Political Science (PHPOL)

PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION FOR THE PHD PROGRAMME IN POLITICAL SCIENCE 2011/2012

The study plan is founded on the Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), passed by the Board of NTNU on 7 December 2005. The study plan for the PhD Programme in Political Science 2011/2012 was authorized by the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management on 15 January 2011.

The PhD Regulations as well as internal faculty procedures and administrative guidelines that are common to the Faculty's Study Programmes - see the left column.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAMME (§ 2 in PhD-Regulations)

The PhD Programme in Political Science is prescribed as 180 ECTS credits (3 years). The final course plan for the PhD Programme is to be shaped in joint consultation between candidate, supervisor and the Department depending on the thesis area of research and the candidate's individual requirements and wishes.

Objective for the PhD Programme in Political Science

The PhD Programme in Political Science aims to develop the candidate's qualifications in work that requires an advanced degree of scientific expertise. The PhD Programme in Political Science consists of two parts, one shorter part constituting the organized academic training component, and the PhD thesis. The whole programme is estimated to three year's full time study.

ADMISSION (§ 5 in PhD-Regulations)

The main requirement for admission is a completed Cand. Polit. Degree/Master's Degree in Political Science. Admission may be granted if equivalent competence is documented in other ways.

The applicant must have a weighed average ECTS grade of the Master's Degree (or equivalent education) of B or higher. Applicants who are unable to meet these criteria may only be admitted if they can document that they are suitable candidates for education leading to a PhD degree.

In special cases, applicants with other backgrounds than a Master's Degree or equivalent in Political Science may be admitted. Applicants in such cases may be required to attend particular courses as a prerequisite for admission.

Application requirements

Applications for admission are to be made through the application form which is found on the Faculty's web pages, or by enquiry to the Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management. The PhD plan, including the project description, is composed in consultation with the applicant's main supervisor. The applicant must therefore contact a qualified person at the Department when working on the application.

Admission Procedure

The Faculty will consider applications for admission on recommendation from the Department. For procedures for admission and the follow-up of incomplete applications - see "admission" .

Decision of admission

The decision concerning admission is based on a comprehensive assessment of the application. Admission to a PhD Programme is formalised by a written contract, in accordance with § 6 of the Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

PHD PLAN (§ 5.2 in PhD-Regulations)

A detailed project description of the research project must be attached to the application. The project description must give an account of which issues that are being considered, approaches to problems, as well as the choice of theory and method. The description of the research project should normally be between 5 and 10 pages.

FUNDING PLAN (§ 5.2 in PhD-Regulations)

For applicants who are not fully funded through scholarship schemes, it is normally required that 50 % of the working hours during participation in the PhD Programme may be used for study, and that a minimum of 1 year may be allocated to full time studies.

SUPERVISION (§§ 5.2 & 8 in PhD-Regulations)

Work on the PhD thesis constitutes active research under supervision. The supervisor's total use of time is stipulated to 210 working-hours. This is equivalent to approximately 70 working-hours per year for 3 years. In addition to the contact period stated between candidate and supervisor, these hours includes preparation, reading, complementary work etc. If a supplementary supervisor is appointed, the number of working-hours must be divided between the principal and supplementary supervisor.

Procedures for the appointment and changing of supervisor(s) - see "supervision".

RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT (§§ 5.2 and 7.2 in PhD-Regulations)

A plan for the meeting of residency requirements is to be presented in the application and in the agreement on supervision. In certain instances, the Department may grant dispensation from the residency requirements.

PARTICIPATION IN ACTIVE RESEARCH GROUPS IN NORWAY AND INTERNATIONALLY (§§ 4 and 5.2 in PhD-Regulations)

To meet the requirements set for academic dissemination, the candidate must produce a paper which is presented and discussed at an international conference.

REPORTING (§ 9 in PhD-Regulations)

The candidate and supervisor are to deliver separate annual reports on progress, in accordance with the PhD plan. Procedures for submission and processing of candidate and supervisor reports - see "reporting".

ORGANIZED ACADEMIC TRAINING (§ 7.3 in PhD-Regulations)

The organized academic training has a prescribed duration of one semester's full time work. The organized academic training component must be completed and approved before the candidate may submit the thesis to the Faculty for assessment.

Structure and implementation

A plan for the organized academic training component, composed in consultation with the supervisor(s), should be included in the candidate's application. It is recommended that the organized academic training is completed at an early stage of the Programme. The candidate is responsible for signing up for courses within the given deadlines. External courses that are to be a part of the organized academic training must be approved by the Department. For procedures concerning the signing up for courses and approving of external courses - see "organized academic training".

The total work load per ECTS credit is normally the equivalent of 29 hours. The organized academic training component must in total cover at least 30 ECTS credits, of which 20 ECTS credits must be selected from the PhD catalogue. Contact the Department for further information on the national cooperation between the political science departments at Norway's universities concerning the organized academic training. Applications for changes in the accepted plan for the organized academic training component will be determined by the Department on recommendation from the supervisor.

The organized academic training component consists of three elements:

a. The Theory of Science, 10 ECTS credits

b. Methodological courses, 10 ECTS credits

c. Theoretical/substantial courses, 10 ECTS credits

Under a. the Faculty offers the course SFEL8000 Theory of Science for the Social Sciences, which is a joint course for all PhD candidates at the Faculty of Social Science and Technology Management. Under ‘b' the Department offers the course SOS8515 Advanced Social Statistics and SOS8516 Qualitative Analysis each autumn semester, and the course SOS8003 Applied Social Statistics in the spring semester. Contact the Department for further information.  Under c. the Department offers a number of theoretical/substantial courses, see course list below. Each course is credited by 10 ECTS provided they are passed with a grade B or higher and are not part of the candidate's Cand. Polit./Master's Degree. Courses must normally be completed after admission to the PhD Programme.

