Program Description
Program Structure
The Graduate Program in Statistics of UFRJ leads to the titles of Master of Science (M.Sc.) and Doctor of Science (Dr.Sc.) in Statistics. From 2001 to 2015, the program worked in quarterly school system (3 terms per year). From the year 2016, the program returned to semester system, with two semesters of 15 weeks. Both titles have courses of Graduate Studies and Seminars as activities in the 1st academic year. Master Seminars are semester courses of one (1) credit involving the evaluation of understanding and participation in the Cycle of Lectures. Besides the presence in the lectures, students should prepare a monograph describing some of attended lectures. At the end of the 1st academic year, all students should have the minimum required 360 hours of instruction in regular courses and 20 hours of classes in seminars. Doctoral students with a M.Sc. degree from another program may request exemption from certain subjects if the equivalence with courses already attended on their earlier degrees can be certified. At the end of the 1st school year there are differences between the paths followed by masters and doctoral students. We will present these paths separately.
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The table below is a summary of the masters course activities.
MasterACADEMIC YEARPERiODACTIVITIES1st1stCoursesProbability theoryStatistical inference2ndCourses(Minimum of 3 subjects)
Computational StatisticsGeneralized Linear ModelsMarkov Chains1 course (to be elected from a basket of courses offered)allMaster seminars2ndallpreparation of the dissertation2ndOral presentation of the dissertation -
The PhD course has its structure based on Graduate courses, Seminars, Qualification Examinations and Doctoral Thesis. In addition to the courses attended in the 1st year, the student should in 2nd year attend two doctoral courses (60 hours of class each) and 2 Doctoral Seminars (15 hours of class each). This will total 120 hours of class for courses and 30 hours of seminars in the 2nd academic year. Adding that to the total of the 1st school year, one reaches the grand total of a minimum of 450 hours of instruction in regular courses and 50 hours of classes in seminars. Students with a M.Sc. degree from another program may be exempted from some courses if the equivalence with courses already attended is certified.
The permanence in the doctoral program also requires good performance in the courses of the 1st and 2nd years. Students with M.Sc. degrees from other graduate programs that have obtained exemption from courses must still attend at least 104 hours in our graduate courses.From there, students follow for the 2nd year when they should:
- attend two advanced doctoral courses with 4hs weekly in each (total 120hs);
- perform 2 Doctoral seminars with presentation and discussion of papers with one hour each week (total of 30h);
- prepare reports on lectures within the program (Master Seminars).
At the end of the 2nd year, students are subjected to the Preliminary Qualification Examination. This exam is oral and is about the contents of two doctoral disciplines of the program. The approval of this examination allows doctoral students of the program to continue the development of an original research work and the writing of a doctoral thesis.
Students must submit to the Doctoral Qualification Exam by the end of the 3rd year. They must prepare the presentation of a research project detailing his/her thesis proposal and must defend it before a panel. After the approval of this examination, the student should focus on research activities and are however encouraged to continue participating in the Program Seminars.
In the tables below are the doctoral course activities summary, considering the student’s choice between the two main major research areas of our program, Statistics and Probability.
PhD (Statistics)ACADEMIC YEARPERiODACTIVITIES1º1stCoursesProbability theoryStatistical inference2ndCourses(Minimum of 3 subjects)
Computational StatisticsGeneralized Linear ModelsComputational Statistics1 course (to be elected from a basket of option of courses offered)allMaster seminarsend of the 2ndPreliminary Qualification Examination2nd1stSubjects1 elective doctoral course1 doctoral seminar2ndSubjects1 elective doctoral course1 doctoral seminar3rd1stQualification examallThesis development4thallThesis development2ndThesis defensePhD (Probability)ACADEMIC YEARPERIODACTIVITIES1st1stCoursesProbability TheoryStatistical Inference2ndCoursesMarkov Chains2 courses (to be elected from a basket of option of courses offered)todosMaster seminars2nd1stCourses1 elective doctoral course*2nd1 doctoral seminarCourses1 elective doctoral course*1 doctoral seminar3rd1stQualification examallThesis development4thallThesis development2ndThesis defense* Depending on the research topic, the student may be allowed to attend electives courses that are considered important in their studies in the Graduate Program in Mathematics at UFRJ. We cite as examples: Measure Theory, Functional Analysis, Spectral Theory and Partial Differential Equations.