Cotutelle information for HDR supervisors - Flinders University Staff

A Cotutelle Doctoral Degree refers to a doctoral degree program that is undertaken jointly at Flinders University and an international higher education institution.

In practice, this means that the PhD student (domestic or international) is:

admitted and enrolled/registered at both institutions
supervised jointly by academics from both institutions,
divides his/her candidature between Flinders and the partner institution, spending a minimum of 12 months at each,
awarded two parchments, one from each institution, upon successful completion.

Flinders can either be the home institution (where the student commences their candidature and spends the majority of their time) or the host institution.

Refer to the Cotutelle Arrangement Procedures for full details of the requirements involved in a cotutelle arrangement.

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Cotutelle information for students

Cotutelle Arrangement Procedures

Benefits of a cotutelle doctoral degree

Cotutelle doctoral degrees are an excellent way to commence and build collaborative relationships with international institutions around strategically aligned research projects. In addition to the collaborative aspect, they raise Flinders’ profile internationally and help ensure Flinders is matching international standards for PhD programs.

For students, there are also a number of benefits regarding access to resources, expertise and perspectives that are not available at Flinders. In this way, they add to the attractiveness of undertaking a PhD at Flinders.

Flinders also receives completion funding for cotutelle candidates who are hosted by Flinders and complete their joint doctoral degree.

Cotutelle Institutional Arrangement

An Institutional Arrangement consists of two interrelated components:

An Institutional Agreement, which establishes the overarching framework and mutual commitments between Flinders University and the Partner Institution; and
An Individual Student Cotutelle Agreement, which operates within the scope of the Institutional Agreement and is executed as an appendix to it. It outlines the specific terms and conditions applicable to the student’s joint doctoral enrolment.

Flinders is unable to accept a Cotutelle student from an overseas institution unless an Institutional Agreement is already in place.

Flinders has a standard cotutelle agreement template available for use, please contact hdr.engagement@flinders.edu.au for more information.

Partner institutions

Partner institutions must be reputable and have established procedures regarding cotutelle arrangements and / or doctoral regulations. We also seek to partner with institutions that have an equivalent level of rigor in their processes to ensure that Flinders’ requirements regarding quality research outcomes are met.

It is easier to develop agreements with institutions with which we have previously held cotutelle arrangements. There is a list of current Partner Institutions at the bottom of this page.

Resources required for a cotutelle

Cotutelle arrangements require some time and investment to establish, particularly to develop an agreement with a new partner institution. For supervisors, this often involves regularly liaising with their colleague at the partner institution and the student to work through any issues and ensure we have the information needed to develop a cotutelle arrangement.

They also require supervisory and research project resourcing investment by the College. For example, supervisors are involved in joint supervisory meetings with their co-supervisors and students while the student is at the partner institution and are likely to be more involved in the examination process due to an oral defence. Further, cotutelle students will require relevant project resources and the general resources provided to HDR candidates such as space, printing etc.

The 12 month tuition fee waivers provided to hosted international students also mean that Colleges are foregoing international tuition fees that would have otherwise been dispersed to the College.

Funding

Students are generally responsible for fees at their home institution and will receive a 12 month fee waiver to cover the tuition fees at the host institution. Some partner institutions will require students hosted under cotutelle arrangements to pay administration (or other similar) fees. Flinders provides a 12 month fee waiver to students hosted via a cotutelle arrangement and does not charge students amenities fees.

Students are usually responsible for funding travel, visa, health insurance cover, accommodation and other associated costs. This may be covered through a scholarship from their home institution, college/faculty or school funding, or other project-related funding sources or grants. Alternatively, many students have self-funded their host institution research visits, it depends on the circumstances of each individual student, the institutions and the research project. The Office of Graduate Research manages a Cotutelle Travel Grant to which Flinders’ students can apply for the cost of flights to and from the partner institution. However, other than the Cotutelle Travel Grant for Flinders’ students, neither Flinders or the Office of Graduate Research have a centralised cotutelle fund.

Partner institution selection and Expression of Interest (EOI) process

To initiate an institutional arrangement, Flinders proposers must first seek endorsement from their College Dean (Research) and the Office of Graduate Research (OGR). Once both endorsements are received, proposers will be invited to submit a formal Expression of Interest (EOI), which can be requested via the HDR Engagement Team.

The EOI must be signed by key College leaders, including the College HDR Coordinator, College Dean (Research), and the Vice-President and Executive Dean, confirming strategic alignment with the College and Flinders University. The completed EOI is then submitted to the OGR for review by the Flinders University Cotutelle Committee.

Approval is based on several criteria, including strategic alignment, research collaboration, supervisory capacity, academic benefits, and policy equivalence.

Please note: The process from submitting an EOI to finalising an Institutional Agreement may take between 6 to 12 months, depending on the Partner Institution’s internal approval procedures. This timeframe does not include the recruitment process for individual cotutelle students, which follows once the Institutional Agreement is in place.