Program Overview

Admission to the PhD Programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences

The formal requirements and procedures for admission to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences are based on the regulations for the PhD-degree at the University of Bergen and in the Programme description for the PhD programme.

Two Paths to Admission

• Applicants who are appointed a research fellowship at the Faculty of Social Sciences will consequently be admitted to the PhD programme, if a complete project description was included in the application.
• Applications for admission from applicants with other sources of funding are processed as they are received. Please note that adequate financing must be secured before applying for admission.

Admission Requirements

Educational Background

PhD candidates must normally have an educational background corresponding to 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.

Grade Requirements

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.

Financing

Applicants not employed in a PhD fellowship position must provide documentation of satisfactory financing, for both their living expenses and the costs relating to research for the entire agreement period. The normal agreement period corresponds to three years set aside for work on the thesis and training component.

Project Description

Applicants must submit a project description of 5–8 pages. The project description must describe the topic, set of issues being addressed and the choice of theory and method, as well as any ethical issues. The project description must indicate the schedule for the various parts of the research project. It must also include a budget for the costs of carrying out the PhD project.

English Language Requirements

Good proficiency in English is required for participants in the PhD programme. Applicants may be asked to document their proficiency in English using the following tests with the results stipulated or better:

• TOEFL – Test of English as a Foreign Language with a minimum score of 575 on the Paper-Based Test (PBT), or 90 on the Internet-Based Test (IBT). Minimum 4.5 in the written test
• IELTS-International English Language Testing Service with an overall score of at least 6.5 and a minimum score of 5.5 in all four components

Language of the Thesis

If the applicant wishes to write the thesis in a language other than English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish, an application to do so must be submitted along with the study plan.

Admission Agreement

Admission to the PhD education at the faculty applies for three or four years, depending on whether compulsory work is a part of the plan for funding. All admitted candidates must sign a written agreement. The agreement is sent to the candidate with the letter of admission and must be returned to the faculty completed and signed within a month.

Agreement on Admission to the PhD Programme

The agreement consists of three parts:

1. Part A. General part: Part A shall be signed by the candidate and the faculty (Dean).
2. Part B. Agreement concerning supervision: Part B will be signed by the candidate, the supervisor or supervisors, and the faculty (Dean).
3. Part C. Agreement between an external institution and the university: Part C is used only for candidates who either have external financing or whose place of work is not the University of Bergen. The agreement may also be used for candidates whose place of work is at another department/faculty/centre at the University of Bergen than that assigned in part A. Part C must be signed by the candidate, the external party and the faculty (Dean).