Updates as of May 2021
General updates:
- ”Approve” has been changed to ”sign”
- Text has been updated to be gender neutral
- ”PhD” has been added in front of ”student”
- “the department where the principal supervisor is affiliated” has been added and sentence now reads: “If there is one or more external financial partners in the project, the department where the principal supervisor is affiliated must ensure that the applicant includes a description of the nature of such financial cooperation and any agreements concerning intellectual property rights and publication.”
- “Degrees awarded by foreign universities must be assessed by the Danish Agency for Higher Education” has been changed to: “Degrees awarded by foreign universities must be assessed by either the Graduate School or the Ministry of Higher Education and Science.”
- The following has been added: “You must pass the IELTS test with a score of 6,5 or above, the written TOEFL test with a score of 560 or above or the online TOEFL test with a score of 83 or above.”
- Section has been rephrased: “All PhD students must be affiliated to a graduate programme. The graduate programmes are individual research training programmes and offer PhD students a variety of courses, seminars and other academic activities. The applicant must choose a graduate programme when applying for enrolment. The head of graduate programme must approve the affiliation. The PhD student can only be affiliated to one graduate programme.”
- “registration certificate” has been changed to “enrolment certificate”.
- Title has been changed from “4+4 and 3+5” to ”Flexible PhD programme (3+5 and 4+4)”.
- Section has been rephrased: “Applicants to the flexible PhD programme must fulfill all requirements as other applicants. Prior to applying for enrolment, the applicant must have a time and activity schedule indicating when the applicant will work on the master's programme and the PhD programme, respectively. If the applicant is admitted to the 3+5 programme on the basis of a bachelor degree, the applicant must also apply for admission to a master's programme at the University of Copenhagen. All PhD students in the 4+4 or 3+5 programme must observe any current study activity related to their master's programme. Any course or thesis activities from the master's programme cannot be credit transferred to the PhD programme. When the master’s degree is obtained, the PhD student must send a master’s degree diploma to the Graduate School.”
- “more than fives years before enrolment” has been added in bullet 2.
- “as part of another study programme” has been added in bullet 3.
- New bullet has been added: “Fees paid for PhD courses completed up to six months before enrolment are refundable (see Reimbursement of course fees, page 14).”
- Sentence has been added: “Merit for scientific articles cannot be granted for article(s) that form the basis of any other academic degree awarded to me or for publications that were published more than three years ago (from the date of enrolment).”
- “or full-time” has been added and sentence now reads “PhD students may be enrolled as full-time or part-time students.”
- “For PhD students who are not employed at UCPH, employment leave is determined by the individual employment terms” has been rephrased to: “For PhD students employed elsewhere, employment leave is determined by the individual employment terms.”
- Following sentence has been deleted: “Different deadlines apply to mothers, fathers and adoptive parents.”
- Sentence has been rephrased: “The principal supervisor and the superior at your place of employment must approve the application.”
- Sentence has been rephrased: “The principal supervisor must be employed at the Faculty as either associate professor, senior researcher, professor, clinical associate professor, clinical research associate professor or clinical professor. Part-time lecturers and clinical teaching associate professors are not included.”
- “RCR” has been spelled out: "Responsible Conduct of Research for PhD supervisors".
- Sentence has been added: “Per 1 January 2021 it is also mandatory for all principal supervisors to participate in the courses ‘PhD supervision: rules and regulations’ (online) and ‘PhD Supervision: advice, tools and practices’.”
- “clinical associate professor” has been added and sentence now reads: “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.”
- “to the Graduate School” has been added and sentence now reads: “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.”
- Sentence has been added: “A PhD student may not be a co-supervisor for other PhD students.”
- “supervisors involved” has been deleted from the sentence: “The application must be approved by the PhD student and the principal supervisor”.
- ”PhD study board” has been changed to ”Graduate School”.
- Section has been rephrased: “The PhD coordinators act as advisers on subjects that are not directly related to the scientific content of PhD projects. The PhD coordinators have been appointed at hospitals. Some graduate programmes have also appointed PhD coordinators. PhD coordinators’ main task is to foster a good academic and social environment for the PhD students, organise events that facilitate this, and they are available for PhD students that need advice. For more information and to find a list of all the PhD coordinators, please refer to ku.dk/phd.”
- Sentence has been removed: “Thereafter, the PhD student has three months from his or her enrolment to rectify any shortcomings in the PhD plan.”
- The following has been added: “the department where the principal supervisor is affiliated must ensure” and sentence now reads: “In cases where the PhD project involves collaboration with external partners, the department where the principal supervisor is affiliated must ensure a collaboration agreement (agreement on intellectual property rights) is completed together with the enrolment application.”
