Admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Science and Technology

Applicants to the PhD programme should normally be employed in a PhD position at UiB or collaborating institutions. Funding for the research project and cost of living must be clarified at the time of application, and applicants must have established contact with a supervisor employed at UiB.

Open positions at the University of Bergen are announced on the website Vacant positions 

A completed Master's degree or an equivalent educational background, with a C or better as an average for the bachelor degree major, the masters courses and the masters thesis.

For admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Science and Technology, the applicant is required to hold a five-year master's degree or equivalent, in accordance with descriptions in the second cycle of the Norwegian Qualifications Framework. The degree must include an independent work that has a scope of at least 30 credits (1 semester workload). The faculty may, following a separate assessment, approve another equivalent education as the basis for admission, cf. Section 5-1 of the Regulations for the Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) degree at the University of Bergen.

The faculty may exceptionally approve admission of candidates with master's degrees that are shorter than 5 years, but at least 4 years. This includes, for example, master's degree programmes that are equivalent to a Norwegian higher education degree with a nominal duration of four years of study, according to national validation standards. As minimum requirements the degree must:

1. be a higher degree (2nd cycle of the Norwegian Qualifications Framework),
2. include an independent work that has a scope of at least 30 credits (1 semester workload), and
3. the applicant must additionally document scientific activities or a grade point average above ordinary requirements.

In case of doubt, the PhD programme board will assess the matter.

Grade requirements

The average grades for the bachelor's degree specialisation, the courses in the master's degree and the master's thesis, respectively, must be C or better in the Norwegian grading scale. The grade limit for admission is normally calculated as 3.0 (A = 5, B = 4, C = 3, D = 2, E = 1) for both the specialisation in the bachelor's degree, the courses in the master's degree and the master's thesis.

Good English skills are required for all participants on a PhD programme. International students must document this by taking one of the following tests with the results indicated or better.

Applicants applying for a PhD position at The University of Bergen must document their proficiency in English when applying for the PhD position. All other applicants for the PhD programme must document their proficiency in English when applying for the PhD programme.

The following tests and results are accepted by the Faculty of Science and Technology for admission to the PhD programme:

• TOEFL – Test of English as a Foreign Language, internet based test (IBT). Minimum total score: 90
• IELTS academic – International English Language Testing System. Minimum overall band score: 6.5
• Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) from the University of Cambridge
• PTE Academic – Pearson Test of English Academic. Minimum overall score: 62
• Please note that we do not accept a statement of "English as medium of instruction" as a replacement for an approved language test

The following applicants are exempt from the above-mentioned requirements:

• applicants who have their upper secondary education from the Nordic countries, EU / EEA countries or Switzerland
• applicants with at least one year of completed university studies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, UK or USA
• applicants with International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma
• applicants who have completed a bachelor's and/or a master's degree with English as the language of instruction in one of the Nordic countries or the Netherlands
• applicants with a completed master's degree with English as the language of instruction in an EU / EEA country or Switzerland.

For information about language requirements for applicants from other countries, please consult the university's country list (Note that applicants with upper secondary education from Nordic countries, EU / EEA countries or Switzerland are exempt. Note that only the language requirements from the country list are relevant for PhD applicants).

The Faculty of Science and Technology will validate your diplomas pursuant to the normal procedures for recognition of foreign higher education qualifications overseen by the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.

Applications for admission to the PhD program must be submitted in the electronic application form via the link below. The application will be sent to the department you want to be affiliated to.

• Application form (English)

A set of guidelines has been prepared for filling in the application form. We recommend that you open the guidelines during the process of filling in the application form.

• Guidelines for filling in the application form

An application for admission to the PhD programme must normally be submitted within two (2) months after you start your position, or the start of the research project that will lead to the PhD degree.

The application with all the required attachments should be sent to the department where you are employed or in other ways connected to.