About the study programme

PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION FOR THE PhD PROGRAMME IN SOCIAL WORK 2011/2012

The programme description 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 22 May 2003. The programme description for the PhD Programme in Social Work for the 2009/2010 academic year was authorized by the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management on 12 January 2009. The programme description is prolonged without any changes for the academic years 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.

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

Objective for the PhD Programme in Social Work
The PhD Programme in Social Work aims to develop the candidate's qualifications in work that requires an advanced degree of scientific expertise. The most important element of the Programme is an independent piece of research achieving an advanced scientific standard. The candidate is to complete course work which is to complement work with the thesis, as well as contributing to the necessary academic requirements. The Programme is to provide the basis for an independent, creative and critical perception of one's own and others' research, as well as providing practice in communicating research results in academic and other forums.

 

ADMISSION (§ 5 in Regulations)
Requirement for admission is that the applicant holds a Master's degree or equivalent in Social Work or equivalent education within the fields of Social Sciences. In special cases, applicants with other backgrounds may be admitted to the PhD Programme. Applicants may be requested to take specified courses and/or pass specified tests prior to admission.

The applicant must have a weighed average grade of Master's degree or equivalent education with a grade of B or higher, in accordance with NTNU's grading system (§ 5 Regulations).

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.

Application requirements
Applications for admission are to be made on the application form. Application requirements are stated in Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Admission procedure
The Faculty considers applications for admission based on the recommendation of the Department. Procedures for admission and the follow-up of incomplete applications (for example applications with only an outline of a project description) - see "Admission".

Decision of admission
The ranking of applicants will be based on the quality of the application, with emphasis on the project description, but the Department's expertise and supervision capacity will also be considered. The decision concerning admission is based on a collective evaluation 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 Regulations)
The project plan is to give an account of which issues are to be considered and approaches to problems, preferably related to relevant theory and ongoing research. Further, an account is to be given of method, practical implementation and possible research ethical challenges. The description of the research project is normally to be between 5 and 10 pages.

 

FUNDING PLAN (§ 5.2 in Regulations)
For applicants who are not fully funded through scholarship schemes, it is normally required that 50 % of working hours during participation in the PhD Programme can be used for study, and that a minimum of 1 year can be allocated to full time studies. Candidates without funding give an account for an accomplishment without funding. Evaluation of this will be made for each candidate individually in connection with the admission, and compared with the requirements mentioned above.

 

SUPERVISION (§§ 5.2 and 8 in Regulations)
Work on the PhD thesis constitutes active research under supervision. The supervisor's total use of time supervising is stipulated to 210 worker-hours for the entire period. This is equivalent to approx. 70 worker-hours per year for 3 years. In addition to the contract period stated between candidate and supervisor, this includes preparation, reading, complementary work etc. If a supplementary supervisor is appointed, the number of worker-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 Regulations)
A plan for the meeting of residency requirements is to be presented in the application and in the agreement on supervision. The main intention concerning the requirement of residency is that the candidate is to actively participate in an academic environment at, or affiliated to, NTNU. 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 Regulations)
The Department of Social Work and Health Science have a comprehensive network of contacts with both national and international research groups. Candidates are encouraged to participate in these groups in order to establish and make use of the contacts with acknowledged researchers nationally and internationally.

 

ACADEMIC DISSEMINATION (§§ 2, 4 and 5.2 in Regulations)
Dissemination is partly to be connected to the seminar series offered by the Department. When presenting, the candidate receives practice in dissemination, and the discussion after the presentation, also counts as dissemination. In addition, it is required that the candidate imparts information from the project in the form of a "paper-/poster-presentation" given at a conference, normally an international conference. A written version of the "paper/poster", preferably in English or another "international" language, serves as documentation and a basis for assessment/approval. Approval is done by the Department based on the supervisor's recommendation.

 

REPORTING (§ 9 in Regulations)
The candidate and supervisor are to deliver separate annual reports on progress, in accordance with § 9 of Regulations concerning the philosophiae doctor degree (PhD) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Procedures for submission and processing of candidate and supervisor reports - see "Reporting".

