Below are some of our “frequently asked questions” according to each Educational Program.
We are also available to answer to any other questions at apply[at]cmuportugal.org.
The CMU Portugal Program offers top dual degree Ph.D. programs in selected cutting-edge areas of ICT. Doctoral students conduct their studies both in Portugal and in the United States, and are co-advised by faculty from Carnegie Mellon University and from Portuguese partner higher education institutions. Graduates of the program receive dual degrees conferred by Carnegie Mellon and by the affiliated Portuguese University.
Yes, the requirements and the degrees awarded are the same. Students complete the requirements while in residence at Carnegie Mellon or in Portugal.
Your advisors at Carnegie Mellon and in Portugal are your joint advisors throughout the whole program, regardless of whether you are at Carnegie Mellon or in Portugal. Your advisors are often existing collaborators on other research projects, and they will welcome you into their projects. This dual-advising framework actually gives you a unique opportunity to establish close working relationships with faculty at two distinct institutions, which can really both broaden and deepen your academic experience.
Yes, a student may have up to three advisors according to Portuguese law. However, mandatory for at least one advisor to be affiliated with CMU and another with the Portuguese University where the student is enrolled in.
No, although it is important to have already a potential advisor already identified both in Portugal and at CMU.
You can access in our website the list of faculty affiliated with the Program at: https://cmuportugal.org/faculty_researchers/
The requirements of the Program are aligned with the requirements of each Ph.D. program. It is advised to confirm the specific requirements of the Ph.D. you intend to apply to.
For candidates whose native language is not English, the TOEFL is required. Alternatively, candidates may submit the IELTS or the Duolingo test.
Details on each Ph.D. Program’s TOEFL, Duolingo, or IELTS requirements are available here:
Applicants to ECE, if they have graduated from a U.S. institution, either undergraduate or master’s, do not need to provide proof of English Language proficiency.
International SCS applicants whose native language is not English, if currently working on or have received a bachelor’s and/or a master’s degree in the U.S., may submit an expired TOEFL test score up to five years old. If the undergraduate or/or master’s degree is from a foreign institution, you will need to submit a TOEFL that is not expired (less than two years old at the time of application).
An English proficiency test is required for EPP candidates whose native language is not English. If you have received a 4-year degree in the U.S. and your native language is not English you do not need to take an English proficiency test.
Usually yes. In ECE for example, only non-expired tests will be accepted (usually only tests made in the last 2 years). For SCS applicants, scores within the last 5 years will generally be accepted.
Exceptions to the TOEFL exam are only for graduates of U.S. institutions.
The scholarship stipends and allowances in place in Portugal can be assessed on the FCT website.
At CMU the student will be paid according to the regular stipends for doctoral students determined by the CMU department. CMU’s Graduate Student Assembly publishes a GSA Stipend Report. This public report can provide a general idea of the stipends across CMU.
According to FCT, candidates that were already awarded and signed a contract for a Ph.D. scholarship are not eligible to apply for a scholarship of the same type.
The dual-degree program does not affect the length of the Ph.D. studies. The Program is structured in such a way that work completed at both locations – Carnegie Mellon and the partner universities in Portugal – supports the student’s progress on all of their requirements at the same pace-regardless of location.
You will spend up to two years at Carnegie Mellon and up to three years in Portugal.
If you are a non-U.S. citizen you will need to apply for an F-1 student visa. Carnegie Mellon University’s Office of International Education (OIE) provides guidance throughout the process and will issue the Certificate of Eligibility (the I-20 document) required to apply for the visa. An overview of the process from accepting an offer of admission to arriving at Carnegie Mellon can be found here.
While at CMU only, if you elect to enroll in Carnegie Mellon University’s Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), the University will cover 50 percent of the premium cost for your individual coverage under SHIP. Please note that if you wish to elect the required health insurance coverage under an alternate plan, you will not be eligible for the University support referenced here.
