PhD in Europe: how it works in 13 countries

A full-time PhD in Europe is usually designed to take three or four years, normally after a master’s degree, but there’s no single European system. In the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway you’d usually be a salaried employee who applied for a job. In Ireland and Italy you’d be a registered student who may pay fees.

So the useful question isn’t ‘what’s a European PhD like?’ but ‘what’s it like in the country I’d choose?’ The answer also changes if you’re an international student from outside the EU, or if you don’t have a master’s. Below, we compare how PhD programmes in Europe work in 13 countries, using their official descriptions and real fee figures. You’ll see which ones to look at first and what you’d be applying for.

How a PhD in Europe differs from country to country

Status is the biggest difference, and it shapes almost everything else. Being an employee or a student affects how you apply, what you pay and how you’re protected if you fall ill or have a child. So read the ‘Employee or student?’ column first.

Country	Designed length (full-time)	Employee or student?	How you usually get a place
Netherlands	Usually four-year appointments	Most are university employees	Apply for an advertised post, or pitch your own proposal
Sweden	Four years	Advertised posts are employment	Apply for a post listed by the university
Denmark	Three years	Generally employed on three-year contracts	Apply for a vacancy on a university’s website, with a detailed plan
Norway	Three years; most structured posts run four with 25% other duties	Usually an employee	Usually apply for a post, formally a job application
Germany	No prescribed length; individual doctorates usually three to five years	Some employed, others on grants or self-funded	Mainly find a professor to supervise you; structured programmes too
France	Six semesters; ‘three or four years’	Doctoral contract or study grant	Through a doctoral school
Belgium (Flanders)	Not set by law; most aim for four years	Registered as a student; assistants are employees, grant holders aren’t	Register at a university, which sets its own doctoral rules
Finland	Four years	Mixed: employed, on scholarships or in your own time	Universities select; a research and study plan counts
Switzerland	Generally three to five years	Researcher or student, depending on university, faculty and funding	Universities decide, on your individual qualifications
Spain	Up to four years to submission	University student and research trainee; some hold a pre-doctoral contract	Universities admit, and may add criteria
Austria	At least three years	Student in law; structured programmes usually employ you	Relevant master’s or diploma; competitive procedure for structured programmes
Ireland	Three to four years; structured PhDs four	Student, without employee entitlements	Each university sets its own procedure
Italy	At least three years	Full-time student	Public competition, announced in a call

Source: Eurydice (European Commission) country pages, Study in NL, Universities of the Netherlands, Study in Sweden, Research in Germany, the University of Oslo and NTNU. Belgium’s row covers the Flemish Community only. Seven of the Eurydice pages were last updated on 27 November 2023 and Italy’s on 16 July 2024. They’re the most recent official summaries we found, so confirm details with your university.

Three terms in that table need explaining. Research in Germany describes the first two: in an individual doctorate, you write a thesis under one professor’s supervision. In a structured programme, you join a larger group of PhD students who start together, in a research field the programme’s coordinators set. A doctoral school is the university body that organises training and support for its doctoral students.

How long does a PhD in Europe take?

Plan on three or four years in most of these countries, but treat that as the designed length, not a promise. Germany prescribes no length and neither does Flemish law, and individual doctorates in Germany usually take three to five years. Switzerland’s usual range also runs to five.

Sweden shows why the designed length can mislead. Its doctorate is four years of study, and people who graduated in 2019 spent an average of 4.2 years on it. Measured from start to finish, though, that average was about five years. Many students also take on departmental work, and some take parental or sick leave.

Norway builds the extra time into the job. Its doctorate is three years, but most people on a structured programme hold a four-year contract. They spend 25% of their time on other duties, such as lecturing.

In Spain, the four-year limit runs to the date you submit your thesis, and your academic committee can extend it by a further year.

If you’re used to the idea of a PhD with a long taught stage, expect some courses but check how much. Denmark’s PhD includes courses equal to about six months. In Norway, courses generally come to one term, or 30 ECTS credits (the common European measure of study).

What this means for you: compare the length of your contract or funding with the length of the work. If the work runs longer, you’ll need a plan for that gap.

Are PhD students in Europe employees or students?

It depends on the country, and sometimes on your funding. So when people call a PhD in Europe ‘a paid job’, they’re only partly right. The 13 countries fall into three groups.

Employment is the norm: the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. In Norway, PhD candidates don’t have student status. Most are employees, with the same rights as other employees, including pension and parental leave. Even so, the Netherlands also has candidates on scholarships and self-funded candidates, who aren’t employed by the university.
It depends on your funding: Germany, France, Belgium (Flanders), Finland, Switzerland and Spain. In Germany, you might be university staff, hold a grant or fund yourself. In Spain, you’d be a university student and, if you hold the required degree, a research trainee. Some students also hold a full-time pre-doctoral contract of one to four years.
Classed as students: Ireland, Italy and Austria. Irish PhD candidates generally don’t get employee entitlements such as social security and pension rights. Italy’s doctoral students are full-time students who can do some tutoring and up to 40 hours of teaching a year. Austria is the mixed case: the law regards you as a student, but structured programmes usually employ you on a fixed-term contract.

