Updates in Rules and Regulations

Cancellation and absence fees, page 14:

• (Section has been rephrased) Cancellations made up to two weeks before the course starts are free of charge.
• Cancellations made later than two weeks before the course starts will be charged an amount corresponding to the course fee for external participants.
• Participants with less than 80% attendance cannot pass the course and will be charged an amount equal to the course fee for external participants.
• Participants who fail to hand in any mandatory exams or assignments cannot pass the course and will be charged an amount equal to the course fee for external participants.

If the participant does not comply with the above cancellation policy or has not attended the course due to illness or other reasons, the Graduate School may waive the course fee, if the participant provides documentation from the participant’s employer stating that the participant has been legally absent from the workplace. 

Three regular assessments, page 17

• (Section has been rephrased) Assessment 1: 26 months before submission of PhD thesis (mandatory assessment meeting).
• Assessment 2: 14 months before submission of PhD thesis (voluntary assessment meeting).
• Assessment 3: 6 months before submission of PhD thesis (mandatory assessment meeting).

Organisation chart has been inserted
On page 4 a chart illustrating the Graduate School's organisation has been inserted.

Supervision, appointment of supervisor(s) and change of supervisor(s), page 11:

• Section has been rephrased from: “The primary co-supervisor must have an academic level equivalent to at least associate professor, clinical associate professor or senior researcher, but does not have to be employed at the faculty. The primary co-supervisor is obliged to have contact with and to supervise the PhD student at least twice a year. The primary co-supervisor's academic level may be assessed, if necessary, by submitting a CV, including a list of publications to the Graduate School.” to “The primary co-supervisor must have an academic level equivalent to at least associate professor or clinical associate professor, but does not have to be employed at the faculty. Senior researchers employed at Danish universities and the government research institutions (SSI or NFA) are considered to be at associate professor level. The primary co-supervisor's academic level may be assessed, if necessary, by submitting a CV, including a list of publications to the Graduate School. The primary co-supervisor is obliged to have contact with and to supervise the PhD student at least twice a year.”

5.2 Assessment committee, page 22:

• Section has been rephrased from: “At least one of the two external members must be employed at a university as associate professor or at senior researcher level or higher in the relevant subject area. One of the external members may be emeritus/emerita if they are still active researchers. The use of emeriti in the assessment committee must be reasoned when you nominate the assessment committee, and a CV and publications list must be forwarded. The academic level, employment and affiliation is considered at the time of appointment of the assessment committee.” to “At least one of the two external members must be employed at a university as associate professor or higher in the relevant subject area. Senior researchers employed at Danish universities and the government research institutions are considered to be at associate professor level. One of the external members may be emeritus/emerita if they are still active researchers. The use of emeriti in the assessment committee must be reasoned when you nominate the assessment committee, and a CV and publications list must be forwarded. The academic level, employment and affiliation is considered at the time of appointment of the assessment committee.”

External courses page 15

The following sentence has been added:
› PhD Students can get a maximum of 5 ECTS approved in total
for courses from course platforms as Coursera, edX and the like

The document has been updated to match the updated version of the Common rules and guidelines for the PhD programme at the University of Copenhagen.

The updates include: 

Page 4 - The Graduate School organisation: A box with PhD students has been added and the title of the box regarding Graduate programmes has been changed from Graduate Programmes to Heads of Graduate Programmes and Steering Committees.

Section 2.1: The section has been updated with a text regarding the admitted PhD student's English-language skills.

Section 2.2: The wording about when an integrated master's/PhD programme can begin has been changed from "... and before
starting a master's thesis." to " before reaching the level of a Danish master’s degree."

Section 2.7: The following text has been added: "PhD students employed at a business-oriented institution of higher education (typically university colleges) must, in addition to a principal supervisor, have a supervisor affiliated with the business-oriented institution. Such supervisor must be qualified within the relevant field."

Section 5.1: A phrase is added regarding the fact that the PhD degree can only be awarded if the author of the PhD thesis documents that he or she has obtained new research results that are not the basis of a previous academic degree.

Section 5.2: It has been added that for PhD students employed at a business-oriented higher education institution at least one of the members of the Assessment Committee must have relevant research experience at a minimum of associate professor level within the given subject area.

Section 5.10: In the description of the design of the diploma, "Study Abroad" is replaced by "participation in active research environments, including stays at other, mainly foreign, research institutions, private research companies, etc."

Section 5.11: The requirement that a PhD thesis which is made available on the internet cannot be copied or printed has been removed.

Appendices - Appendix 2: Consolidated Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities and Certain Higher Artistic Educational Institutions (PhD Order) has been added.

