Supplementary rules for the degree of PhD

Supplementary regulations at the Faculty of Educational Sciences to the Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the University of Oslo

Considered by the Programme Council for organised research training on 30/08/2022. This revision combined the supplementary regulations to the regulations for the degree of Philisophiae Doctor (PhD) and the Programme Description of 15/03/2020 into a single document. This document entered into force on 30/08/2022.

Please note that the English translation is for information purposes only. For all legal purposes, the original document in Norwegian is the authoritative version.

§ 1 Applicability of regulations

The Faculty does not have any supplementary regulations to add to this section.

§ 2 The scope, content and objectives of the PhD education

The applicable learning outcomes for the degree are described on the Faculty website at all times.

§ 3 Responsibility for the PhD education

Supplementary regulation to § 3 Responsibility for the PhD education

The formalised organised research training at the Faculty of Educational Sciences is organised through a single PhD programme without programme options or specialisations. The PhD programme is linked to the subject areas covered by the programme portfolio at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at any time.

§ 4 Quality assurance

The Faculty does not have any supplementary regulations to add to this section.

§ 5 Admissions

Supplementary regulation to § 5.1 Admission requirements

Prior education

Relevant Norwegian higher education totalling five years as a minimum - normally a three-year bachelor’s degree and a two-year master’s degree. The master’s degree should normally include a master's thesis of at least 30 credits.
Relevant completed international degree (master's degree level) equivalent to a Norwegian two-year master’s degree.
Applicants with external funding must have completed their master’s degree at the time of submitting the application.
Applicants for PhD positions may apply before completing their master’s degrees only if the job advertisement allows this. The master's degree must be completed by the time of appointment.

Grade requirements

As a general rule, the following will apply:

The average grade at bachelor’s degree level must be C or better
Courses at master’s degree level must have an average grade of B or better
The master's thesis must have a grade of B or better
For five-year programmes, the average grade must be B or better
The admission requirement for qualifications completed prior to the quality reform entering into force is 2.5 or better

Relevant research experience (publications at an academically high level, project management, quality of project proposal) may compensate for poor grades in the event of doubt. Supervised professional training does not count.

For qualifications with few or no grades, a comprehensive assessment of the applicant’s expertise and planned PhD project will be conducted.

In cases where applicants do not meet all of the grade requirements or the standard rule for a five-year master’s degree, the recommendation committee must explain why the candidate is still considered qualified for admission.

English language proficiency requirements

The PhD programme at the Faculty of Educational Sciences follows the University of Oslo’s requirements relating to English language proficiency for admission to master’s degree programmes

Admission application requirements

Applications must be submitted using the Faculty’s established admission and agreement form. A project proposal and the necessary documentation must be enclosed with the form. The application and agreement form applicable at any time, as well as the Faculty’s website, stipulates the appendices that must be enclosed with the application, as well as how the application should be designed.

Applications relating to subject areas peripheral to or outside of the Faculty’s subject portfolio or subject areas for which there is no academic supervisor capacity available will be rejected.

For applicants with external funding, the following criteria apply for submission of enhanced versions of their applications:

the changes and improvements that have been made to enhance the project proposal are specified in the cover letter.
enhanced applications can be submitted only three times for the same project.

Resource access requirements

Applicants must have at their disposal the necessary resources to complete their PhD projects. The Faculty will determine what is considered necessary. For applicants with external funding and/or an external place of work, an agreement will be negotiated in connection with each research project.

Funding requirements

A funding plan must be enclosed with applications from applicants with external funding for the entire admission period, alternatively information about the funding that has been applied for and the deadlines for when such funding will be available. Funding must be available no later than four months after the application deadline. Any place on the programme will otherwise lapse.

It is not possible to plan the completion of the PhD training with a progression that results in a course of study exceeding five years, corresponding to 60% research and 40% required duties.

Funding must cover the entire admission period.

Project proposal requirements

The Faculty has its own guidance with project proposal requirements.

No conditional approval of the project proposal will be given. Minor remarks regarding revision may follow an admission recommendation.

Additional requirements

To the extent that the Faculty/Department lacks sufficient academic supervisory capacity, this will constitute grounds for rejecting applications from applicants with external funding for which the Faculty does not have any employer liabilities.

The Faculty can make stipulations pertaining to courses and/or combinations of courses prior to admitting an applicant to the PhD programme.

§ 5.2 Decisions regarding admission

Supplementary regulation to § 5.2 Decisions regarding admission

Applications for admission must be academically quality-assured and recommended by a unit before the Faculty finalises its consideration of the application. The final admission decision will be made by the Programme Council for organised research training.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

The intention of the Faculty is that the agreement is to be entered into 1.5 months after the applicant’s date of admission.The agreement must cover the topic of the thesis, the contract period, the funding plan, academic supervision matters, the place of work and the training component. The agreement will contribute towards safeguarding the candidate's, supervisor's, Faculty's and unit's responsibilities, rights and obligations, as well as any commitments to an external funding source.

