Doctoral studies

Admission and study structure

Admission requirements, structure and organisation of studies, annual study plans and course selection.

Admission requirements for doctoral academic studies

The admission requirements, required documents, deadlines, qualifying interview and tuition fees are laid down in the Regulations Governing Doctoral Studies at the Faculty of Mathematics and the University of Belgrade Call for Applications for the relevant academic year.

Detailed information, the text of the Call, guides and the required forms are available on the Faculty of Mathematics page Admission to doctoral studies (in Serbian). The guides are also available in English: Application Guide, Interview Guide and Enrolment Guide.

The basic admission requirements are completed previous academic studies totalling at least 300 ECTS and an overall grade point average of at least 8.00 (on the Serbian 6–10 scale). Candidates with an overall grade point average from 7.00 to 8.00 may apply if they have at least one scientific paper in a journal of category M21, M22 or M23 in the relevant scientific field, in accordance with the Regulations.

For the Computer Science programme, the special conditions of the Call for 2026/2027 (in Serbian) also require an appropriate number of ECTS credits in computer science and mathematics courses and at least two letters of recommendation from computer science faculty members, under the conditions set out in the Call.

The qualifying interview is compulsory for all candidates, except those who meet the conditions for exemption from the interview laid down in the Call.

For further information on admission, candidates may contact upis-das@matf.bg.ac.rs.

Programme structure

The doctoral programme in Computer Science lasts three years (six semesters) and comprises 180 ECTS.

During the first three semesters, students take elective courses and, through seminar and research activities, acquire the knowledge and skills needed for independent research. The study programme provides for six elective courses in the first year and one in the third semester.

Students choose courses from the List of courses below (the official programme page of the Faculty of Mathematics, Doctoral Studies – Computer Science, is in Serbian). In the first semester, one of the elective courses may also be a course from another appropriate accredited doctoral programme of the Faculty of Mathematics.

In choosing courses, planning their studies and directing their research, students work with the study mentor and later also with the prospective doctoral dissertation mentor (see Mentorship and Annual work plan and choice of courses).

During the third semester, the student, in collaboration with the prospective mentor, works on choosing and shaping the research topic and preparing its rationale. The remaining three semesters are devoted primarily to research and work on the doctoral dissertation (see Doctoral dissertation topic submission and topic defence).

The detailed structure of the programme by year is given below. Weekly hours are given as hours of active teaching plus hours of independent research work.

Year 1

No.	Course	Weekly hours (teaching + research)	ECTS
Semester 1
1.	Elective course A1 (from the list)	4 + 6	9
2.	Elective course A2 (from the list)	4 + 6	9
3.	Elective course B (from the list or from another study programme)	4 + 6	9
4.	Seminar paper 1	0 + 2	3
Semester 2
1.	Elective course A3 (from the list)	4 + 6	9
2.	Elective course A4 (from the list)	4 + 6	9
3.	Elective course A5 (from the list)	4 + 6	9
4.	Seminar paper 2	0 + 2	3
Total for Year 1		64	60

Year 2

No.	Course	Weekly hours (teaching + research)	ECTS
Semester 1
1.	Elective course A6 (from the list)	4 + 6	9
2.	Preparation of the Dissertation Topic Proposal	0 + 15	21
Semester 2
1.	Doctoral Dissertation Research 1	0 + 0	30
Total for Year 2		25	60

Year 3

No.	Course	Weekly hours (teaching + research)	ECTS
Semester 1
1.	Doctoral Dissertation Research 2	0 + 0	30
Semester 2
1.	Doctoral Dissertation Research 3	0 + 0	30
Total for Year 3		0	60

Enrolment in the next year and duration of studies

Enrolment in the next year of study takes place no later than 30 November of the current academic year. The condition for enrolment is a work plan approved by the Committee for Doctoral Studies.

A student may enrol in at most six active years of study. A student who has fulfilled all the obligations of the study programme for the first two years may apply for an extended year, up to at most three times the number of years of the study programme, in accordance with Article 28 of the Regulations.

Annual work plan and choice of courses

Before enrolment in each academic year, the student and the study mentor prepare a work plan, which is submitted to the Committee for Doctoral Studies for approval.

Depending on the year of study and the planned activities, the work plan comprises:

The list of courses for the next academic year (Annex 3).
The plan of seminar papers for the Computer Science programme, when planned for the next year (Annex 4).
The proposal of the prospective mentor, if the student enrols in a course that, according to the accreditation, is taken with the doctoral dissertation mentor (Annex 1).
The plan of work on the doctoral dissertation and the preparation of the topic rationale, when these activities are planned for the next year, prepared by the student in collaboration with the prospective mentor (Annex 4).

The work plan is considered by the Committee for Doctoral Studies, which approves it or requests appropriate changes and additions. Enrolment in the next year of study is not possible without an approved work plan (Article 28 of the Regulations).

Rules for choosing courses

The following rules apply to the choice of courses:

The student chooses courses in collaboration with the study mentor, in accordance with the accreditation of the study programme and the planned research.
The consent of the course instructor is required for each chosen course.
A student may attend and take at most two courses with the same instructor, not counting the courses that, according to the accreditation, are taken with the doctoral dissertation mentor (Article 30 of the Regulations).

Courses in doctoral studies

The detailed structure of the study programme by year and semester, including the schedule of elective courses, seminar papers, the preparation of the topic rationale and work on the doctoral dissertation, is given above and on the Faculty of Mathematics page Doctoral Studies – Computer Science (in Serbian), which also contains the detailed specifications of the accredited elective courses, their content, objectives and learning outcomes.

List of courses

This section gives the list of courses accredited within the doctoral programme in Computer Science. All courses carry 9 ECTS and comprise four hours of active teaching per week as well as six hours of independent research work. The course descriptions (PDF) are in Serbian. The courses are listed in alphabetical order of their English names.

Teaching staff in doctoral studies

Courses in the doctoral programme in Computer Science are taught by the faculty members engaged in the accredited study programme, including faculty members of the Department of Computer Science and Informatics holding the rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor.

The list of the Department's faculty members is available on the Staff page.

More detailed information about the teaching staff, their scientific and professional competences and the courses they teach is available in the document Competences of teaching staff in doctoral studies (in Serbian).