Qualifying Exam

You finish the part A of your PhD studies by passing a qualifying exam, which has the purpose of assessing your ability to successfully complete part B, and thereby obtain the PhD degree.

To sign up for the exam you must fill in an application that must be handed in to the PhD manager. You must sign up for the exam no later than six weeks before planned exam

From 2008 all 4+4 students need to fill out a new PhD plan, and hand it in together with the progress report!

 Participants in the exam:

• PhD student
• Supervisor(s)
• External referee
• Internal referee (a member of the PhD Committee)
• Course examiner (where applicable)

Contents

The basis of the exam is a progress report that you prepare over your research, (and a presentation from a course you have attended during your part A studies, where applicable).

Progress report:

• describes the research carried out this far and plans for future research, including references to key literature within your research area.
• max. 30 pages.
• Frontpage
• 4 hard copies and a pdf-file to the PhD administrator, handed in no later than four weeks before the exam, unless otherwise agreed with the external referee.

Form

If you have to give a course presentation you will receive one week before the exam an article and/or a question related to one of the courses you have attended and listed in your exam application. You are generally expected to present the article and discuss it in relation to the course work or your PhD project to prove your communication skills. 

The exam itself takes approx. two hours and consists of:

• A presentation of the progress report (30 minutes).
• A discussion with examiners of the report contents, the oral presentation, and the plans for future research (30 minutes).
• A presentation of the course-related question (15-20 minutes) where applicable.
  
• A discussion with examiners on the course-related question (10-15 minutes), where applicable.
  

Evaluation

The qualifying exam is evaluated as a pass/fail exam. Your supervisor, the external referee, the internal referee, and the course examiner write a short statement containing an assessment of your qualifications including:

• Contents and quality of the progress report
• The oral presentation
• An overall assessment of your qualifications and future research potential.

 The evaluation is handed in to the Faculty of Science from where you will receive the statement.