In connection with the signing of the agreement, the unit must ensure that external supervisors are given a copy of the regulations governing the PhD programme, the programme plan for research education and other relevant provisions associated with the Code of Conduct for academic supervisors at the University of Oslo and the National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH):

Upon admission, doctoral candidates will normally be affiliated with the research group that the academic supervisor from the Faculty of Educational Sciences is affiliated with. The unit will be responsible for ensuring that the candidate is affiliated with an active research community.

§ 5.3 Admission period

Supplementary regulation to § 5.3 Admission period

It is possible to apply for an extension of the admission period.The application must be recommended by a unit before it is submitted to the Faculty. A confirmation from the academic supervisor must be enclosed with the application, stating that the thesis work can be completed during the extension period. Active academic supervision is a requirement for the admission period to be extended.

During the period between submitting the assessment application until the public defence, candidates will automatically be admitted to the PhD programme.

§ 6 The PhD agreement

Supplementary regulation to § 6 The PhD agreement

The candidate will be required to report on their progress once per year (progress reporting) and ensure that their contact details in StudentWeb are up-to-date.

§ 7 Academic supervision

Supplementary regulation to § 7.1 Content of the academic supervision

Academic supervisors have a duty to stay abreast of the regulations that govern the PhD programme and to assist candidates in complying with their rights and obligations. Candidates and academic supervisors have a duty to provide one another with continuous information about all matters of importance to the completion of the doctoral degree.

Please also refer to the rights and obligations of the parties as described at all times on the Faculty website.

Supplementary regulation to § 7.2 Appointment of academic supervisors

All candidates must have a minimum of two academic supervisors throughout the entire PhD programme period, of which at least one must be employed at the Faculty in a minimum 20% research or adjunct post (Professor/Associate Professor). All academic supervisors must hold a doctoral degree or equivalent expertise. The impartiality rules set out in Chapter 2 of the Public Administration Act “On impropriety” (Section 6-10) will apply to all appointed academic supervisors. Appointed academic supervisors must not be directly related (father, mother, daughter, son) or have other close relationships (e.g. romantic relationships) with one another or the candidate.

The PhD candidate and academic supervisor may, subject to their agreement, request that the Faculty appoint a new academic supervisor for the candidate.

If an academic supervisor becomes emeritus, resigns or dies, the candidate and the rest of the academic supervision group have a duty to inform the Faculty and propose a new academic supervisor.

In the event of conflict between a candidate and their academic supervisor, the parties must jointly seek to resolve the situation that has arisen. If the parties fail to reach an agreement, one or both parties may request to be released from the academic supervision agreement. The request for release from the academic supervision agreement must be justified and submitted to the Faculty.

Any changes in academic supervisors must be approved by the Faculty. An academic supervisor cannot discontinue their duties before a new academic supervisor has been appointed.

If the main academic supervisor is an external party or Adjunct Professor/Adjunct Associate Professor, there must be at least one internal co-supervisor.The main academic supervisor has formal responsibility for issues relating to the candidate. If the main academic supervisor is an external party or Adjunct Professor/Adjunct Associate Professor, the main academic supervisor and co-supervisor must share this responsibility. Reports and written works must be submitted to both external and internal academic supervisors.

In order to act as the main academic supervisor, academic supervision experience from master’s degree level must normally be documented. At least one individual within the academic supervision team must previously have completed academic supervision leading to a public defence.

The main academic supervisor will have the responsibility for conducting the candidate’s midway assessment, recommending members for the assessment committee and recommending the chair for the public defence. The main academic supervisor, alternatively together with the co-supervisor if the main academic supervisor is an external party, will have the main responsibility for following up on regulations and frameworks relating to the candidate’s PhD programme.

The internal academic supervisor has a duty to maintain contact with the candidate and stay informed about the candidate’s study progress. The internal academic supervisor is responsible for involving the candidate in the academic community at the unit, e.g. through seminar activities.

The overall academic supervision during the admission period accounts for the number of hours set out at any time pursuant to agreements at the units or at the Faculty of Educational Sciences. The candidate will not be entitled to academic supervision beyond the admission period.

§ 8 The educational component

Supplementary regulation to § 8 The educational component

The Programme Council for organised research training approves the creation and content of PhD courses at the Faculty.

The candidate must retain and be able to present documentation of completed courses.

The unit will be responsible for recording approved training for each PhD candidate.

