Adopted by the Faculty Board 2 July 2003, amended 2 March 2005 and 8
March 2006
A. AIMS
AND STRUCTURE
(Relating
to section 1 of the Regulations: Aims)
The Faculty
of Mathematics and Natural Sciences administers the Dr. philos. degree in
addition to the PhD degree. The faculty considers these two degrees to be of
equal stature. The faculty expects that the Dr. philos. degree is only used by
candidates who have not taken part in any formalized research programme.
B. ADMISSION
(Relating to section 2 of the Regulations: Admissions)
B.1 The applicant's
formal competence
To be
admitted to the PhD programme the applicant must normally have completed the
master's degree or equivalent at a Norwegian university or college. An
applicant may be admitted without such an education if she or he is able to
document a corresponding academic level. Applicants with education from abroad
must submit an assessment of the scope and content of the education. Education
from abroad corresponding to at least four years in the Norwegian university
system may be accepted as the grounds for admission pursuant to an individual
assessment.
If the academic community finds that the applicant does not have the
required knowledge in the academic field, the faculty may on recommendation
from the academic community set additional requirements beyond the compulsory training
component of the PhD programme.
When assessing applicants the faculty's research programme committee may
require that the necessary academic level is documented, for example by having
applicants to complete designated courses and/or pass designated tests prior to
admission.
B.2 Evaluating formal competence
For
applicants to scholarship positions, the faculty's hiring body must approve the
grounds for admission in connection with the appointment, unless the applicants
have already been admitted to the PhD programme. The grounds for admission are
evaluated in relation to the academic field the scholarship position is in. The
research programme committee at the department and/or faculty level may assist
the hiring body when necessary.
B.3. Admission criteria
To be
admitted to the PhD programme the average grades attained in the specialization
during the bachelor degree, master's subjects and the master's thesis, respectively,
must be C or better.
B.4. Applications and admission
Applications
for admission to the PhD programme must be written on a separate application
form which may be downloaded from the Internet at http://www.uib.no/mnfa/research/forskerutdanning.php.
Admissions are made continuously throughout the year.
The faculty
is the formal admissions authority, but the initial assessment of applications
is undertaken by the departments. The departments process applications pursuant
to the provisions in force at any time. In simple cases the departments
complete the processing of the application. The faculty is notified about the
outcome and may reverse the decision. Applications from candidates with
non-traditional education must be forwarded to the faculty. If education from
abroad constitutes the entire qualification or the main qualification for
admission, the processing of the application must be completed by the faculty
after a recommendation from the department.
The department
must ensure that suitable supervisors and the necessary equipment is available
for completing the research project.
C. CONTRACTS
(Relating
to section 3 of the Regulations: Contracts)
The contract
must be signed by the candidate, supervisors, the department and any external
parties. The contract must be sent to the faculty for their information.
Major
changes in the matters dealt with in the contract must be approved by the department.
D. THE
RESEARCH PROGRAMME
(Relating
to section 4 of the Regulations: Research programme)
D.1 Time limits and maximum time for studies
The PhD programme must
be completed (date of the defence) within eight years after admission. Periods
of leave are not included in the PhD programme period. If the training has not
been completed within this frame, the PhD programme must be terminated. Any
decision as to the fact that the maximum PhD programme time has been exceeded
must be made by the faculty and may be appealed pursuant to the provisions in
sections 28 ff of the Norwegian Public Administration Act. An appeal with the
reasons for the appeal must be lodged with the faculty. If the decision is upheld,
the appeal shall be submitted to the Central Appeals Board for a decision.
D.2 The training component
D.2.1
Content
The training component shall comprise 30 credits and include the
following:
Part 1: Formal part
Subjects at
the 200 level or higher, researcher courses and/or special syllabuses must
comprise 25-27 credits (depending on the number of credits in the presentation
section), including training in science theory and ethics. Candidates who have
studied science theory/ethics in previous education do not need to take this
again for their PhD programme.
The training component must nevertheless include a total of 30 credits.
National and
international research courses lasting five full working days are awarded two credits.
