Agreement on admission to the organised doctoral programme at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) - applies for students with NHH Research Scholar Positions Contract intention This contract shall ensure regular participation in an active research community with working conditions that make it possible to complete the doctoral degree programme within the stipulated time. The agreement has been formulated in pursuance of national legislation relating to the doctoral degree programme as well as regulations for the organized doctoral degree programme at NHH: Regulation for the Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) degree at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). The details of this contract, those items left open to be specified below, are to be tailored to each student s strengths, needs, and interests. However, once these details are specified here, they are to be considered binding. The contract parties The agreement has been entered between: Student: and The Norwegian School of Economics Department: The subject of dissertation Contract period This contract applies from (the contract period corresponds to the start date of the NHH Research Scholar Position). The contract applies until one of the following events occur: the student successfully defends her/his dissertation, the student voluntarily leaves the PhD programme (see below), the right to study exceeds the limitation of six years, ref. Regulations for the PhD degree section 3-1, 2 nd paragraph, or the Doctoral Programme Board terminates the right to study, ref. Regulations for the PhD degree section 3-6. NHH s obligations NHH is obliged to facilitate the student s completion of the requirements in this contract. This includes offering the courses and exams that the student is required to complete, or facilitating the student s completion of these requirements at other universities or business schools. The department will appoint one principal supervisor and one or more co-supervisors (the student s Dissertation Committee).NHH has no obligation to offer the student supervision for a period longer than four years (corresponding to the period of the research scholar position). The appointed principal supervisor during the agreement period is: (name) (department/institutithe appointed external co-supervisor during the agreement period is:
(name) (department/institution) Student s obligations The following obligations constitute a plan of progress for the student. The student and supervisor may develop a more detailed plan. Later revisions to the plan cannot weaken the implied requirements or expectations expressed herein. 1. Course work The training component must be equivalent to a minimum of 45 credits, and it must include training in the philosophy of science/ethics. The student must pass the following courses within two years of beginning in the programme: Core courses Course code Name Credits For the purpose of calculating average grades, courses are weighted by study points, and grades are converted to numbers as follows: A =5, B =4, C =3, D =2, E =1, F =0. The student must pass core courses with a GPA (Grade Point Average) of 3.50 or better. Mandatory courses Course code Name Credits Elective courses Course code Name Credits The student must pass mandatory and elective courses with a C or better. Note regarding all courses: Courses can be retaken once, to satisfy the aforementioned GPA requirements. Students are required to achieve no less than C in any course. Grading is expected to be in accordance with the national standard. A description can be downloaded from http://www.nhh.no/en/student-pages/examination.aspx.
2. Research work Dissertations may be a monograph or a collection of research papers, ref. Regulations for the PhD degree section 15-1. Dependent on the relevant type of dissertation, the student must comply with the following requirements: a Monograph Students must submit a Thesis Proposal within two years of beginning in the program (September 1 st ). The Thesis Proposal Defense will take place at the weekly department seminar series. It will be evaluated by the Dissertation Committee. If the Proposal Defense is found to be of unacceptable quality, the Dissertation Committee will write a report to the student who is then given a two months grace period to revise and resubmit the Thesis Proposal for approval. b Collection of research papers The student must complete a short research paper by the end of the first summer (September 1 st ) the first research paper. The student must complete a research paper of working paper quality by the end of the second summer (September 1 st ) - the second research paper. The second research paper may well be an extension of the first research paper. Both papers are to be presented to the department, and found to be of acceptable quality. The papers will be evaluated by the Dissertation Committee. If the first research paper is found to be of unacceptable quality, the student is given two months to revise the paper or to write a new paper. If the second research paper is not found to be of working paper quality, the student is given until December 1 st to revise the paper or to write a new paper. 3. Other requirements The student is required to: submit annual progress reports (October 1 st ); regularly attend seminars and events (for instance a pre-seminar series), present their research work at least once a year in one of the department s seminar series or similar occasion, exhibit satisfactory teaching and research assistant performance, evaluated as satisfactory or unsatisfactory, reside in Bergen, Norway for the duration of this contract, unless written permission to reside elsewhere is provided by the department (such permissions should be reserved for students that visit other universities or business schools as part of the PhD programme at NHH), attend an internal teaching course (the course gives no credits) within their PhD study period (applies to students without documented teaching skills). Supervisor s obligations The basis for the academic advising is the subject of the dissertation and the plan of progress mentioned above. The supervisor must: provide advice on formulating and delimiting the topic and the research question, discuss and assess methods and hypotheses, if so, provide help with orientation in the literature and relevant data (library, archives etc.), discuss the plan and completion of the presentation (structure, linguistic form, documentation etc.), keep informed on the progress of the student s work and assess it in relation to the plan,
