Postgraduate doctoral study Speech, Language and Hearing Disorders

Obrisani Korisnik — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 15:18:51 GMT

The Call for Enrollment of Students for the Postgraduate University Doctoral Study Program in Language, Speech and Hearing Disorders in the Academic Year 2026/2027 is now open.
Deadline for submission of applications: June 1, 2026.

About

Provider of the doctoral study Speech, language and hearing disorders: University of Zagreb Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences

Implementer of the doctoral study Speech, language and hearing disorders:

Scientific field and discipline:
Scientific field: Social sciences
Discipline: Speech-language pathology

Date of obtaining permit: 10th February 2017

Academic title: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Social Sciences, in the field of Speech and Language Pathology

Number of doctoral students for one academic generation: from 8 to 12

Language of the study: The official language of the programme is Croatian and/or English

The duration of the study: The doctoral study lasts three (3) years i.e. six (6) semesters. Student has to complete all programme requirements in an eight-year (8) period.

ECTS credits: The total sum of ECTS needed for completion of the doctoral programme is 180. One credit refers to a 25-hour student’s workload.

THE PROGRAM LEADERSHIP

Head of the doctoral study: Prof. Jelena Kuvač Kraljević, PhD
Members: Prof. Sandra Bradarić-Jončić, PhD and Assoc. Prof. Maja Cepanec, PhD
Office for Postgraduate Studies: Lucia Omerović, mag. theol.

Study programme

The programme comprises three main types of activities:

Course work
Mandatory research-related activities
Elective activities

These activities occur as an obligatory module of eight (8) courses aimed at giving students fundamental knowledge and skills needed for independent research and analysis of the literature, as well as a grounding in new scientific concepts from all areas of logopedics.

In addition to obligatory courses, there are 16 elective courses distributed among three modules:

Language and communication disorders and specific learning difficulties;
Voice, speech and swallowing disorders;
Hearing impairments.

Mandatory research-related activities directly support preparation of the doctoral dissertation, and students complete these activities beginning in the first semester by delivering theoretical and methodological seminars in the field of their future dissertation. Before the final defence of the doctoral dissertation, the student is required to publish at least one research article related to the dissertation.

Elective activities are formalised activities that promote research and metacognitive learning, a critical approach to new information, team work, and strengthening of communication skills and various other generic academic skills.

The activities are organised as follows across the programme years:

The first year involves required courses that the doctoral student must attend and pass, as well as mandatory research-related activities that include preparation of two seminar papers in the area of the doctoral dissertation and preparation of a presynopsis.

In the second year of study, the doctoral student selects one of three elective modules, or three elective courses within a single module. In the second year, after passing all elective courses, the student publicly defends his or her dissertation topic and begins working on the dissertation.

The third year involves independent research work and preparation of the dissertation.

ECTS credits are distributed across modules of required and elective courses such that 20% of all course requirements (37 credits) are awarded for lecture-based courses, 47% for mandatory research-related activities (e.g. writing and publishing articles, active participation in scientific meetings, public lectures, science outreach), and 33% for activities related to dissertation work (e.g. preparation of the methodological framework, preparation and public defence of the topic, individual consultations, research activities, and dissertation writing)

Admission

A requirement for admission:

A requirement for admission to the doctoral programme Speech, Language and Hearing disorders is a graduate (Master’s) degree in speech and language pathology, or a entry level degree in speech and language pathology received before the Bologna process implementation to the Croatian higher education system, or a graduate (Master’s) degree in the field of medical, social, and technical sciences area.

The requirements for enrolment are identical for all applicants:

a university graduate degree diploma (a total of 300 ECTS points)
graduate study grade average higher than 3,5
fluency in English language
cover letter containing a short description of research interests and research plan
curriculum vitae in Europass format

Doctoral programme fee: 1.460,00 € (11.000,37 kn; conversion rate: 1 € = 7,53450 kn) per semester.

Reaccreditation 2019.

Self-evaluation report of the Postgraduate (Doctoral) Programme Speech, Language and Hearing Disorders, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb (September 2019) (September 2019)

Report of the Expert Panel on the Reaccreditation of the University Postgraduate (Doctoral) Programme Speech, Language and Hearing Disorders, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb (February 2020)

ERF - Speech, Language and Hearing Disorders

Postgraduate doctoral study Speech, Language and Hearing Disorders

About

Study programme

Admission

Reaccreditation 2019.