Part B. PhD handbook for administration of the PhD programmes at USN

This part of the PhD handbook is specifically designed for those who administer the various PhD programmes at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

Organisation of the PhD programmes

The board

  • The PhD programmes are anchored at the institutional level, and  USN's board is primarily responsible for them, including the determination of organisation, management and operation
  • The Board holds accreditation authority. The faculty board decides whether to apply to the University Board for authorisation to start developing a new programme. The dean decides whether to apply for accreditation

Faculty Board and Dean

  • Responsibility for the PhD programme lies with the dean of the programme’s host faculty. The dean proposes, and the faculty board appoints the PhD programme coordinator. The dean delegates responsibility for programme development and quality to the PhD programme coordinator
  • Responsibility for the PhD programme is to be managed in collaboration with the Vice-Dean for Research, the faculty board, the PhD Programme Committee, heads of departments, course coordinators/academic communities and academic supervisors
  • The dean must ensure that the faculty has academically relevant research projects in the organised research training
  • The faculty board makes decisions regarding involuntary termination of doctoral education as a result of research misconduct

Programme committee

  • Each PhD programme has a programme committee. The programme committee is given a mandate by the University Board and is responsible for academic content, development and teaching of the programme within the adopted framework and guidelines, and must contribute to ensuring that the PhD programme maintains high academic quality
  • The programme committee has been delegated authority from the University Board to make decisions on admission, approval/change of academic supervisors, approval of theses for public defence, appointment of an assessment committee, etc. in accordance with the PhD Regulations
  • Has the authority to make decisions on behalf of the dean and the faculty board in matters relating to the implementation of the PhD programme, in accordance with USN’s PhD regulations and other rules and regulations
  • Must follow up the PhD programme in accordance with USN’s Quality System for Education, advise the faculty management and report on programme quality

Chairperson of the programme committee

  • Functions as programme coordinator for the PhD programme and reports to the dean
  • Initiates and leads processes regarding development and revision of the PhD programme, in accordance with USN’s adopted quality dimensions, and with a focus on academic content, profile and relevance
  • Submits cases to and chairs the PhD programme committee in accordance with the mandate for the PhD programme committee at USN
  • Other responsibilities and tasks are described in USN’s role descriptions for the PhD programme coordinator

Department

  • Must ensure affiliation with relevant academic communities, provide international orientation and ensure affiliation with an active research group and/or research centres
  • Department heads must conduct annual appraisal interviews with doctoral research fellows who are employed at USN
  • Must ensure that the candidate has access to relevant infrastructure at all times; PC and necessary IT equipment, office space, access to laboratories and libraries, as well as other campus services

PhD Coordinator

  • Responsible for administrative tasks related to practical implementation, quality assurance and development of doctoral programmes
  • Is the committee secretary for the PhD Programme Committee
  • Provides administrative support to PhD candidates in the programme, from start-up to conclusion
  • Provides administrative support to the PhD programme coordinator

Department of Research and Innovation (AFI)

  • Is responsible for chairing the PhD forum, a regular meeting place for PhD coordinators
  • The Ph.D. forum is an arena for academic updating, sharing and exchange of experience across programmes
  • Is responsible for coordinating common procedures across the PhD programmes. This includes updating the PhD Handbook, forms and agreements, and implementing new guidelines and procedures
  • Assists and/or manages development work and processes

Department of Education and Quality in Learning (AUS)

  • Is responsible for accreditation of courses

The Research Committee

  • Coordinates across USN’s PhD programmes and ensures uniform and well-organised research training at USN. The Research Committee is chaired by the Vice-Rector for Research

 


1. Start up

Goal: PhD candidates at USN must be ensured a good start that lays the foundation for successful completion of the PhD programme.

Before admission to the programme

All candidates must apply for admission to a PhD programme according to stipulated deadlines, normally within 3 months of employment/start-up of the project.

The majority of USN’s PhD candidates are funded through scholarship schemes that involve an employment contract between the candidate and USN. Heads of departments have HR responsibility for these. Normal employment rules apply to PhD candidates employed by USN or external parties. In addition, doctoral research fellowships are subject to the Regulations concerning terms and conditions of employment for post-doctoral research fellow, research fellow, research assistant and residents. For applicants taking an Industrial PhD, cotutelle or with other externally funded agreements, an admission application will require additional supplements.

 

The programme committee:

  • Is responsible for ensuring that USN accepts highly qualified candidates for its research training
  • Must ensure quality in the employment and admission process
  • Must ensure that there is/are academic supervisor/s with formal qualifications and capacity to receive candidates who are offered admission to the programme

 

Head of Department:

  • Agrees a start-up date with the candidate, and provides office space in a relevant academic community
  • Orders IT equipment (can delegate this to the PhD coordinator)
  • Must ensure that candidates are incorporated into the department’s environment as early as possible
  • In collaboration with the candidate, prepares a plan for carrying out any compulsory work in accordance with regulations
  • Ensures that the candidate has familiarised themselves with USN’s emergency preparedness and safety information that applies on campus and while travelling. Provides information about ICT regulations and the main points of the Export Control Act

 

PhD coordinator:

  • Checks admission applications and attachments, and prepares the admission cases for the programme committee
  • Ensures that the candidate applies for admission to the PhD programme within three months after start-up
  • Prepares for reception and conducts start-up interviews with PhD candidates
  • Provides information about regulations, admission procedures, infrastructure/campus information, duties and rights as a doctoral research fellow, etc.
  • Provides information about formal and informal meeting places, social events, open courses/conferences, as well as general information about mobility, relevant gatherings and affiliation with the USN SPO organisation at USN
  • If the candidate is not Norwegian/does not have a permanent place of residence in Norway, there will often be a need for information about Norwegian working life, cultural understanding, etc.