The training component must be relevant both with regard to doctoral work and with regard to general research qualifications in the field. Individual course plans will be drawn up by the candidate in consultation with the academic supervisor. External courses must be pre-approved by the unit.

In the event of applications for assessment, the training component must be submitted to the Faculty for a final decision with a recommendation from the unit.

In order for courses at master’s level to be included in the training component, examination results corresponding to a grade of B or better will be required. Such courses must be pre-approved by the unit and will be included in the elective part of the training component.

Courses at bachelor's level cannot be included in the training component.

Courses at master’s level or PhD level (maximum 10 credits) that are no older than two years at the time of admission to the PhD programme may be included in the training component, provided that the courses are not part of another completed degree and have been completed with a grade of B or better.

The training component at the Faculty consists of compulsory subjects worth 20 credits and an elective component of 10 credits.

The compulsory subjects worth 20 credits are:

theory of science (5 credits)
quantitative and qualitative method (10 credits)
ethics (3 credits)
UV9040 - Research seminar (2 credits)

The candidate must cover 10 credits in methodology via the training component. The various courses completed by the candidate as part of this component must include at least 3 credits in qualitative courses and at least 3 credits in quantitative courses. The composition of these compulsory subjects for methodological courses will ensure that candidates gain broad knowledge of the various methodological approaches, while their preferred approach can be assigned most weight. Courses in research design and mixed methods can be included in the compulsory training component in methodology.

The methodology courses in the training component can constitute courses at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, but other approved methodology courses may be selected if such courses are more relevant to the candidate. Further methodology courses may also be included in the elective component of the training programme. Courses in research design are recommended and should be completed early on during the course of study.

Candidates must also be able to document having completed 1.5 weeks of academic dissemination.

Candidates may complete courses in compulsory subjects at other universities. The content of such courses must be approved in advance.

The elective component worth 10 credits may be constructed as follows:

The Faculty of Educational Sciences’ PhD courses: maximum 10 credits.
National and international PhD courses, excluding compulsory subjects (must be approved in advance): maximum 10 credits.
Specialised syllabus selected by the student (must be approved in advance): maximum 10 credits.
A stay of at least two weeks at a relevant institution for the purpose of learning methodology/theory: maximum 3 credits.
Conference contributions at national/international conferences: maximum 1 credit per conference for up to three conferences

In order for course attendance to be approved, legitimate absence may account for a maximum of 20% of teaching time. The course leader is responsible for checking attendance. For courses of a short duration (e.g. one or two days), the unit may require 100% participation.

Academic dissemination

In order to sit the PhD examination, the candidate must have acquired some experience of academic dissemination. Work efforts in the dissemination component must account for approximately 1.5 weeks of work effort. The content of the dissemination component must be approved by the academic supervisor.

Examples of approved academic dissemination include:

lectures or seminars for which the academic supervisor will provide feedback to the candidate (could include series of lectures delivered as part of required duties)
popular scientific work (e.g. op-eds, popular science articles, lectures, etc.)
dissemination of independent research
dissemination at international conferences
the elective component of the course element, Item 5 - Presentation of results from independent research in faculty forums, international forums/conferences (e.g. presentation of own talks) may be included as academic dissemination.

Calculation of credits

Please refer to the information on the Faculty website concerning the calculation of credits (only in Norwegian).

§ 9 Reporting

Supplementary regulation to § 9 Reporting

The annual compulsory progress report must be submitted using a dedicated form that will be sent to the candidate. The completed form must be returned to the department before 01/12 each year. A separate report must be submitted by the academic supervisor by the same deadline.

The academic supervisor must assist the candidate in notifying the department that the thesis is nearly ready for submission approximately six months prior to submission.

§ 10 The thesis

Supplementary regulation to § 10.1 Thesis requirements

The required level of quality for a thesis remains the same regardless of whether the thesis is a monograph or articles. Articles must be of the level required for publication in recognised journals with peer review. The academic supervisor must recommend whether the thesis is of the quality required for submission. Nevertheless, the candidate will ultimately be responsible for the content and whether the thesis should be submitted.

Article-based theses

An article-based thesis consists of articles and an introductory chapter. The candidate must be the main author of at least two articles and at least one article should have been accepted for publication by the assessment date.

The Faculty has developed separate guidelines for article-based theses.

The number of articles will depend on the size and quality of the individual articles and on how much the candidate has contributed. If the candidate has put an unusually large amount of work into one article and this article is of a very high standard, the number of articles required may be reduced.

Up to two articles/manuscripts may be collaborative works that are also included in another doctoral thesis. In such cases, the main academic supervisor will be responsible for enclosing an account of the candidate’s independent contributions to the collaboration. The co-authorship declarations must also state that the work is included in another doctoral thesis. The academic supervisor is responsible for ensuring that each candidate’s research efforts account for 2.5 years of research.