Courses that are to/may be part of the PhD Programme in Political Science:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
The Theory of Science/Methodological Courses:
SFEL8000	Theory of Science for the Social Sciences	10	A/S
SOS8515	Advanced Social Statistics	10	A
SOS8516	Qualitative Analysis	10	A
SOS8003	Applied Social Statistics	10	S
Theoretical/Substantial Courses:
POL8502*	Causes of War	10	A
POL8503	International Political Economy	10	A
POL8507	Policy Analysis	10	A
POL8508	Foreign Policy	10	A
POL8509	Media, Opinion and Political Behaviour	10	A
POL8510	East European Systems since 1740	10	A
POL8511*	The Catholic and Protestant Churches in World Politics	10	A
POL8512	The Soviet Union and Russia since 1917	10	A
POL8513	National Political Economy	10	A
POL8515	Comparative and International Politics in Japan and East- Asia	10	A
POL8516	The European Union	10	A

* The course is not being taught in 2011/2012.

The courses are offered when there is available teaching resources.  If 6 or fewer students sign up for a planned course in the series SOS8501-SOS8516 and POL8501- POL8516 during the first 2 teaching weeks, the course will be offered as an instructed reading course.

Seminars and courses that may replace the above courses must be approved by the Department. Individual curricula may be approved as part of the organized academic training component, if access to research seminars makes it difficult for the candidate to assemble a course programme that complements the work with the thesis within a reasonable time frame. Form of evaluation is normally a research paper.

THESIS (§ 7.4 in PhD-Regulations)

Requirements for the thesis and rules for evaluation are given in Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),

Supplementary requirements for article based theses

1. Level

The level of the thesis should be the same for monographies and article based theses. The articles should meet the standard for publishing in professional journals with peer review.

2. The number of articles

The thesis should normally consist of at least three articles of normal size. If there is co-authors for one or more of the articles, the candidate must be the main author, and have extensive professional responsibility for the majority of the articles that will be a part of the thesis.

3. Summary

The candidate must be the sole author on the summary in the thesis. The summary should put together the issues and conclusions addressed in the thesis. Herein lies a summary of the thesis' contribution to its field of research.

4. Guidelines for co-authorships

If the articles in the thesis have co-authors, the Vancouver-rules will apply.

a) Substantial contribution to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.

b) Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content.

c) Final approval of the version to be published.

A statement of the co-authorship, where the candidates' contribution is identified, must be a part of the preface of the thesis.

FINALIZATION

Procedures for submission, appointment of an evaluation committee, the committee's report and assessment of the thesis, revision for new assessment, trial lecture and public defence, as well as conferment of the PhD Degree - see "thesis and finalization".

Overview over courses on PhD level offered by the Department:

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
SFEL8000	Theory of Science for the Social Sciences	10	A/S
SOS8003	Applied Social Statistics	10	S
SOS8501	Work and Organisation	10	A
SOS8503	Culture and Media Sociology	10	A
SOS8504	Welfare, Inequality and Integration	10	A
SOS8505	Sociology of Family and Childhood	10	A
SOS8506	Applied Sociological Theory	10	A
SOS8514	Rural Studies	10	A
SOS8515	Advanced Social Statistics	10	A
SOS8516	Qualitative Analysis	10	A
POL8502*	Causes of War	10	A
POL8503	International Political Economy	10	A
POL8507	Policy Analysis	10	A
POL8508	Foreign Policy	10	A
POL8509	Media, Opinion and Political Behaviour	10	A
POL8510	East European Systems since 1740	10	A
POL8511*	The Catholic and Protestant Churches in World Politics	10	A
POL8512	The Soviet Union and Russia since 1917	10	A
POL8513	Political Economy	10	A
POL8515	Comparative and International Politics in Japan and East Asia	10	A
POL8516	The European Union	10	A

* The course is not being taught in autumn 2011/spring 2012.

The courses are offered when there are available teaching resources.  If 6 or fewer students sign up for a planned course in the series SOS8501-SOS8516 and POL8501- POL8516 during the first 2 teaching weeks, the course will be offered as an instructed reading course.

Be aware that the following PhD courses overlap with Master's Degree courses:

SOS8003: SOS3003  10 credits

SOS8003: SOS3005              5 credits

SOS8003: IDR3024   10 credits

SOS8003: SOS3010  10 credits

SOS8003: SVSOS316 10 credits

SOS8501: SOS3501   10 credits

SOS8502: SOS3502  10 credits

SOS8503: SOS3503   10 credits

SOS8504: SOS3504   10 credits

SOS8505: SOS3505   10 credits

SOS8506: SOS3506   10 credits

SOS8515: SOS8001  10 credits

SOS8515: SOS3507   10 credits

SOS8515: SOS3507 (v2) 10 credits

SOS8515: SOS3515  10 credits

SOS8516: SOS3516  10 credits

SOS8516: SOS8001  10 credits

SOS8516: SOS3507   10 credits

SOS8516: SOS3507 (v2) 10 credits

POL8502: POL3502   10 credits

POL8503: POL3503   10 credits

POL8507: POL3507  10 credits

POL8508: POL3508  10 credits

POL8509: POL3509  10 credits

POL8510: POL3510  10 credits

POL8511: POL3511   10 credits and SVPOLX1/02 10 credits

POL8512: POL3512  10 credits

POL8513: POL3513   10 credits

POL8515:POL3515   10 credits

POL8516:POL3516   10 credits