In assessing the applicants, emphasis will be placed on:
- Basic qualifications
- Academic qualifications
- Project quality
- Personal suitability
1. Basic qualifications
The scope of the educational background must normally correspond to
an educational background including a master’s degree with a scope of 120 ECTS credits, which builds on a bachelor’s degree with a scope of 180 ECTS credits (normally 2 + 3 years), or an integrated master’s degree with a scope of 300 ECTS credits (5 years). Master’s degrees must normally include an independent work of a minimum of 30 ECTS credits.
It is a requirement that the master’s degree has a theoretical-empirical focus. A practice-focused or “experience-based” master’s degree that does not meet the requirements regarding preparation for research that form the basis for admission cannot be approved. The
Faculty adheres to NOKUT’s guidelines in the GSU list for the approval of foreign education.
The Faculty of Social Sciences also approves one-year master’s degrees as a basis for admission to the PhD programme if the relevant degree
- is part of an overall higher education that is equivalent to a total of at least four years of university education in Norway,
- has a level equivalent to the requirements for Norwegian master’s degrees,
- includes adequate and relevant training in methods, and
- includes an independent work that has a scope of at least 30 credits.
If the applicant can document relevant supplementary courses at the master’s level and/or other clearly research-relevant activities (scientific work or output), this may be included in the assessment of items 2, 3 and 4 above.
The master’s degree should usually be in the subject area being applied for. If the academic group finds that the applicant lacks the necessary knowledge in the field of study, the Faculty can, on the recommendation of the academic group, impose additional requirements in addition to the compulsory training component in the PhD programme.
The minimum requirement for applicants is usually a ‘B’, both for the independent work and the master’s degree as a whole. Particular importance is attached to the grade for the independent work.
Applicants who have a master's degree from a foreign educational institution, or do not have a master's degree in the field they are applying for, must attach an overview of the syllabus of their master’s degree. Applicants from non-European universities will not usually have their first year of higher education counted.
In assessing the applicants, regard must be paid to whether the candidate has supplemental education that is relevant to the research project concerned. Relevant practical experience in the form of research work and/or work as an assistant during periods of study and/or after the end of such studies must be given credit in the assessment of relevant applicants.
2. Academic qualifications
The committee will place particular emphasis on academic qualifications being documented through written works in addition to the master’s thesis, with priority given to internationally oriented publications for which the applicant is the sole author or co-author. In “Instructions for applicants” the applicants themselves are asked to state what their contributions to any possible joint works have been.
Applicants are asked to clearly indicate those scholarly works that are deemed to be the most significant.
3. Project quality
In assessing project quality, the committee will place an emphasis on the degree to which the work will be able to culminate in a dissertation of international quality and of a high academic level as regards problem formulations, conceptual delineation, methodological, theoretical, research ethical and empirical bases, documentation and form of presentation. The committee will furthermore place emphasis on the extent to which the research work represents an independent contribution to existing knowledge. Such contributions may be concept analyses, theory and methodology development or empirical contributions.
A substantial emphasis must be placed on the realism of the research project. The committee will carefully evaluate whether the content and framework conditions for the project are of such a nature that it is highly probable that it can be completed within the framework of the stipend period, i.e. three years. In this assessment, the committee must take note that a deduction will be made for any possible earlier appointments to the recruitment position, where the individual concerned has worked with (parts of) the project.
4. Personal suitability
The committee shall conduct an assessment of the personal suitability of the candidates the committee considers to have the best academic qualifications. This shall be done through interviews and possibly by obtaining references. The nominating authority or the immediate supervisor for the position should be present at the interviews.
The intention of the interview is to provide the applicants with detailed information about the position, obtain information about the applicants in addition to their written applications to ensure the best possible basis for assessment and to determine suitability based on the requirements for the position.
This suitability assessment will necessarily be based largely on subjective discretion. If personal suitability as a criterion is to be attributed decisive weight in the ranking of otherwise qualified applicants, the committee must ensure that this has a justifiable, factual basis for the assessment made. In addition, the report should clearly state as to why an otherwise well qualified applicant's personal suitability is deemed to be inferior to that of other applicants. In such a case, this criterion must be sufficiently elucidated. Personal qualities that are given weight must be relevant to the work that is to be performed.