The Faculty does not accept theses that are wholly collaborative works created by two PhD candidates.

The unit will conduct plagiarism checks on the thesis after submission.

Thesis language

Theses should preferably be written in a Scandinavian language or English. The thesis can also be written in a different language if approval is granted by the Faculty/department/unit.

§ 11 Duty to report work results with potential for commercial exploitation

The Faculty does not have any supplementary regulations to add to this section.

§ 12 Submission

Supplementary regulation to § 12 Submission

The application to have the thesis assessed must be submitted to the Faculty.

The following is required for submission:

The entire thesis in a single PDF file
Confirmation of approved completion of the training component
Signed co-authorship forms for each collaborative work
Confirmation from the unit showing that the training component has been completed and approved. The confirmation must specify the content of the training component.

§ 13 Appointment of the evaluation committee

Supplementary regulation to § 13 Appointment of the evaluation committee

In connection with the assessment application, the internal or external main academic supervisor must, in consultation with the internal co-supervisor, make recommendations regarding the composition of the assessment committee using the established form. Such recommendations must be justified and show how the committee, overall, will cover the field of study addressed in the thesis.

All committee members must complete and sign the declaration of impartiality.

The recommendation form must be signed by the main academic supervisor and sent to the candidate. The candidate will have the opportunity to submit comments within one week of receiving the recommendation form.

Co-authors and/or previous and current academic supervisors of the candidate cannot serve on the committee.

As a general rule, the committee should consist of three members and be composed as follows:

One member from an international institution
One member from an institution other than the University of Oslo
One member from the Faculty of Educational Sciences (Chair of the Committee)

The committee members should not normally have been involved in any collaborative work with the candidate’s academic supervisors over the last five years. If the academic supervisor and a committee member have collaborated, such collaborations must be described.

If a committee member steps down before the recommendation is complete, a new committee member must be appointed by recommendation of the main academic supervisor. The new recommendation and declaration of impartiality must be submitted to the Faculty.

If a committee member is unable to attend a trial lecture and/or public defence, the Faculty may appoint a stand-in member by recommendation from the chair of the committee, main academic supervisor or head of unit.

If more than one member of the committee needs to step down during the assessment but before the public defence, the assessment must be paused, a new committee appointed and the assessment restarted. The thesis must be submitted to the new committee in the form available at the time at which the assessment was paused.

If more than one member of the committee is unable to attend a trial lecture and/or public defence, the doctoral examination must be postponed.

§ 14 The work of the evaluation committee

Supplementary regulation to § 14.2 Revision of a submitted thesis

If the assessment committee finds that a thesis cannot be revised to a level accepted for a PhD degree within six months, the thesis will be rejected.

The assessment committee must deliver its final recommendation within one month of the revised thesis being submitted to the committee. If the candidate has made the changes recommended by the committee, the committee should normally recommend that the candidate may defend the thesis.

If the Faculty, represented by the Dean, rejects the recommended revision, the matter will revert to the committee, which will be asked to provide its recommendation.

When applying Section 14.2, the candidate must enclose a cover letter with the revised thesis describing what adjustments and improvements have been made to the thesis and where.

A candidate who is unable to deliver a revised version of the thesis by the given deadline due to illness or for another valid reason must submit a medical certificate or equivalent documentation to the Faculty as soon as possible.

Supplementary regulation to § 14.3 Recommendation of the evaluation committee

The recommendation must be available two months after the committee receives the thesis.

The recommendation may have one of three potential outcomes:

Acceptance
Revision required, Section 14.2 of the PhD Regulations
Not accepted, Section 16 of the PhD Regulations

§ 15 The faculty's procedures relating to the evaluation committee's recommendation

The Faculty does not have any supplementary regulations for this sections.

§ 16 Re-submission

The Faculty does not have any supplementary regulations for this sections.

§ 17 Publicising the thesis

Supplementary regulation to § 17.1 Faculty requirements for the printed thesis

Candidates on the PhD programme must, as part of the preparation for the public defence, submit the thesis for printing under the Faculty’s “doctoral thesis” publication series.

The introductory chapter (in Norwegian or English) and any errata must be enclosed.

The cost of printing 40 copies of the thesis will normally be covered by the departments.

§ 18 The PhD examination

Supplementary regulation to § 18.1 Trial lecture

Trial lectures should preferably be delivered in real time. Recordings of trial lectures may be submitted only in cases where the public defence is held digitally or as a hybrid defence and time differences, for example, (if an opponent is based in a challenging time zone) mean that it would be appropriate for the public defence to be as short as possible. The decision will be made by the Faculty.