Requirements for documentation of the scope and content of the course are the
responsibility of the candidate and the course organiser. No reports or
examinations beyond what might be included in the course are required.
Part 2: Outreach
Three to
five credits are awarded for presentation. All the components of this section
must normally be completed after an application for admission to the PhD
programme has been submitted or appointment to a scholarship position has been
effected. Activities that might be included are:
·
Knowledge
presentation course
·
Participation
at international conferences with presentation of results from the candidate’s research
results. International conferences do not include national meetings with
invitation of speakers from abroad. Two credits are awarded per conference. Maximum
one conference.
·
Popular-science
contributions in the candidate’s field. Up to two credits per contribution.
Maximum two credits.
·
Seminar/lecture
on self-selected topic. One credit. Duration of one lecture hour. Maximum one
credit. The seminar/lecture must be open to everyone and be announced two weeks
in advance. The topic must be proposed by the student and the supervisor and
approved by the department. The department convenes a committee with two
members to evaluate the seminar/presentation. The same criteria for evaluation
as for the trial lecture applies (see point I). The committee must send the
outcome of the evaluation to the department.
Scientific articles
that are not part of the dissertation are not
awarded credits in the training component.
The content of the training
component must be such that together with dissertation work and previous
training it provides the necessary academic scope and in-depth studies that are
embedded in the objectives for the research programme.
Each department may
within the stipulated framework draw up regulations for how the training
component is to be carried out. The regulations must be approved by the
faculty.
D.2.2 Level
The faculty does not approve 100-level subjects as part of the training
component. If such subjects are considered necessary as preparatory knowledge
for other subjects or the research task, these must be taken outside the
framework of 30 credits.
During the training component subjects taught at other faculties or departments
may be useful. When in doubt as to whether the subject is at an acceptable
level, it must be evaluated by a relevant academic community at the faculty.
Descriptions of special syllabuses must make it possible to evaluate the
content, level and scope. The type of examinations must also be stated.
For examinations in subjects and/or special syllabuses, achievement must
correspond to a grade of C or better. In cases where the grade scale used is
Pass/Fail, pass shall correspond to a grade C or better. Unless a subject or
course has a stipulated grade scale of Pass/Fail, letters shall be used to
designate grades. For an examination in a special syllabus letter grades must
be used.
If examinations passed previously are used in the training component, it
must be documented that they have been passed with a satisfactory result.
D.2.3 Miscellaneous
The department determines the type of exam for subjects and special syllabuses
that are part of the training component. Exams may at the latest be taken one
month before the defence.
Examinations that are older than five years on application for admission
may not be used in the training component. If a PhD candidate does not pass one
of the examinations in the training component, the earliest a new exam may be
taken is during the following semester.
Applicants who have started a PhD programme (or equivalent) at another
institution may apply for approval of completion of a part of the organized
research programme on admission. The programme that has been completed must be
documented in writing and must be evaluated as to scope by the faculty on the
basis of a recommendation from the department where the candidate is applying
for admission. Activities that are approved under the presentation section must
be completed after the research programme at the other institution was
initiated.
D.3 Supervision
The PhD programme is a supervised research programme. This means that
the candidate must stay at the university for a substantial part of the
effective time of study, unless otherwise indicated by special circumstances.
An
evaluation committee consisting of at least two members must be appointed. At
least one of the members must be from the department the candidate is affiliated
with.
D.4 Reports
The departments are responsible for oversight the PhD candidates. The
candidate and the supervisor must draw up separate annual reports describing progression
in the studies. The reports must be sent to and approved by the department's research
programme committee.
PhD
candidates who do not submit progress reports after the second reminder will
have their right to study terminated. They would then have to re-apply for
admission to the PhD programme.
D.5 Six-month reports
Six months before the planned defence the PhD candidate must apply for
approval of the training component to the department's research programme committee.
The application must include all the necessary documentation of the activities
carried out in the training component. If all the activities have not been
carried out, the PhD candidate must enclose a plan for completion of the training
component. The department's research programme committee processes the
application and sends a reply letter to the candidate. The faculty must receive
copies of the letter and the documentation.
