Program Overview

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University of Fribourg

The University of Fribourg offers a doctoral training in French, German, and English in the field of Special Education.

Special Education

Special Education is the practice of educating students with special educational needs. The Department of Special Education contributes to the development, enrichment, and dissemination of scientific knowledge and to the deployment and optimisation of professional skills and practices in the field of special education.

Research Areas

The theses in the Department are likely to cover themes concerning, for example:

• Educational interventions, therapeutic pedagogical measures, and systems used in the field of special education and/or clinical speech therapy
• The learning journeys and/or the characteristics of people – children, teenagers, and adults – for the benefit of services in the field of special education and/or clinical speech therapy
• Monitoring the journeys of people on the academic, developmental, or social level depending on living and learning conditions proposed to them
• The functioning and/or organisation of ordinary and/or specialised environments in welcoming people
• Contact between these people, the community, and/or the immediate or more distant entourage (family, neighbours, school, work, other)
• Training of professionals working in the field of special education and/or clinical speech therapy
• Social attitudes towards persons receiving services in the field of special education and/or their entourage

Professors

The following professors are eligible to supervise theses:

• Prof. Erich Hartmann
  • Areas of specialisation: Diagnostic, prevention, and intervention in the field of acquired or developmental communication disorders, diagnostic, prevention, and intervention in the field of reading and writing disorders, evidence-based practices
  • Theses can be supervised in German or English
• Prof. Winfried Kronig
  • Areas of specialisation: Analysis of academic systems, estimation of academic performance, effects of the composition of classes
  • Theses can be supervised in German or English
• Prof. Christoph Müller
  • Areas of specialisation: Behavioural problems, intellectual disability, and autism, peer influence, and peer relations
  • Theses can be supervised in German or English
• Prof. Geneviève Petitpierre
  • Areas of specialisation: Intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, and/or neuro-development disorders, pedagogy-therapeutic intervention, efficiency, and/or implementation, meta-research (research methods for people with intellectual disability)
  • Theses can be supervised in French
• Prof. Nicolas Ruffieux
  • Areas of specialisation: Clinical neuropsychology of children and adults, visual disorder, new technologies at the service of disability
  • Theses can be supervised in French
• Prof. Myriam Squillaci
  • Areas of specialisation: Behavioural problems, health at work, burnout, autism (family, siblings), neurosciences, and special education, profound and multiple disabilities
  • Theses can be supervised in French, Italian, or English
• Prof. Carmen Zurbriggen
  • Areas of specialisation: Inclusion and social participation in school and leisure settings, well-being, and emotional experience of children and adolescents, emotional and social development (in the context of disability), diagnosis, and research methods in special education
  • Theses can be supervised in German, French, or English

Doctoral Programme

In the doctoral programme, doctoral students who speak either German or French can register for the PROWEL (Social Problems and Social Welfare) doctoral school, which is led by Prof. Winfried Kronig from the Department of Special Education in collaboration with Prof. Monica Budowski (Sociology, Social Policy, and Social Work, University of Fribourg) and Prof. Christian Suter (Sociology, University of Neuchâtel). French-speaking doctoral students can also opt to attend the EDSE (Etudes doctorales en sciences de l'éducation) offered by CUSO.

Research Seminar

During the academic year, a research seminar is organised 6 to 7 times by the Department of Special Education. Doctoral students writing their thesis under the direction of one of the Department's professors periodically present their work within this framework and thus benefit from feedback from other Department researchers.

Admission

In order to be admitted to a doctorate, the candidate must have been awarded an academic bachelor's and master's degree or an equivalent qualification from a university recognised by the University of Fribourg. Before applying for a doctorate, the candidate must contact a professor who would be willing to supervise the thesis work. There is no general right to be admitted to a doctorate.

Degree Conferred

The degree conferred is Philosophiae Doctor in Paedagogia Speciali / Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education (PhD).

Commencement of Studies

An application for admission may be submitted at any time.

Regulation

The respective conditions of admission for each doctoral study programme are reserved.

Application Procedure

Candidates with Swiss qualifications and candidates with foreign qualifications must follow the specified application procedure.

Studies Organisation

Structure of Studies

No ECTS credits can be earned.

Doctoral School

The doctoral school is led by Prof. Winfried Kronig from the Department of Special Education in collaboration with Prof. Monica Budowski (Sociology, Social Policy, and Social Work, University of Fribourg) and Prof. Christian Suter (Sociology, University of Neuchâtel).

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