- Sentence has been deleted: “The Graduate School recommends that specialist courses constitute the main part of the PhD student’s course activities”
- Sentence has been rephrased: “The Graduate School is part of the agreement on 'open market for PhD courses at the universities belonging to the organisation Universities Denmark'.
- “to participate in courses offered by the Graduate School” has been removed and sentence now reads: “Other course participants must pay a course fee”.
- “and PhD students from NorDoc universities” has been added and sentence now reads: “Exceptions are guest PhD students and PhD students from NorDoc universities, who can participate for free if seats are vacant.”
- Sentence has been added: “The Graduate School sets the rules regarding course payment for participants who are not enrolled at a Danish university.”
- New section as been added: “Seats on PhD courses are allocated according to the agreement on Open Market for PhD courses. On specialised PhD courses 20 percent of the seats are reserved for PhD students from Danish universities (except CBS) and 80 percent for PhD students from SUND. If the reserved seats are taken, applicants will be put on the waiting list. On generic PhD courses all seats are reserved for PhD Students enrolled at SUND. Other applicants will be put on the waiting list.”
- Text in bullet 1 has been added: “The Graduate School will require invoice details when you apply for a PhD course. This is to ensure payment for late cancellations, no shows and external participants.”
- Sentence in bullet 4 has been rephrased: ”The Graduate School may ask for documentation of illness.”
- Section has been rephrased: "PhD students must complete the mandatory course ”Responsible Conduct of Research 1: An Introduction” within the first 12 months of their enrolment. PhD students enrolled after 1 August 2020 must furthermore complete the mandatory course “Responsible Conduct of Research 2: Getting Ready for Submission of Manuscripts and Thesis”. The course should be taken when the PhD student has less than 12 months left of their enrolment period. The courses on responsible conduct of research must be passed before the PhD student can submit their thesis. Courses offered by the graduate programmes may be mandatory for affiliated PhD students. Such mandatory courses may total a maximum of 10 ECTS.”
- Section has been rephrased: “Participation in courses offered by other providers must be approved by the PhD Study Board. Certain rules apply for external courses: The course must have scientific relevance to the PhD project. The principal supervisor must approve participation in the course. You can apply for approval for an external course after completion. The Graduate School does not grant pre-approval of external courses. Applications with courses of less than 0.5 ETCS or less than 5 hours of teaching will not be processed.”
- “symposia” has been added in title and text.
- “However, for online courses 1 ECTS will equal 25 work hours, as no preparation is assumed” has been rephrased to: “1 ECTS credit equals 25 work hours. In practice, one course hour results in 0.1 ECTS credits, since a preparation factor of 1.5 is assumed.”
- New text has been added: “A PhD student may apply for reimbursement from the Graduate School to cover the course fee for up to two courses offered by other providers. You may also apply for reimbursement for courses taken up to six months before enrolment. PhD students will be reimbursed according to the applicable rules for reimbursement. The Graduate School will reimburse the course fee, but not additional costs such as accommodation or travel costs.”
- Section has been moved from ”Approval of credit transfer, page 8”.
- Sentence has been rephrased: “The PhD student must confirm in the PhD plan that knowledge dissemination will be conducted.”
- Sentence has been deleted: “The PhD plan is assessed regularly during the PhD programme and is adjusted as required.”
- Section has been moved forward.
- Title has been changed from “Teaching activities and work obligations under the collective agreement”
- Section has been moved to appear after “Knowledge dissemination, page 15”
- Title has been changed from: “Other collective agreements”
- Sentence has been deleted: “The only exception to this rule is if the co-supervisor’s research facility is situated abroad.”
- “courses” has been added and sentence now reads: “Participation in conferences, courses or congresses is not accepted as a change of environment.”
- Sentence has been deleted: “It is possible to apply for financial support for stays up to six months”
- ”mandatory assessment meeting” has been added by point 1 and 3
- “voluntary assessment meeting” has been added by point 2
- Sentence has been added: “One week before the meeting, the PhD student must submit a written assessment report to the principal supervisor, co-supervisors and external assessor, which will form the basis of the assessment.”
- “or the PhD coordinator” has been added and sentence now reads: “If the PhD student experiences difficulties during the PhD study programme, e.g. with a supervisor, they may contact the Graduate School or the PhD coordinator for guidance.”
- “This is perceived as copied text and is not acceptable” has been changed to: “This is perceived as potential self-plagiarism and is not acceptable”.
- Sentence has been added: “As a general rule, the PhD student may not copy text directly from own manuscripts/papers.”
