Revised PhD RegulationsApproved 5 March 2009 Effective 1 April 2009

By Kari Moxnes , Department of Academic Affairs, UMB

1 April 2009

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Revised PhD Regulations

Norwegian version available to download at:

http://www.umb.no/phd-studier/artikkel/forskrifter

English translation available in the month of April:

http://www.umb.no/phd-studies/article/regulations-and-guidelines

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Revised PhD Regulations: Most Important Changes Effective 1 April 2009

Note: New admission rules effective from 01.01 2010

Quality Assurance of the PhD program Research ethics course requirement. § 8-2. Apply for

students admitted to PhD studies at UMB after 1 April 2009.

Coursework in the education plan: average B or better § 8-3.

When the thesis is comprised of several articles/manuscripts, the PhD student must write one chapter which documents the integrated nature of the work. § 10-1

Language requirement for the thesis (English or Norwegian)(§ 5-3 og 10-5), trial lecture and the defence § 18-3 og § 19-2.

Clarification of ownership rights, storage of research data, author’s address(es), publication and registration of the thesis. §§ 6-1, 10-3, 10-4 + Ad, 10-7, 10-8, 17-1 + Ad.

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Revised PhD Regulations: Most Important Changes

Earlier Admission /Improved admission proceduresNote: Effective from 01.01 2010

Admission must be granted before start-up (§ 5-1) ”Start-up” defined in Ad 5-2

Parallel processing of employment as PhD fellow and admission to PhD studies

Related changes:

Routine changes: Admission application to PhD-studies is sent in and processed prior to start-up.

New admission application (form) to PhD studies, adapted to the new routines

Coordination of procedures and work for the employment committee and (the head of) the research committee

Step by step transition - dialogue and information in advance

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Revised PhD Regulations: Most Important Changes

Responsibility and Roll Division

Clarification of “who’s responsible for what” (throughout the entire PhD Regulations)

Especially: Clarification of the Evaluation Committee’s responsibility and duties (chapter 15 and 16)

Related changes: ”Guidelines for the evaluation of UMB candidates for the PhD degree”

Norwegian version is published on the web – English version will follow

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Revised PhD Regulations: Most Important Changes (blue/red text is new information)

Chap. 3 Responsibility for the PhD programme

§ 3-1 states (no changes made): The University Board has the main responsibility for the PhD programme at UMB and sets the rules for the regulation of the programme.

§ 3-2 states: When the regulations state that the department is the decision-maker, the department board itself decides to which entity the decision is delegated to

Chap. 5. Admission

§ 5-2 states: Admission occurs throughout the year. The UMB departments has admission authority.

Application is sent to UMB on the pre-determined application form, and (the following apply from 1 January 2010:) must be approved before start-up

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Chap. 6. Agreement

§ 6-1 states: The PhD programme must be formalised in a written agreement within 6 months after admission.

The agreement is made between the PhD student, supervisors, and the department where the PhD student has been admitted.

External bodies may also be part of this agreement.

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Revised PhD Regulations: Most Important Changes (blue/red text is new information)

Chap. 8. The PhD programme

§ 8-2 states: Organised academic training shall consist of course with a work load equivalent to 30 to 70 credits. Coursework should be at the 300 (master’s) or 400 (PhD) level. A course in research ethics shall be part of the education plan.

Note: The following part of § 8-2 apply for PhD students admitted to the study after 1 April 2009:

“A course in research ethics shall be part of the education plan”.

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§ 8-4 states grade requirements for courses taken during the PhD study: Courses, which are part of the education plan, taken at UMB or other Norwegian institutions and are evaluated with letter grades, shall be minimum C and B in average or better. Other course grades will not be included in the grade point average calculation, but the student must obtain a ”pass” grade.

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Comments:

Grade point average will be calculated in the following way:

1. Each letter grade is represented by a number equivalent: A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, E=1.

2. The quotient is calculated to one decimal. 3. When the normal rounding rules are used, the lowest grade point average is 3,5.

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Additional comments – grade requirements:

Courses which will be included in the grade point average calculation:

Courses taken at UMB or other Norwegian institutions which are evaluated with a letter grade.

Courses which will not be included in the grade point average calculation:

”Other courses” = Courses which are evaluated “pass” or “fail”, courses taken abroad, courses evaluated with a number grade…

(These courses will be approved if they receive a passing grade).

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IMPORTANT:

Ad 8-4 states that the grade provision in § 8-4 , also applies to

PhD students admitted to UMB in the period 01.01.07-01.04.09.

In addition Ad. 8-4 states:

The grade requirement for students admitted to PhD studies at UMB before 1. January 2007, is C or better for courses completed before 1 April 2009.

Comments: “Completed” means the date for the examination, date for the submission of assignments , and the completion of the last obligatory activity/assignment required for the course all occurred before 1. April 2009.

If PhD students admitted before 01.01.07 complete courses after 1 April 2009, the grade requirements set in § 8-4 applies for these courses

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Ad 8-5 states:The department approves the course work* that is carried through by the PhD student, on the basis of documentation (transcripts/certificates) which the PhD-student provides.

The PhD-student shall also document how the grade requirement in § 8-4 is met.

*)Course work according to the approved education plan

Comments:

This must be done before the thesis can be submitted.

It is worth noting that the proof of documentation requirement has been “moved” from the supervisor to the student.

