Guidelines for admission to the PhD programme
Staff regulations for PhD candidates
Employer responsibility
AHO is the employer:
PhD positions funded by AHO are normally advertised once a year. The persons admitted start the training component in the following autumn semester. PhD positions connected to externally funded projects can be advertised throughout the year.
Another party than AHO is the employer:
PhD candidates funded by another institution can be admitted to AHO’s PhD programme if the project is relevant to AHO and there are available supervisors.
Industrial PhD candidates work in a company, and the Research Council of Norway partly funds their project—more information about the industrial PhD scheme (forskningsrådet.no).
The PhD contract
Upon admission, a written contract shall be filled in and signed by the candidate, supervisor and AHO.
The admission agreement is based on the Recommended Guidelines for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) approved by the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (UHR) on 29 April 2011 (updated and amended on 29 January 2015) and replaces the corresponding agreement from 2004. The purpose of the agreement is to supplement and specify in writing the decision on admission to a PhD programme taken by a faculty. The admission agreement is used throughout Norway. The binding agreement between the parties aims to ensure that candidates admitted to a PhD programme have working conditions that enable them to complete the programme within the specified period.
The agreement is intended to address and regulate the most crucial aspects of doctoral education. The agreement consists of three parts:
- Part A. General terms and conditions. This part is to be filled out by all candidates admitted to a PhD programme. The parties to the agreement in Part A are the doctoral candidate and AHO, specifically, the institute with which the candidate is affiliated.
- Part B. Agreement on academic supervision in PhD programmes. This part of the agreement is to be filled out by all candidates admitted to a PhD programme. The parties to the agreement in Part B are the doctoral candidate, his or her supervisor and the relevant institute. Part B of this agreement is required for all candidate-supervisor relationships.
- Part C. Agreement between an external party and AHO on completion of the PhD programme. Part C of this agreement must be filled out for candidates with external funding and/or an external workplace. Candidates participating in the Industrial PhD scheme must also sign a separate cooperation agreement, cf. the guidelines from the Research Council of Norway. If the candidate is affiliated with two or more institutions, an agreement must be signed with each of the external parties.