E. TERMINATING
SUPERVISION
(Relating to section 5 of the Regulations: Terminating the organized
research programme before the stipulated time)
A request
to be released from supervision must be addressed to the faculty and must be
sent through the academic unit. A copy of the request must be sent by the
requesting party to the other party.
F. THE
DISSERTATION
(Relating to
section 6 of the Regulations: The dissertation)
The main results of
the dissertation must be publishable. Responsibility rests with the candidate
and the supervisors to consider suitability for publication when selecting
research projects. During dissertation work the general rule is that parts of
the thesis must be published internationally.
The dissertation may be submitted as either a
monograph or as inter-connected articles comprising a whole, with an
introduction to the work together with an overview over the results and a
thorough scientific discussion. The abstract must not only summarize but also
collate the research question and conclusions that are presented in the
individual parts of the work in a comprehensive perspective, thus documenting
the cohesion of the dissertation.
The dissertation
must preferably be written in English.
G. SUBMISSION
(Relating
to section 8 of the Regulations: Submission, withdrawal)
Normally at least ten
weeks prior to the planned defence the doctoral candidate must apply to the
faculty to submit the dissertation for evaluation. The application must be
submitted to the department together with four copies of the dissertation. The department
shall then forward the application together with a proposal for an evaluation committee
to the faculty no later than seven weeks prior to the planned defence. The proposed members of the
evaluation committee must be legally competent.
The opponents can normally be disqualified if
there is any collaboration between the opponent and the candidate or his/her
supervising committee. This includes a joint publication in progress, joint
publications within the past five years or any other form of collaboration. The
leader of the committee can normally not have initiated any collaboration with
the candidate leading to publications, have joint publications within the past
five years or in any other form of collaboration with the candidate to be
considered legally competent. See also the Norwegian Public Administration Act
§§ 6-10, http://www.ub.uio.no/ujur/ulovdata/lov-19670210-000-eng.pdf.
Before the
dissertation is accepted for evaluation, the supervisor must have submitted a
statement identifying the candidate's input in joint work. The supervisor must also
have submitted a statement recommending submission of the dissertation. This
shall be kept secret from the evaluation committee.
H. THE
COMMITTEE'S RECOMMENDATION AND PROCESSING THE RECOMMENDATION
The
committee normally produces a recommendation with grounds to the faculty within
five weeks after appointment, with any individual statements attached, stating whether
the work is worthy of defence for a doctoral degree.
The
doctoral candidate is given a time limit of two weeks to submit written remarks
to the recommendation of the evaluation committee.
The
recommendation from the evaluation committee with any remarks must be processed
by the faculty's research programme committee. The dean may approve a committee
recommendation when it unanimously concludes that the doctoral candidate should
be allowed to make his or her defence.
I TRIAL LECTURE AND DEFENCE
(Relating to section 11 of the Regulations: Trial lecture and defence)
The topic for the trial lecture is decided by the faculty on
recommendation from the department. The theme of the given topic shall normally
not be taken from central research questions in the doctoral degree work. The
trial lecture shall be given after submitting the dissertation but prior to the
defence, and shall be evaluated by a three-member committee appointed by the department
(all three members may be from the department).
The aim of the trial lecture is that the candidate is supposed to show
ability to pass on research based knowledge. The lecture should normally be
appropriate for an audience with a knowledge level comparable with students in
second year at a bachelor programme.
The trial lecture shall have a length of one teaching period.
Both
scientific skills and ability to pass on research based knowledge should be
important in the evaluation.
If the
committee finds that it cannot approve the trial lecture, the candidate is
allowed another attempt. Agreement must be reached on a date for the new trial
lecture and a new date for the defence, if necessary. A new trial lecture must
be given on the same theme with the same committee evaluating it, and it must
be given within 10 working days.
In cases
where the committee invalidates the trial lecture, the committee's report must
give the candidate clear instructions as to what must be rectified.
The department notifies the faculty about the date, venue and time for
the trial lecture and defence. The faculty announces the defence and designates
a chairperson for the defence. The trial lecture must be arranged by the department.
During the defence the opponents have equal roles and agree together on
who should initiate and conclude the opposition.
The defence must
normally be arranged at the