Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University provides training for Candidates taking a Postgraduate course and pursuing Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree. The training is carried out in conformity with Academic Curriculum and Syllabi approved by the ONU Academic Board for each speciality.

According to the new requirements, seekers are enrolled in Postgraduate Studies for four years. The postgraduate training Syllabus contains an educational and scientific component. Educational component in ONU amounts to 45 credits of ECTS and is provided mainly within the first two years of Postgraduate Training.

The scientific component of the Academic Curriculum involves conducting individual scientific research and presenting its results in the form of a dissertation.

Within the framework of postgraduate study a PhD and DD Seeker is intended:

• to fulfill all the requirements of the Academic Qualifications Curriculum, to acquire theoretical knowledge, skills, and other competences sufficient for generating new ideas, solving complex problems in the field of professional and/or research-innovative activities;
• to master the methodology of scientific and pedagogical activity;
• to conduct an original research, the results of which have a scientific novelty, theoretical and/or practical value, present in the form of a dissertation and defend the dissertation.