help introduce the student into relevant scientific communities, discuss results and their interpretation, give the student guidance on ethical matters related to the dissertation. Disagreements and termination of academic advising Disagreements concerning the rights and obligations in accordance with this contract may be brought, by either party, before the Doctoral Programme Board. The student and the supervisor may agree to request that the Doctoral Programme Board appoint a new supervisor. The supervisor must not step down until a new supervisor has been appointed. Allegations that one party does not satisfy his/her obligations pursuant to this contract should primarily be resolved between the parties. If the parties after discussion have not reached an agreement on how to resolve the situation, the student or supervisor may request to be released from the academic advising. Such a request shall be addressed to the Doctoral Programme Board, but sent through the department, which will make a recommendation. Voluntary termination prior to termination date The student and the institution may agree to terminate a student s participation in the programme prior to the termination date. All questions regarding employment, funding, rights to use of research results etc shall be settled in a termination agreement. If voluntary termination is due to a doctoral student s desire to change projects or transfer to a different doctoral programme, the student is required to reapply for admission to the programme on the basis of the new project. A decision to transfer to a dr. philos. degree (the independent doctorate) shall be considered voluntary termination. Intellectual property rights (IPR) If the student is the sole author of the dissertation, she or he has the sole copyright for the work. If the doctoral dissertation consists of a collection of articles and a summary/abstract, the student has the sole copyright for the parts that are the result of his/her independent creative efforts. Articles by a number of authors where it is impossible to identify individual contributions as separate works, will be considered a joint work. The authors will have joint copyright on such articles. The parts of a doctoral dissertation for which the student has the sole copyright, as well as other works that result from the work on the dissertation and for which the student has the sole copyright, may be used for the production of copies for NHH's teaching and research activities without any costs to NHH. In the event of such use, the student shall be duly identified pursuant to legislation and in keeping with academic custom. A summary/abstract of the dissertation should be prepared with a view to making the dissertation and its findings known to research communities in Norway and abroad. No restrictions may be placed on the publication of a doctoral dissertation. If the student makes a patentable invention in the course of his/her doctoral degree programme, the student may apply for a patent. Amendments The following amendments/clarifications have been included in the agreement:
Other provisions This contract is completed in two copies, one for each party. The student confirms with her/his signature to this contract that all the conditions in this contract is fully understood and approved, and that the student will promptly report to the PhD coordinator in the department in writing (e.g. by e-mail) any failure to meet the requirements or expectations in this contract. By signing this contract the student also agrees to accurately report to the PhD coordinator in the department each semester the grades obtained in all courses listed in this contract, whether the student followed the courses at NHH or elsewhere. Student Head of Department Principal Supervisor Dean of the PhD Programme
Veiledning for utfylling av denne doktorgradsavtalen Rutine: 1. instituttene fyller ut den enkelte studentavtale (elektronisk), og institutt og veileder signerer avtalen (maksimum 3 måneder etter studiestart) 2. studenten signerer 3. dekan godkjenner avtalen (som altså inkluderer studentens opplæringsplan, prosjekt og veileder/avhandlingskomité) ved å signere den 4. kopi av endelig signert avtale til: STU/PDU, institutt, avhandlingskomité og student (STU kopierer opp og sender ut ferdig signert avtale til avtalepartene) 5. hvis det forekommer ønsker om endringer i noen av punktene i planen, må disse endringene føres inn i avtalen, og rutine 1-4 gjennomføres på nytt. I de følgende punkter vil instituttene ha fleksibilitet ved utfylling av avtalen: - The subject of dissertation I forbindelse med fremdriftsrapportering og vurdering av tap av studierett er det en fordel at dette punktet er mest mulig konkret tidlig i studiet. - Supervisors Noen institutter vil gjerne oppnevne en mentor, i stedet for en veileder, for studenten det først året (altså før endelig prosjekt og veileder utpeker seg). Det er uansett viktig at det føres opp en faglig ansvarlig for studenten jf. forskriftens 3-4. Når endelig veileder er klar, fylles dette inn i avtalen og punktene 1-4 over følges. - 1. Course work Ofte vil instituttene ha klare oppfatninger av hvilke obligatoriske kurs de nye studentene skal ta. Dette er gjerne ikke like klart når det gjelder valgfrie kurs. Før derfor opp de kursene man er sikker på, og så får man fylle ut resten senere ved å følge rutine 1-4 over. - 2. Research work Her må instituttet slette det avsnittet som ikke gjelder, alt ettersom avhandlingen er en monografi eller basert på artikler. Omfanget av en Thesis Proposal bør spesifiseres, slik at studentene vet hva som kreves. Når det gjelder vurderingen av research papers, må det være klart hvem som skal vurdere om kvaliteten er tilfredsstillende. Når det gjelder teksten for milepælkravet til forskningsarbeidet, kan instituttene tilpasse teksten. Det må fremgå klart hvem som skal avgjøre om studenten passerer milepælen. - Amendments Her er det mulig å gjøre tillegg som avtalen ellers ikke regulerer, presiseringer mm. Relevante koblinger: Sentrale forskrifter: Forskrift om ansettelsesvilkår for stillinger som postdoktor, stipendiat, vitenskapelig assistent og spesialistkandidat: - http://www.lovdata.no/for/sf/kd/kd-20060131-0102.html