- Bullet has been added: “If required for the studies, information on ethical and legal permits and approvals”
- The following has been added: “There are no specific requirement concerning the number or the type of first or co-authored papers/manuscripts.”
- “(papers or manuscripts not included)” has been added and sentence now reads: “The synopsis is typically 30-60 pages long (papers or manuscripts not included), but there are no specific requirements concerning the number of pages in the synopsis.”
- Bullet has been added: “If required for the studies, information on ethical and legal permits and approvals”
- Bullet has been added and later rephrased: “Chapters consisting of any papers or manuscripts included in the thesis. The chapters must appear in the end of the thesis.”
- “The contribution of the PhD student must be described in” has been added and sentence now reads: “The contribution of the PhD student must be described in the co-authorship declaration, if the article is also included in a co-author’s thesis”
- “and replacement of an unpublished manuscript with an unaltered published article“ has been removed and sentence now reads: “However, minor changes in layout required for publication of the thesis are allowed.”
- “for duplicate texts” has been added and sentence now reads: “The Faculty screens all PhD theses for duplicate texts immediately after submission and prior to forwarding the theses to the assessment committees.”
- New section has been inserted with text from ”Defence format, page 22”: “The PhD thesis may be printed, once it has been recommended for defence. It is the PhD student’s responsibility that copies of the PhD thesis are available to the public. The Graduate School pays for 12 copies of the thesis per PhD student through an agreement with UCPH’s in-house printing service, Campus Print, on the printing of PhD theses. Please note that this includes two copies for the statuary delivery of publications to the Royal Danish Library.”
- The following has been added: “As concerns the two external members of the assessment committee, there must be one representative from a Danish research institution and one representative from a research institution outside of Denmark.”
- The following has been added: “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. The Graduate School cannot check whether the employment for the members change after the appointment and during the assessment period.”
- “approved” has been changed to “appointed” and sentence now reads: “The PhD student is not allowed to contact the assessment committee once it has been formally appointed.”
- Text has been rephrased: “However, once the PhD thesis has been recommend for defence, the PhD student may have contact with the assessment committee concerning the practical planning of the PhD defence. The assessment of the thesis must not be discussed.”
- “and primary co-supervisor” has been added and sentence now reads: “One lunch or dinner for the assessment committee and the principal supervisor and primary co-supervisor (does not include the PhD student)”
- The following has been deleted and moved to new section (Printing of thesis, page 20): “It is the PhD student’s responsibility that copies of the PhD thesis are available to the public. The Graduate School pays for 12 copies of the thesis per PhD student through an agreement with UCPH’s in-house printing service, HYPERLINK "https://campusprint.ku.dk/" Campus Print, on the printing of PhD theses. Please note that this includes two copies for the statuary delivery of publications to the Royal Danish Library”
- Section has been deleted.
- Bullet has been added: “Documentation of the affiliation with the UCPH.”
- Sentence has been added: “The author must complete the Graduate School’s mandatory PhD courses in responsible conduct of research; RCR1 and RCR2, before the thesis is submitted.”
- Elaborative text has been added: “The Graduate School conducts a PhD student evaluation. A questionnaire will be sent by email to PhD students who have submitted their PhD thesis and the responses are gathered in an annual evaluation report. The evaluation provides the Graduate School with input on the PhD students’ experiences to ensure that informed decisions can be made when adjustments and changes to the PhD programme are needed.”
- “Financing” has been changed to ”funding” in title and text.
- New text has been added: ”For PhD students enrolled at SUND there are different ways to finance their studies. Usually one of the below or a combination: Employment at SUND, Employment at a hospital, institution or a company, Funding from Innovation Fund Denmark, Industrial PhD), Scholarship from their home country, Self-funding. Enrolment requires that funding for salary is secured for at least one third of the enrolment period and a plan is made for obtaining funding for the remaining period. Enrolment at the Graduate School is subject to an annual tuition fee. The enrolment application must include a funding plan and documentation regarding payment of the tuition fee to the Graduate School. The tuition fee is charged for three years and is not postponed during any absence from the three-year PhD programme such as maternity/paternity leave, other leaves of absence or long-term illness. The tuition fee must be paid to the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, in three instalments: 1st rate: DKK 50,000 is paid at enrolment, 2nd rate: DKK 50,000 is paid in the first quarter of the calendar year following enrolment, 3rd rate: DKK 50,000 is paid in the first quarter of the second calendar year following enrolment.
- New text has been added: “If the PhD thesis is submitted before study year two or three and the tuition fee has already been charged, excess tuition fee can be reimbursed upon application.”