The difference matters when something goes wrong. In Sweden, an advertised post gives you a salary plus full social security for illness, parental leave and unemployment after the project ends.

In Flanders, your rights can depend on where you’re from. If you hold a grant and come from the European Economic Area (EEA), you get the same social security rights as assistants, who are employees. If you’re from outside the EEA, you get a holiday allowance and illness and invalidity insurance, but no retirement or unemployment allowances. With no grant or pay, you don’t build up social security rights as a doctoral student.

Before you apply: ask whether the offer makes you an employee or a student, and get the answer in writing. ‘Funded’ can mean a contract or a grant, and those two can come with very different rights. Being admitted doesn’t guarantee money either: the University of Helsinki says the right to pursue a doctorate doesn’t include funding.

Being registered as a student doesn’t mean you’re unfunded, either. In Flanders, you register as a student even if you’re an assistant with employee status.

How do you get a PhD place in Europe?

You’ll usually take one of three routes: apply for a job, find a supervisor first, or apply through a call or doctoral school. Which one depends mainly on the country, so check that before you prepare anything.

Route 1: apply for an advertised job. This is the main route in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Universities in Sweden and Denmark list vacancies on their own websites, and Norway’s NTNU also uses the Jobbnorge jobs site. You’ll often find Dutch posts on job boards or in scientific journals.

There’s often no single deadline to aim for. Study in Sweden says some departments advertise all year and others only once or twice a year.

Route 2: find a supervisor first. Germany’s leading model is the individual doctorate. The country has no central admissions office, so your first step is to find a professor willing to supervise you. Germany also has structured programmes, and the DAAD (the German Academic Exchange Service) lists open PhD positions in its databases.

The Netherlands offers a similar route if you have your own idea. If no vacancy matches, you can pitch your proposal to research groups able to fund it.

Route 3: apply through a call or doctoral school. Italy requires a public competition. The call, the official announcement of that competition, should appear in Italian and English on the university’s and the ministry’s websites. It lists the places, tests and grants, and selection should end by 30 September each year.

In France, you enter through a doctoral school, and your thesis supervisor and research unit director must validate your enrolment.

In Finland, check the calendar programme by programme. The University of Helsinki’s 2026 calendar has rounds in April and September for all doctoral programmes, and from 3 to 16 November for some. At Aalto University, two programmes accept applications continuously, and you apply for salaried posts separately from the right to study.

Which route fits you? If you have a clear research idea of your own, look at Germany or a Dutch pitch. If you’d rather join a defined project, look at the vacancy countries. Our guide to writing a PhD motivation letter can help with the paperwork, and applying for a PhD abroad covers documents, language tests and visas.

Do you need a master’s for a PhD in Europe?

Usually yes: a master’s or equivalent is the standard entry route in the official descriptions for most of these countries. But at least six of the 13 describe another way in, so don’t rule yourself out too quickly.

Denmark: the 4+4 scheme starts your PhD a year into your master’s, and the 3+5 scheme takes you straight from a bachelor’s into an integrated master’s and PhD. Until you’ve finished the master’s, your support comes under special state educational grant rules.
Ireland: the usual path from a high-classification honours bachelor’s is to start on a research master’s and transfer to a doctorate after a year.
Germany: ‘particularly well-qualified’ bachelor’s graduates may be admitted directly through an aptitude procedure, which can involve extra study or a test.
Netherlands: a university may admit you without a master’s, but only ‘in exceptional cases’.
Belgium (Flanders): you may be admitted without one, though the university may require a competence assessment or an examination.
Sweden: you can qualify with 240 higher education credits, including 60 at master’s level, or equivalent knowledge. For comparison, Sweden’s four-year doctorate is also 240 credits.

Our guide to doing a PhD without a master’s covers the pros and cons, mainly from a UK angle.

If your degree comes from outside Europe, check early how it compares with what your chosen country asks for. Spain shows why. Its general rule is at least 300 ECTS credits across your bachelor’s and master’s. If you have a three-year bachelor’s, check your total.

If your degree is from outside the European Higher Education Area, Spain uses a separate route, with no credit total stated. Your Spanish university must certify that the degree is equivalent to a Spanish master’s. It must also certify that the degree gives access to doctoral study where it was issued.

How much are PhD fees in Europe?

For a PhD in Europe, you could pay nothing, a few hundred euros or well over €10,000 a year. The figures below show how wide that range is. National figures apply across the country. Named universities are examples only, because in several countries each institution sets its own charges.

