is shown in Table 1. Students need to complete at least 60 ECTS on the first year. In addition to the mandatory modules, students need to take two from a selection of four optional modules. Classes are taught in 2 weeks blocks (full time) and are held on a rotating schedule at each of the participating universities.

Scholarships: students can apply to an MIT Portugal PhD scholarship to FCT.

Tuition fee: around 3000 €

Schedule 2008-09: Students attend lectures of mandatory modules in the Fall term, and attend lectures of optional modules in January and February.

Lectures of mandatory modules are continuous between the 3rd of September and the 5th of December (29-31 October and 17-23 November are holiday periods).

From the 5th of January to the 27th of February 2009, students will attend one month of lectures (the two optional modules they choose to attend). Depending on the choice of modules, the lecturing periods might not be continuous during this time.

This schedule is provisional and may not correspond exactly to the final schedule of dates or hourly lectures.

Structure of the PhD program (1^st Year)