Admission requirements for the PhD programme at the Faculty of Medicine

• have a relevant master’s degree or equivalent education
• have funding for the entire PhD period
• have an approved PhD project with supervision
• meet the requirements for English proficiency

For admission, the following is required:

• a master’s degree (normally 5 years), or equivalent education

A one-year master’s degree may be approved if:

• it is part of a complete higher education (bachelor’s + master’s or an integrated programme of at least 4 years)
• it includes a master’s thesis corresponding to at least one semester of work

You must attach:

• diploma
• transcript of records
• Diploma Supplement (if issued)

Final admission will not be granted until your education has been assessed and approved.

If you have education from abroad, the following applies:

• The education is assessed according to criteria from HK-dir
• You must normally submit a full evaluation from HK-dir
• Automatic recognition from HK-dir is not sufficient

Exemptions from the requirement for HK-dir evaluation:

• Nordic education
• Medical education from EEA countries combined with a Norwegian license to practice as a doctor

You must document that you have funding for the entire PhD period.

Funding requirements
The funding must cover:

• living expenses
• research expenses related to the project

This is usually documented by:

• an employment contract
• or confirmation of a grant/funding

Important limitations
Self-funded candidates are not admitted to the programme.
You must normally devote at least 50% of your working time to the PhD project.

Applicants employed at university hospitals or collaborating health trusts
For applicants employed at a Norwegian university hospital or collaborating regional health authorities with active research environments, admission may in some cases be granted with 20% protected time for research (note that project progression will still be 50%, as this is a regulatory requirement). To make use of this arrangement, the project must be closely linked to the candidate’s clinical work. This must be described in a separate motivation letter. The hospital department must provide a statement confirming that the candidate will be given time for research and the necessary facilitation to carry out the project.

This is a special arrangement that is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

You must submit a project description for your PhD project. The project description should normally be 6–8 pages and usually include:

• research question and objectives of the project
• academic background and relevance (“state of the art”)
• methodology and implementation
• progress plan (in the form of a Gantt chart)
• plan for data collection and analysis
• any ethical considerations and approvals
• plan for funding of project operating costs
• proposed supervisors and the division of responsibilities between them
• optionally, a section on the project’s innovation potential

The project must be of sufficient academic quality and be feasible within the agreement period.

As a rule, the PhD thesis at the Faculty of Medicine is written as an article-based thesis. In some cases, the thesis may be submitted as a monograph. The choice of format should be described in the project description. For article-based theses, a tentative publication plan may also be included.

If you have funding where the project description has already been assessed as part of the grant allocation (for example, through the faculty’s joint call or from the Liaison Committee), this project description must be submitted with the application for admission.

To be admitted, you must have arranged supervision before applying. At least one supervisor must be employed at the Faculty of Medicine. This is documented through a supervisor’s statement in which the main supervisor both recommends you for the project in question and confirms their willingness to supervise you.

As a general rule, you should have two supervisors, but a third supervisor may be appointed if necessary.

The division of work between the supervisors, as well as the justification for a possible third supervisor, must be described in the supervisor’s statement. The statement can also be used to include other relevant information not covered in the project description (e.g. plans for continued funding if the funding source is only granted one year at a time).

Before admission, at least the main supervisor must have completed the mandatory supervisor training course: PhD supervision course (external link).

The PhD programme at the Faculty of Medicine is conducted primarily in English. Applicants must therefore document their English language proficiency upon admission. Applicants with general university admission certification from Norwegian upper secondary school do not need to provide additional documentation of their English skills.
 

Documentation of English proficiency

You must document your English proficiency in accordance with UiB’s general requirements for English-taught programmes.

Exemptions from the requirement

You do not need to submit a language test if you meet one of the exemptions described in UiB’s general guidelines.

See the full list of approved tests and exemptions.

In addition, admission to the PhD programme includes the following additional exemptions:

• candidates who are first author on at least two scientific publications in English in international, peer-reviewed journals
• candidates who can document that their master’s programme was taught entirely in English
• candidates who have studied English as a subject at university level (minimum 30 ECTS credits)

The application, including all attachments, must be submitted to the department with which you will be affiliated.

See the overview of department contacts.

You should normally apply within two months of starting the project.