Skip to content

Faculty of Mathematics

University
of Belgrade
Faculty of Mathematics

Department of Computer Science and Informatics

Doctoral studies

Rules for students enrolled before the academic year 2026/2027

Special rules that apply to previously enrolled students.

The Regulations Governing Doctoral Studies at the Faculty of Mathematics of 3 July 2026 apply to students enrolled from the academic year 2026/2027 (Article 65). Previously enrolled students continue under the study programme in which they enrolled and the rules in force at the time, and procedures already initiated may be completed under the earlier rules, unless a different decision is taken owing to the nature and needs of the procedure. For questions about continuing studies under the earlier rules, please contact the Committee for Doctoral Studies. All regulations listed below are available in Serbian only.

Regulations

  1. Students enrolled from the academic year 2016/2017 to 2025/2026, as well as students enrolled up to and including 2015/2016 who submitted the doctoral dissertation topic on or after 1 October 2022:

  2. Students enrolled up to and including 2015/2016 who submitted the doctoral dissertation topic no later than 30 September 2022:

Earlier study programme

A description of the doctoral programme in Computer Science according to the 2015 accreditation is available on the old website of the Faculty of Mathematics (in Serbian).

Differences from the new rules

For students enrolled from the academic year 2016/2017 to 2025/2026, as well as students enrolled up to and including 2015/2016 who submit the topic on or after 1 October 2022, the procedure follows the previous sections, with the following differences:

  1. Mentor and study plan

    The student officially chooses a mentor after completing the first year of studies. The mentor may also be from outside the Faculty of Mathematics if the area the student wishes to pursue is not sufficiently covered by the faculty members of the Department. The student draws up the second-year study plan with the mentor, and the list of courses for the current year is sent electronically to the Head of the Department by the student or the mentor at least one week before enrolment.

  2. Choice of courses

    During their studies, a student may choose at most two exams with one professor, including the mentor (Seminar Paper and Preparation of the Topic Rationale are not counted), at most two courses with faculty members from outside the Department and at most one exam with a faculty member who is not permanently employed at the Faculty of Mathematics. If the mentor is not a faculty member of the Faculty of Mathematics, the student may choose two courses with the mentor.

  3. Submission and evaluation of the topic

    The condition for submitting the topic is that all exams have been passed. The topic is submitted on Form 2, together with the topic rationale, a biography and bibliography, a statement that the topic has not been submitted at another higher education institution and, where required, the opinion of the ethics committee (Article 27 of the University Regulations). The submission is first sent to all members of the Department, who give their comments within five days; if any of them requests a public presentation, a talk is organised. The candidate then sends the submission, with the comments incorporated, to the Teaching and Research Council, which appoints a committee of at least three members, at least one of whom is not employed at the Faculty of Mathematics (Article 29 of the University Regulations). Instead of an oral defence of the topic, the candidate presents the topic at the Department Seminar before the committee and members of the Department.

  4. Submission of the dissertation

    The condition for submission is at least one paper published in a scientific journal related in content to the dissertation, with the student as first author or author with the greatest contribution; a paper that has been assigned a DOI is also accepted (Article 34 of the University Regulations). The dissertation is submitted no later than six months before the deadline for completing the studies, with the mentor's written consent (Article 36 of the University Regulations), and the mentor submits a written opinion on originality to the Dean (Article 35 of the University Regulations).

The further course of evaluation and defence is the same as in the section Submission, evaluation and defence of the doctoral dissertation (steps 3–8), with the composition of the committees determined under the Regulations Governing Doctoral Studies at the University of Belgrade (Articles 37–44).

Evaluation and defence of the doctoral dissertation – students enrolled up to and including the academic year 2015/2016

Students enrolled up to and including the academic year 2015/2016 who submitted the topic on or before 30 September 2022 complete the preparation, evaluation and defence of the dissertation under the Rulebook on the Preparation, Evaluation and Defence of the Doctoral Dissertation of the Faculty of Mathematics (2008), under which:

  • The dissertation is defended within three years of the approval of the topic, with a possible extension of at most two years at the candidate's request (Article 6).
  • The condition for accepting the dissertation is two scientific papers published or accepted for publication, at least one in a journal on the SCI list and at least one single-authored (Article 7).
  • The Teaching and Research Council appoints the review and evaluation committee (three to five members, at least one from outside the Faculty of Mathematics) within 30 days; the candidate submits two copies of the dissertation, one copy for each committee member and an electronic version, and the committee submits its report within 60 days (Article 8).
  • The defence is announced at least three working days in advance (Article 10).

  1. Report of the review and evaluation committee

    The committee's report is available for public inspection for 30 days, after which the Teaching and Research Council decides on it.

  2. University consent to the report

    The adopted report is sent for consent to the Council of Scientific Fields of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the University.

  3. Public defence

    Once consent is obtained, a public defence is organised at the Faculty of Mathematics.