Lectures and courses from three categories (general subjects, core courses, and seminars) will provide at least 20 ECTS which are required to submit your thesis, according to the credit calculator of the Medical University of Innsbruck (https://www.i-med.ac.at/studium/formulare/).

The Core Courses (Kernfach, KF) of the program are taught on an annual basis (i.e. once a year, if these are lectures), starting with the Ring Lecture in October. All courses can be found at i-med inside and your login details. The student is free to choose specific subjects.

The students are encouraged to attend courses of other PhD programs (normally one or two) of the Medical University of Innsbruck, especially in later semesters. As the IIT program encourages international exchange, courses taken abroad may be accepted for the different categories, which is subject to evaluation by the IIT coordinator.

If a student wishes to start the doctoral work later during the winter term, or at the beginning of the summer term, other courses can be attended before the core courses (e.g. IIT Seminars, General Subjects or other Core Courses), to avoid any delay of the study progress. The mandatory Ring Lecture can be attended in the following winter term.

An example of the PhD trajectory of lectures and courses is schematically depicted below. The minimum and maximum ECTS accredited for each category are contained in the credit calculator, and further information can be found here: https://www.i-med.ac.at/studium/formulare/.

Legends (numbers = ECTS- points = SWS):
RING LECT…….. IIT Ring Lecture (1.5 ECTS) and MYCOS Ring Lecture (1 ECTS) PRS……………… IIT Progress Reports (Seminars 1 ECTS)
JC……………….. IIT/MYCOS Journal Clubs (Seminars 1 ECTS)

LECTURES & COURSES

Core Courses 

Ring Lectures (IIT Ring lecture, 1.5 ECTS, obligatory, LV-Nr. 45001, MYCOS Ring Lecture 1 ECTS, LV-Nr. 45020, obligatory for MYCOS students) Ring Lectures will provide you with a broad overview on subjects related to infection, immunity and transplantation. No registration is required before the lectures, your attendance will be tracked by signature.

Other Core Courses 
Other Core Courses (minimum 5.5, maximum 7.5 ECTS) Please see section IIT Core Courses below – these courses are specific to the IIT or MYCOS program. To attend lectures no registration is required. To attend practical courses, please register at IIT@i-med.ac.at or, for MYCOS courses at mycos@i-med.ac.at and you will allocated a slot within the next semester(s) (dependent on availability).

Seminars (progress reports and journal clubs – 6 ECTS)

IIT Progress Report Seminars (PRS 1 ECTS, 45008 / 45508)
These are “work progress seminars” of each PhD student enrolled in the program. Each progress report enables the dissertation committee to assess the students’ progress, and promotes the interaction between IIT researchers. The discussion after each presentation should be fostered by the students. The dissertation committee and supervisor may also participate in the discussion and will meet afterwards to discuss the past and future progress in the presence of that student. A protocol must be compiled by the student summarizing the features discussed. All students have to present their progress yearly.

Comprehensive Center for Infectiology, Immunology and Transplantation (CIIT)
These are clinical seminars with discussion of patient trajectories to connect researchers with clinicians. More Information can be found at https://www.i-med.ac.at/ciit/index.html.

Journal Clubs (JC, 1 ECTS, 45509) 
IIT or MYCOS Journal Clubs are seminars where each student will choose one important scientific paper not too close to her/his own project, but of general interest which she/he will present to the peers. Students have to actively participate in these talks by asking questions (minimum one question per semester) and each student also has to moderate one talk.

The Journal Club is optional, but it is strongly advised to take at least one Journal Club during the study to compensate for a missing Progress Report Seminar.

General Subjects (minimum 4, maximum 6 ECTS)
General Subjects are open to all PhD programs and provide general news and views common to all biomedical research areas. They can be found in i-med inside here: General Subjects (i.e. courses for all PhD programs), organized by Univ.-Prof. Dr.rer.nat. Patrizia Stoitzner.