The interested students need not confine themselves to the institutional dual degree programs mentioned on the previous page. They may find a research group at an international university. Upon obtaining the confirmation of a professor at this institution and your supervisor at SUT, you can enter into a dual degree program! There are only some considerations to note:
- The host university should be a top international university. The criterion is the list of the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology (available on http://grad.saorg.ir/After-September2018); The university should be a top university (الف/ممتاز) in the list.
- You should find a financial resource to fund your tuition fees (and your stay) at the host institution. Your supervisor at the host institution might be able to fund you from the resource at his/her disposal. You may also find resources external to the universities to fund you (for example, the French Embassy in Tehran funds individual dual degree programs between Iranian and French universities (see here). Similarly, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) might be able to partially fund the dual degree programs (see here)).
- You should inform SUT’s International Affairs Office as soon as you obtain the confirmation of the supervisors. We will prepare a draft of an individual agreement, will finalize this draft in cooperation with the host university, and will have it signed by the officials of both sides. This agreement is necessary for making the program official.
- Your chance to get admitted to a university as a dual degree students is higher when there is already a link between you, your supervisor at SUT, and your potential supervisor at the host institute. This link can be an ongoing project that your SUT supervisor is engaged in (in cooperation with the host institution) or the collaboration that the student himself/herself has had during her/his sabbatical leave (or other kinds of visit).
There are tens of possibilities out there; you just need to search a bit to find them (see, for example, the program at Toronto University, Canda: http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/international/Pages/Joint-Educational-Placement-Program.aspx/ the program at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands: https://www.vu.nl/en/research/taking-phd/phd-at-vu-amsterdam/index.aspx/ the program at Sorbonne Univerity, France: http://ifd.sorbonne-universite.fr/en/the-doctorate-at-upmc/cotutelle-doctorate.html and the University of Paris-Saclay, France: https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/fr/doctorat/mon-doctorat-mes-demarches/cotutelles-internationales-de-these ). Please note that annually around 10 Ph.D. students of SUT enter into individual dual degree programs with universities with which SUT have not even signed an MoU (let alone an institutional dual degree agreement).
Should you have any further inquiry, please do not hesitate to contact us (ia_st@sharif.edu).