 

After application for admission

All the forms and information regarding admission and the start date can be found here.

The process from applying for admission to a written contract is referred to in Chapter 2 of the PhD Regulations

 

PhD candidate:

  • Submits an application for admission to the PhD programme to the PhD coordinator within the stipulated deadline
  • Submits a completed contract with signatures from the candidate, academic supervisors and any external institution to the PhD coordinator

The programme committee:

  • Processes the application and makes admission decisions/recommendations
  • Processes the final project description if it has not already been submitted with the admission application
  • Must follow up on affiliation with relevant academic communities, the provision of international orientation and affiliation with a research group
  • Must ensure that foreign candidates are also well looked after and are naturally included in the academic community

PhD coordinator:

  • Informs the candidate and academic supervisors about admission decisions
  • Ensures that the admission is formalised in the form of a written contract between the PhD candidate, the academic supervisors, the responsible faculty c/o the dean, and any external institution within three weeks of admission
  • Ensures that the candidate and the academic supervisor submit a final project description within three months of admission if this has not already been submitted with the admission application

 

2. Implementation

Goal: PhD candidates at USN must be ensured good quality and support in all areas of the programme so that they can complete it within the normal length of time and achieve the described learning outcomes for the programme.

The implementation of the PhD programme is discussed in Chapter 3 of the PhD Regulations.

The programme committee:

  • Must ensure that candidates receive regular and predictable supervision of high quality in accordance with the PhD regulations at the university
  • Must follow up the academic supervisors and offer supervision courses in collaboration with the Department of Research and Innovation
  • Must ensure that candidates have an academic and social forum
  • Is responsible for processing the candidate’s progress
  • Must ensure that the candidate’s progress is in accordance with the nominal length of time, the funding agreement, and that the project complies with good research practices and is of an appropriate academic level
  • Is responsible for conducting mid-way evaluations and other formalised seminars; such as the first seminar and/or final seminar. (Individual PhD programmes have somewhat different practice)
  • Is responsible for academic assessment and any recognition of external training/education in terms of the programme requirements and transitional arrangements for PhD candidates who change PhD programme or discontinue their studies/research.
  • Is responsible for ensuring that supervision is evaluated and reported in accordance with the Quality System for Education

 

PhD coordinator:

  • Ensures that the candidate submits a progress report and a mid-way report
  • Provides information about deadlines such as registration of courses, submission of documentation when applying for changes related to the PhD programme etc.
  • Is in dialogue with and follows up candidates regarding well-being and psychosocial environment
  • Provides information about PhD-relevant issues at USN, such as The National Science Week in Norway, changes to or new developments in the programme, new joint courses etc.

The Department of Research and Innovation can assist with advice and participate in various development processes

 

 

3. Conclusion

Goal: Research work and publications undertaken by PhD candidates at USN must meet high international standards. 

Submission and assessment of a thesis

Completion and submission of the thesis are discussed in Chapter 4 of the PhD Regulations

The programme committee:

  • Is responsible for approving applications for assessment and appointing an assessment committee
  • Is responsible for ensuring that the assessment of the candidate’s thesis satisfies the minimum requirements for research expertise and that expected learning outcomes are achieved
  • Is formally responsible for submitting the thesis to the assessment committee
  • Is responsible for processing the committee recommendations
  • Is responsible for ensuring that trial lectures and public assessment of the thesis are carried out

 

PhD coordinator:

  • Has practical responsibility for submitting the thesis, including all necessary attachments, to the assessment committee
  • Is responsible for following up the committee’s recommendation. Submits the recommendation to the candidate and the academic supervisor, and presents the case to the programme committee
  • Clarifies with the assessment committee, candidate, academic supervisors and faculty the date for public defence
  • Informs the University Library and the Department of Communication at USN

 

Implementation of public defence

The topic for the trial lecture must be announced to the candidate and made public 10 days before the lecture is to take place. The assessment committee proposes the topic for the trial lecture, and the topic should not be directly connected to the topic of the thesis. Cf. Section 4-14 of the PhD Regulations.
The public defence is the candidate’s defence of the thesis. The faculty organises the public defence. The time and place of the public defence are made public no later than 10 working days before it is to be held. As a general rule, the trial lecture and public defence are held on the same day. See USN’s procedure regarding implementation of public defences. 

 

The programme committee:

  • Is responsible for arranging the implementation of the trial lecture and public defence, either physically on campus or digitally
  • Must ensure that the candidate formally receives their diploma and is conferred the title of doctor. The programme committee makes a decision on the approval of the doctoral examination based on the assessment committee’s recommendation. The Rector awards (confers) the doctoral degree

 

PhD coordinator:

  • Is responsible for preparing the practical aspects of conducting the trial lecture and public defence – see task description 7.3.2

 

Department of Research and Innovation (AFI):

  • Is responsible for submitting a notice of conferment to the Rector for approval

 

The Department of Communication:

  • Must publish information about the trial lecture and public defence on USN’s website

 

The University Library:

  • Is responsible for printing and publishing the thesis – (see task description 7.2.4)
  • Assists in compiling the thesis (compiling pdf files, cover article, articles, and adding an overview of articles, pages, etc.).