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Il aura son doctorat d'ici à l'année prochaine.

Il aura son doctorat d'ici à l'année prochaine.
He will have his doctorate by next year.
From Lesson 453:Future time limits (d'ici, d'ici à)·French

Questions & Answers about Il aura son doctorat d'ici à l'année prochaine.

Why use d'ici à instead of just saying avant (before) next year?
While avant simply means "before", d'ici à emphasizes the whole period of time between right now and the future deadline. It translates best as "between now and" or "by".
Can I drop the à and just say d'ici l'année prochaine?
Yes, absolutely. When followed by a noun phrase like l'année prochaine, you can use either d'ici or d'ici à. Dropping the à is very common and sounds slightly more casual, while keeping it can sound a bit more formal.
Why does d'ici, which literally means "from here", refer to time in this sentence?
In French, spatial words are often used for time. Think of d'ici à as "from here (in time) to...". So d'ici à l'année prochaine literally maps out the time span "from now until next year."
Since there is a deadline, why use the simple future il aura instead of the futur antérieur (future perfect) like il aura eu?
You could use the futur antérieur (il aura eu or il aura obtenu) to strictly say "he will have gotten it". However, using the simple future of avoir (il aura) simply describes his status at that time ("he will possess his doctorate"), which is a perfectly natural way to phrase it in French.

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