For the balance of the premium not covered by the University, there is a payment plan available. More information can be found here: https://www.cmu.edu/sfs/billing/payments/monthly-plan/index.html
Portugal has a public healthcare system (Serviço Nacional de Saúde – SNS), which grants its population access to the necessary healthcare at reduced fees. Generally, health insurance is not mandatory for foreign residents, although different prices may be charged by the SNS for foreign residents depending on the agreements in place between the country of origin and Portugal and their residency status. If you plan to attend the private healthcare system we strongly recommend you to get health insurance.
If you are a non-Portuguese student attending the Dual Degree Ph.D. Program you will most probably have or will have a permanent residence permit, and in this case the access to the SNS will be as nearly the same as any other Portuguese citizen.
You can find below more details depending on your country of origin and residency status in Portugal:
If there are no agreements in place the student will need to have a residence permit/ work permit to access the SNS. In these cases the student will be charged a reduced fee, and will have access to the same type of healthcare services.
Health insurance is required for all enrolled students by the University and is a necessity for everyone living in the US because the cost of routine and emergency health care as well as prescription medicine is extremely expensive. For more detailed information, please visit CMU’s Health Services website.
While at CMU only, if you elect to enroll in Carnegie Mellon University’s Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), the University will cover 100% of the premium cost for your individual coverage under SHIP. Please note that if you wish to elect the required health insurance coverage under an alternate plan, you will not be eligible for the University support referenced here.
For additional information on CMU’s SHIP, please visit this page.
Yes, and this applies to all the work developed in the scope of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program. Students are required to include the following sentence in the scientific paper, poster, or any other publication:
[EN] This work was supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P. through the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program, by scholarship reference <insert reference FCT SFRH / BD /xxxxxx/20xx> and DOI identifier <insert DOI URL>.
[PT] Este trabalho é financiado pela FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P., através do Programa Carnegie Mellon Portugal, no âmbito da bolsa (inserir referência da bolsa FCT SFRH / BD / xxxxxx/20xx) e DOI <inserir URL do DOI>.
Applicable fees may be found on the individual program’s webpage:
It is not necessary to upload a work plan when applying to the program. In most cases, the general process is to develop this with your advisor and thesis committee after your scholarship is approved and in order to sign the scholarship contract with FCT.
No, although it is important to have already a potential advisor already identified both in Portugal and at CMU and, if so, mention them on the application.
You can access in our website the list of faculty affiliated with the Program at: https://cmuportugal.org/faculty_researchers/
The CMU Portugal Affiliated Ph.D. Programs Initiative, launched for the first time in the 2021/2022 Academic year, offers Ph.D. scholarships in selected cutting-edge areas of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), related to the scope of the CMU Portugal Program. The Affiliated Ph.D. Program will be entirely hosted by a Portuguese University, with a research period at Carnegie Mellon up to 1 year. Upon the Ph.D. conclusion, candidates will be awarded a degree by the Portuguese host University.
In the Affiliated Ph.D. Programs students will be awarded a Portuguese Ph.D. degree by a Portuguese higher education institution. Contrary to the Dual Degree Ph.D. Programs, CMU will not award a Ph.D. degree through the Affiliated Ph.D. Programs initiative.
Yes, being that our recommendation is that the candidate should be in the initial phase of the Ph.D. in order to take full advantage of the funding available. Also, the candidate should not have benefited from a Ph.D. scholarship or Ph.D. in companies scholarship directly funded by FCT, regardless of its duration.
The candidate should, together with the Portuguese supervisor, identify and contact potential CMU supervisors. If there is difficulty in identifying suitable CMU supervisors, we recommend the candidate to access our list of faculty affiliated with the Program at: https://cmuportugal.org/faculty_researchers/ .
The candidate can contact the coordination office at apply@cmuportugal.org if they have proven difficulty to establish a connection with CMU.
Yes. A maximum number of 3 advisors are allowed according to Portuguese law. At least one supervisor must be affiliated with CMU and another with the Portuguese University where the student is registered.