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Chap. 9 Supervision

§ 9-1 and § 9-2 states: A minimum of two researchers compose the supervisor group, and at least one (the main supervisor) must be an employee at UMB.

Comment:

Previously at least 2 supervisors had to be UMB employees.

§ 9-3 states: The education plan shall be the basis for supervision.

The PhD student and the supervisors are obligated to keep each other informed of all important activities related to the completion of the PhD study period and the supervision of such.

More details on how supervision is regulated are found in the valid agreement on the PhD period.

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Chap. 10. Doctoral Thesis

§ 10-1 states (paragraph two):

The doctoral thesis can consist of several smaller works (articles or manuscripts). In such cases, the candidate in a separate chapter must document the integrated nature of the work by not only summarising but also comparing the research questions and conclusions presented in the separate works.

The PhD-student shall be the sole author of this chapter.Comment: The supervisor(s) can comment but not actively participate in writing

The thesis shall include two short summaries: One in Norwegian and one in English.

§ 10-2 states: When the PhD-student is not the sole author, both the PhD student’s and co-author’s contributions shall be specified upon submission of the thesis in the form of signed authorship declarations. It is the PhD student’s responsibility to collect these declarations.

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Chap. 10. Doctoral Thesis

§ 10-3 states: PhD-student is obligated to store the research data in accordance to UMB’s guidelines.

§ 10-4 states: The PhD-student shall list the Norwegian University of Life Sciences as (one of) the address (es) on publications and other work which constitutes the PhD study. This also applies to work completed in part or in whole during the PhD period, but which is published later.

§ 10-5 states: The thesis shall be written in English or Norwegian. If the PhD student wishes to use another language, the student must apply during the admission’s process, jf. § 5-3.

§ 10-7 (second paragraph) states:

In the event of an agreed delay/postponement for public access/publication, the delay shall not be more than 4 months.

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Chap. 13 Appointment of the Evaluation Committee

§ 13-1 states:

The evaluation committee should be assembled so that:

…. All members have a doctoral degree or the similar proven expertise.

Ad 13-1 states:

The Department of Academic Affairs sends out the official appointment letter to the committee members, and at the same time informs them about the applicable UMB regulations for PhD degree.

The committee’s administrator is responsible for organising the committee’s work and for providing the time schedule for said work, and participates in the evaluation process just as the other members (unless he/she is appointed exclusively as an administrator). The administrator shall coordinate the committee’s recommendations, inform the other members of the structure of the public defence and clarify each member’s role at the defence.

In special circumstances, UMB can appoint, from its own employees, a committee administrator who does not participate in the academic evaluation of the thesis, in addition to the three expert members.

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Chap. 14 Submission of the thesis

§ 14-1 states: When the PhD-student wishes to get his/her thesis evaluated, 5 bound copies of the thesis shall be delivered to the department together with original authorship declarations.

Comments:

Previously, the regulations stated that one must apply to submit the thesis, but it was not practised.

Now there is a form called ”Submission of PhD thesis”, which a PhD student fills out and encloses with the thesis when it is submitted.

The form can be found on UMBs PhD webpages.

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Chap. 16 Committee’s Report on Thesis

§ 16-1 …states: It will be clear from the conclusion in the committee’s report whether the committee:

- Approves the thesis for public defence (jf. § 16-4)

- Does not approve the thesis for public defence, but recommends revisions (jf. § 16-5)

- Does not approve the thesis for public defence (jf. § 16-6).

Ad 16-2 states:

A unanimous decision by the committee is considered a resolution and is not handled by separate authorities, unless the PhD student submits a request.

In case of dissent among the committee members, their decision is void. In such instances, the Department of Academic Affairs presents the case to the University Board, who will handle it according to § 16-3.

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Chap. 16 Committee’s Report on Thesis

§ 16-5 …states: If the committee finds minor “problems” and does not approve the thesis for public defence, the committee can recommend changes and a revised thesis can be submitted one time. The committee should comment which areas must be improved. The revisions should be completed within a maximum of 6 months. The committee in conjunction with the student and supervisor set a deadline for the re-submission.

§ 16-6 …states: If the committee finds fundamental changes are necessary, the committee shall not recommend the submission of the same thesis in a revised form for reassessment.

In such cases, the committee shall recommend the submission of a new thesis one time. The new submission can occur at the soonest 6 months after the committee’s report is written.

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Chap. 17 Publication of the thesis

§ 17-1 …states:

If the thesis is approved, submit12 Copies to the Department of Academic Affairs

An electronic version of the thesis (possibly only the introduction and synopsis) in pdf format for archiving.

In addition, an electronic registration of the thesis at "Dissertations & Theses (Proquest )" at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences Library shall be completed.

Chap. 18 Trial Lecture

§ 18-1 …states: the topic should not be taken from the central problem in the doctoral work.

§ 18-3 states: The trial lecture shall be held in English or Norwegian unless the evaluation committee approves another language.

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Chap. 19 Public Defence / Disputation

§ 19-2 states: The public defence shall be held in English or Norwegian unless the evaluation committee approves another language.

§ 19-5 states: The public defence should be a technical discussion between the committee members and the doctoral candidate relating to the formulation of the problem, the methods, the empirical and theoretical basis, documentation and the presentation.

Special weight should be given to checking the durability of the important conclusions in the doctoral work. The problems which the opponents chose to pursue should not be limited to those in the written report.

The opponents should strive – whenever possible – to form the discussion so that those who have not read the work or are not experts in the field can follow the discussion.