Declarations of co-authorship page 21.

The following sentence has been rephrased from: “If a manuscript or published paper has ten or less co-authors, all co-authors must sign a declaration of co-authorship. If it has more than ten co-authors, declarations of co-authorship from the corresponding author(s), the senior author and the principal supervisor (if relevant) are a minimum requirement.”  To “ If a manuscript or published paper has eleven or less authors, all authors must sign a declaration of co-authorship.
If it has twelve or more authors, only the PhD student, the corresponding author(s), the senior author and the principal supervisor need to sign the declaration of co-authorship.”

International applicants page 7.

The following sentence has been rephrased from “Applicants who can document that English was the language of instruction during their BSc or MSc study programme.” to “ Applicants who can document that they have completed a BSc or MSc education where English was the language of instruction (please enclose documentation with application).”

Supplementary rules at SUND page 20-21 

Monograph page 20
The following sentence has been added: “Methodology: this chapter should briefly summarize the methods used.”

Synopsis page 21
The following sentence has been rephrased from “Methods” to ” “Methodology: this chapter should briefly summarize the methods used.”

Supplementary rules at SUND page 20-21

Format page 20

The following sentence has been added: However, to a minor degree it can be accepted to copy methods descriptions, concrete results incl. figures and tables when appropriately marked and referenced. Please remember to obtain permission from the copyright owner if required when you reproduce/adapt tables and figures, and refer to the permission.

Section 4.2 Rectification and termination of enrolment

The word “Rectification” in the section title has been rephrased to “Recovery”.

The following sentence has been deleted: The student has two weeks from the day he or she is informed of the decision by the head of the PhD School in which to appeal against it to the Dean. 

Section 4.4 Not satisfactory completion

The following sentence has been deleted: The student has two weeks from the day he or she is informed of the decision by the head of the PhD School in which to appeal against it to the Dean. 

Section 5.7 Award of the PhD degree

The following sentence has been deleted: The author also has the option of submitting an appeal against the decision by the head of the PhD School to the Dean within two weeks of being informed of the decision. The appeal must be submitted in writing, and the grounds must be specified. 

Section 6.1 Appeals procedure

The following section has been rephrased from “Decisions made by UCPH pursuant to the PhD Order may be referred to the Danish Agency for Higher Education if the appeal concerns legal issues. Appeals must be submitted within two weeks of the complainant having been informed of the decision (see section 29 of the PhD Order). The appeal must be submitted to the PhD School, which will issue a statement. For the further procedure, reference is made to the complaints guide on phd.ku.dk. Appeals against decisions made by the head of the PhD School or by the PhD Committee about study conditions that do not concern legal issues may be referred to the Dean. The appeal must be submitted within two weeks of the complainant being informed of the decision. The appeal must be submitted in writing, and the grounds must be specified. Reference is also made to the complaints guide for PhD.” to “According to the Danish PhD Order, PhD students can file a complaint with the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science about legal issues relating to a decision made by the PhD School. The deadline for filing a complaint is two weeks from the day the decision is received by the PhD student. In accordance with section 30(1) of the Order, complaints filed with the Agency are limited to legal issues, which means that you can complain if you find that the rules that are applicable to the case processing and the decision made have not been complied with. It is not possible to complain about academic assessments that have provided the grounds for the PhD School’s decision. Complaints must be sent to the relevant PhD School. The PhD School then draws up a statement in the case, which the PhD student will receive for commenting. The deadline for submitting comments to the statement will be at least one week, but the student must be informed about the exact date when they receive the statement. The University forwards the complaint and the statement to the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science along with the PhD students' comments and any other relevant documents in the case”.

5.6 Defence

The following section has been added:

Since the PhD defense must be publicly available and the candidate is a student at the University of Copenhagen, the defense must be held either at the faculties of the university or facilities under the auspices of the University of Copenhagen.

This can be within the Capital Region / Region Zealand at a university hospital affiliated with the University of Copenhagen or at a research unit where the University of Copenhagen has scientific staff employed. Therefore, the Graduate School cannot allow a fully physical defense to be held outside the university’s auspices.

Exceptions to the rule can be made for industrial PhDs.

Supplementary rules at SUND page 14-16

Cancellation and absence fees
The following has been added:
Participation in same course twice and receiving ECTS for the same course twice is not allowed. Therefore, you will be charged for one of the courses and the ECTS will be withdrawn from your plan. 

External courses
The following sentence has been added:
For courses completed on online course platforms, the course must be minimum 12 course hours. 