No. However, the jury will indeed evaluate among other criteria, if there was a previous collaboration from the supervisors with the Program.
Yes. It is mandatory for the candidate to attach to the application a support letter from the CMU supervisor.
In the Affiliated Ph.D. Program the degree will only be conferred by the Portuguese higher education institution. In the Dual Degree Ph.D. Program the candidate will be awarded two Ph.D. degrees, one from CMU and another from the Portuguese higher education institution.
No. The scholarship that will be awarded for the Affiliated Ph.D. Program and cannot be altered to the Dual Degree Ph.D. Program.
It is possible, although it is not recommended since it is expected that the student would be at this stage writing the thesis and then defend it in Portugal. Our recommendation is for the visiting research period at CMU to take place in the second or third year of the Ph.D., which is typically the phase of the development of the thesis research.
The CMU Portugal Coordination office may help provide contacts for the student to find accommodation while at CMU. However, it is the student’s responsibility to establish contacts and search for accommodation. The CMU Portugal office at CMU may assist students in establishing contact with CMU’s departments and services, before and during the stay at CMU.
More information on housing at CMU is available in the OIE’s Settling In Guide as well as the CMU Portugal Visitor Guide”.
To get an idea of the cost of living while at CMU, you can use a Cost of Living Comparison calculator that allows you to compare Pittsburgh to Lisbon.
Participating students will use the J-1 Scholar visa for the visiting research period at CMU.
The J-1 Scholar visa category does not allow work authorization outside CMU, such as OPT or AT.
All J exchange visitors (J-1) are required by federal regulations to have health insurance meeting minimum requirements, which can be found here. Failure of the J-1 exchange visitor to maintain adequate health insurance will result in the loss of their legal J immigration status.
A number of companies offer health insurance. On this page, there are a sample of companies which provide health insurance plans which meet the regulations for J-1 students and exchange visitors.
PLEASE NOTE: CMU’s Office of International Education cannot recommend plans or guarantee that they will be accepted by Pittsburgh-area providers. Also, while the companies listed currently offer insurance plans that satisfy the minimum U.S Department of State (DoS) requirements, the J exchange visitor must check with the company directly to make sure that the health coverage meets the minimum DoS requirements, as services are subject to change.
Application process
There are specific guidelines for the workplan, which are addressed in the online application form when filling out the form. Overall, the candidate will need to provide a title, keywords, abstract, state of the art, objectives, tasks, chronogram and bibliographical references. Regarding the motivation letter, there is no specific template. It should generally address the candidate´s experience, the research topic that will be developed, and why the CMU Portugal Program Affiliated Ph.D. Programs are the ideal platform to develop that research.
The candidate should provide proof of all the higher education degrees submitted in the online application form. If a foreign higher education institution awarded one or both degrees, it will be required registration of recognition of the academic degrees and registration of the final classification conversion will be required to the Portuguese classification scale for those degrees. Alternatively, the candidate´s should submit a declaration of honor on how (s)he obtained the recognition of the foreign degree equivalent to a graduate or master´s degree until the end of the application period.
If a foreign higher education institution awarded one or both degrees (applies to any country aside Portugal), it will be required a registration of recognition of the academic degrees and registration of the final classification conversion will be required to the Portuguese classification scale for those degrees. Alternatively, the candidate´s should submit a declaration of honor on how (s)he obtained the recognition of the foreign degree equivalent to a graduate or master´s degree until the end of the application period.
The candidate will need to have the recognition of the degree by the time of application.
One of the objectives of the Affiliated Ph.D. Programs initiative, which is aligned with CMU Portugal Program’ main goals, is to strengthen the collaboration between industry and academia in Portugal. In this respect candidates are encouraged to submit a support letter from a Portuguese ICT company. It is expected that the letter should address the level of contribution of the student´s Ph.D. research to the company activity and vice-versa. It should detail when that collaboration will take place throughout the Ph.D., how it will be established (namely what tools, software, data, models, other will be used) and what objectives will be achieved.