Country	Fees charged
Sweden	No tuition fees
Finland	Tuition-free, whatever your nationality
Norway	No tuition fee (example: University of Oslo); no semester fee (example: University of Bergen)
Germany	Free for at least the first six semesters at public universities, plus a semester contribution
France	€398 a year nationally, 2026/27, plus the €105 student life contribution (CVEC) if you’re in initial training
Spain	Examples: Complutense University of Madrid €390 a year full-time, 2026/27; University of Valencia €300, 2025/26; both plus small administrative charges
Italy	Examples: Sapienza University of Rome €156 on enrolment (42nd cycle call); Politecnico di Milano €217.04 for 2026/27
Belgium (Flanders)	Example: Ghent University, 2026/27: €591 at first enrolment and €591 at defence (EEA); €1,182 each (non-EEA, with exceptions, including some developing countries); no tuition in between. A separate yearly bench fee (operating funds for your research), usually €4,480 to €17,920, must come from a funder or your supervisor, not from you
Austria	Example: TU Wien: EU, EEA and Swiss citizens exempt from tuition for the set length plus two semesters; non-EU citizens €726.72 a semester, with some exceptions and a possible waiver (not an entitlement) if TU Wien employs you for at least 20 hours a week; everyone pays the students’ union (ÖH) fee
Switzerland	Examples: University of Zurich CHF 150 a semester plus a CHF 100 surcharge for foreign students and CHF 59 in contributions; ETH Zurich (fee list dated December 2024) CHF 1,500 once, before you register for your oral exam, plus small semester fees
Netherlands	Some institutions charge, and each university sets its own amount
Denmark	Examples, per year: Aarhus Graduate School of Health DKK 40,000; University of Southern Denmark Health Sciences DKK 62,500 (page dated 2023); Aalborg’s AAU Energy DKK 120,000; Technical University of Denmark DKK 143,000 (2026)
Ireland	Examples, per year: University College Cork science, years 1 to 4, €5,770 (EU) or €15,000 (non-EU), 2026/27; Trinity College Dublin’s School of Education full-time structured PhD €6,930 (EU) or €11,620 (non-EU), 2025/26

Source: the universities and national agencies named, listed under Sources below. Bases differ (per year, per semester or one-off), so compare with care.

The Danish fees in these examples look alarming, but they’re part of how the PhD is financed. At Aarhus and the University of Southern Denmark, your financing has to cover the fee along with your pay and project costs. AAU Energy can waive all or part of its fee on a documented request. So ask whether the post you’re applying for already covers the fee.

Ireland shows the biggest gap between EU and non-EU fees in our examples, and PhD candidates there are generally students rather than employees. University College Cork says non-EU science PhD students may be eligible for a scholarship that cuts the fee to the EU level. Ask your department before you rule Ireland out.

For international students from outside the EU, the gap shows up in Ireland, Austria and Flanders in the examples above. The University of Zurich also adds a small surcharge for foreign students. If you’re from the UK, check this first: Ghent’s EEA definition doesn’t include the UK, and TU Wien’s exemption list doesn’t name UK citizens. France doesn’t show the same split in our example: the University of Lyon 2 lists higher non-EU rates for its bachelor’s and master’s degrees only.

Can you do a PhD in Europe in English?

Often yes, but check before you commit. The sources we checked give a national answer only for France, Italy and Spain. Elsewhere it can depend on the university, the programme or even the department. We found no language rule for Denmark, Norway, Flanders, Switzerland, Austria or Ireland, so ask.

France: the thesis is in French unless there’s a justified exception, such as internationalisation or the make-up of the examining panel. A growing share of theses are written in English or include English content, but you need to agree this with your supervisor and doctoral school. If you write in another language, you must still include a substantial summary in French. Our guide to a PhD in France covers finding a supervisor, funding and visas.
Italy: the official summary says the final research work is written in both Italian and English, so confirm what your university expects.
Spain: the thesis may be written in the usual languages of scientific communication in your field.
Germany: many structured programmes are taught in English, and the Higher Education Compass database lists 870 faculties and departments that allow an English thesis. The doctoral regulations for your programme set the rule.
Netherlands: students from other countries generally choose to write in English, and need to show a good command of it.
Sweden and Finland: we checked one institution in each, so treat these as examples. One KTH Royal Institute of Technology department expects English or Swedish, and you need special permission for Swedish. The University of Helsinki allows Finnish, Swedish, English or another language.

An English thesis doesn’t tell you what language your colleagues speak, or what language you’d teach in if your post includes teaching. Both are fair questions for an interview, especially in the countries where teaching is part of the job.

Which European country suits you?

Start from your own situation rather than a ranking. These are starting points, drawn from the comparison above.

You want a salary and employee rights: start with the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Expect to compete for an advertised post.
You have your own research idea: try Germany’s individual doctorate, or pitch it to a Dutch research group that can fund it.
You’d be paying your own way: look first at the lower-fee rows, then check you can be admitted at all. The University of Oslo, for example, wants funding for your whole period of study before it admits you.
You don’t have a master’s: look at Denmark’s flexible schemes and Ireland’s transfer route.
You want to write your thesis in English: ask early in France and Italy, and elsewhere check your programme’s rules. Ask separately what language your group works in.

Our country guides go further if one has caught your eye: a PhD in Sweden and a PhD in Germany.

Funding is its own subject, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral networks are one route that crosses borders: see our guide to the Marie Curie fellowship.

Choosing a PhD in Europe can feel like comparing 13 different degrees, and in a way it is. Once you’ve narrowed it to two or three countries, the next step is to look at real vacancies. You can search current PhD opportunities on DiscoverPhDs by discipline and funding, then ask each university the questions above.

Sources