The following word has been added:
Online 

ECTS calculation

The following sentence has been added:

For courses completed on online course platforms the number of working hours to complete the course, stated by the course provider will be divided with 25 to obtain the number of ECTS since a preparation factor is not included/assumed. 

Supplementary rules at SUND page 17 

The following sentence has been rephrased from “ As a rule of thumb, a stay at a co-supervisor’s research facility within the same department cannot be approved as a stay in another research environment.” To “As a rule of thumb, a stay at a supervisor’s research facility or department cannot be approved unless the supervisor’s research facility or department differs from the PhD students.” 

The following sentence has been deleted:
It is possible to apply for financial support for a maximum of two times, and each application must cover a stay of at least four weeks.

 Supplementary rules at SUND page 21

Specific requirements

The following sentence has been rephrased from “The red UCPH logo” to “The complete red UCPH logo including the red line” 

Submission of thesis
The following sentence has been rephrased from “…by email as one merged OCR-readable PDF document to the Graduate School” to “ ..in PhD Planner as one merged OCR-readable PDF document” 

The following sentence has been rephrased from “…content, misspellings or changes of layout”. to “…content and misspellings”

Printing of thesis

The following sentence has been rephrased from “…that copies of the PhD thesis are available to the public.” to "to print the PhD thesis." 

The following sentence has been added:

When an oral defence has been announced anybody with interest can ask for a copy of the thesis. The PhD student decides whether the thesis is available digitally or in a printed version. 

Supplementary rules at SUND page 22

The following section has been rephrased from “The principal supervisor and the PhD student are

responsible for submitting the form concerning nomination of an assessment committee to the Graduate School approximately two months before the expected date of submission of the thesis. The principal supervisor must sign a statement confirming that the PhD programme is completed satisfactorily, and the statement has to be uploaded when completing the form.” to  “The principal supervisor and the PhD student are responsible for nominating an assessment committee approximately two months before the expected date of submission. The PhD student submits Appointment of assessment committee in PhD Planner. The principal supervisor approves both the nominated assessment committee, and that the PhD programme is completed satisfactorily in PhD Planner."
 

The following section has been added:

All members must be at an academic level corresponding to associate professor or higher in the relevant subject area. If an assessor does not have the title "professor" or "associate professor", the CV and list of publications of the relevant assessor must be submitted. 

The following word has been changed from “forwarded” to “submitted” 

Supplementary rules at SUND page 24 

Defence format

The following sentence has been rephrased from “…as a video conference if necessary.” to “online if necessary." 

Supplementary rules at SUND page 26

The following sentence has been deleted:
…or the completed thesis.

The following sentence has been rephrased from “The PhD Study Board” to "The Head of the Graduate School"

Supplementary rules at SUND page 26

The following sction has been changed from “› Documentation of qualifications equivalent to a completed PhD programme (in particular courses, teaching and dissemination experience and change of research environment). › A statement from the university representative. › Documentation of the affiliation with the UCPH. The Head of the Graduate School will decide whether the author has acquired qualifications similar or comparable to those described in the PhD programme at the Faculty. If approved, the thesis must be submitted within one year.” to “Documentation of qualifications equivalent to a completed PhD programme including:

› A change of research environment, documented in your CV, that must have been completed within the last 5 years.  The duration of the stay must have been at least four weeks at another university, company or institution in Denmark or abroad.

› Documentation of PhD-level, relevant courses equivalent to between 25.5 and 28 ECTS depending on previous participation in the PhD courses in responsible conduct of research; RCR1 and RCR2. Each course must be documented with course programme, course description and course certificate.

 A maximum of 7.5 ECTS credits may be completed between 5 and 10 years before submitting an application. All other ECTS credits must be no more than 5 years old when submitting the application.

If you have been enrolled as a regular PhD student at SUND, UCPH, within one year of your application date, you are exempt from this age restriction on courses.                                                      

› A statement from the university representative. The university representative must be employed as an associate professor, senior researcher, professor, clinical associate professor or clinical professor at SUND and must have completed the seminar on Responsible Conduct of Research for academic staff.

› Documentation of the affiliation with the UCPH. Examples of affiliation: Studies or research stay at UCPH, cooperation and/or published papers with scientists from UCPH, or courses taken at UCPH.

The fee for submitting a PhD thesis without enrolment is DKK 40,000. If you have been enrolled as a regular PhD student at SUND, UCPH, within one year of your application date, you are exempt from this fee.

The Head of the Graduate School decides whether the author has acquired the qualifications similar or comparable to those described in the PhD programme at the Faculty. If approved, the thesis must be submitted within one year from the approval date”.