ORGANIZED ACADEMIC COURSE WORK (§ 7.3 in Regulations)

Objective of the organized academic course work
The aim of the organized academic course work component is to complement the work with the thesis, as well as providing insight into relevant theories and methodologies.

Structure and implementation
The candidate is to state in her/his application, a plan for the organized academic course work component in consultation with the supervisor (s). External courses/subjects that are to be a part of the organized academic course work must be approved by the Department. For procedures concerning the signing up for courses and approving of external courses/subjects - see "Organized academic training".

The organized academic course work has a prescribed duration of 1 semester's full time work, i.e. a minimum of 30 credits, and must be completed before the thesis (150 credits) is handed in for assessment. The organized academic course work component consists of four elements:

• The Theory of Science, minimum 7.5 credits
• Methodological courses, minimum 7.5 credits
• Theoretical/substantial courses, minimum 7.5 credits
• Individually chosen courses, minimum 7.5 credits

For courses in "The Theory of Science," candidates are referred to the Faculty of Social Science and Technology Management. The course may also be followed at the Faculty of Arts. The course must be a minimum of 7.5 credits.

The main part of the methodological and theoretical training will consist of courses organised by the Department. There will be held one, or more two-or three-day courses each semester. Further below, you may find an overview of the courses. Courses within the PhD programme in Health Science, offered by the Department, are also approved for the PhD programme in Social Work. Each course will be a blend of teaching and presentations by the participants. For each course there will be a curriculum of 200-300 pages, partly individually selected . Each course awards 5 credits if the candidate makes a presentation, and 2.5 credits without a presentation.

The presentations take the form of essays/papers. These should be connected to the theme of the course, but simultaneously be connected to the doctoral thesis, for example by discussing the theoretical grounding of one's own work, or possible the status of knowledge of own area of research. A draft of the presentations is to be handed in before the course, presented and discussed orally at the course, and to be completed in written form within a given deadline. The completed essay/paper must be awarded a grade B or higher by the course leader.

It is mandatory to participate in two of these courses, one of them by giving a presentation. This is to ensure contact with the Department and the rest of the doctoral candidates. The remaining credits are to be chosen freely, depending on individual wishes and in agreement with the supervisor. One may participate in additional courses offered by the Department, but it may also be useful to attend PhD courses offered at other universities. The courses should be assembled so that the methodological training constitutes at least 7.5 credits, that the theoretical/substantial training constitutes at least 7.5 credits and that the training in theory of science constitutes at least 7.5 credits. The assembling of the remaining credits is determined by the candidate in deliberation with the supervisor. Courses taken that are not part of the Departmental series must be approved by the Department after recommendation by the supervisor.

Individually selected syllabus may be approved as part of the programme, if the access to research courses makes it difficult for the candidate, within reasonable time frames, to compose a schedule that supports his thesis work. Assessment will be based on written assignments.

In a few cases, it may be relevant to approve external courses on condition that certain additional criteria are met, for example that an essay related to the course is submitted, even though this is not a requirement in the course itself. In these cases, the essay is submitted to the Department, and assessed by the supervisor.

In special cases, Master's courses may also be accepted on the same level as an external doctoral course. However, these courses may not be part of the candidate's Master's degree. Furthermore, it is assumed that the course, curriculum, awarding of credits, form- and requirements of documentation are adapted to the standards of PhD courses. This use of Master's courses must be approved by the Department of Social work and Health Science on recommendation by the supervisor.

Code	Title	Credits	Semester
HLS8006 HLS8007	Psychosomatics and health psychology I Psychosomatics and health psychology II	5 2.5	* *
HLS8008 HLS8009	Research on health promotion/    Positive health research I Research on health promotion/    Positive health research II	5 2.5	* *
HLS8012 HLS8013	Ethics and values in empirical research I Ethics and values in empirical research II	5 2.5	* *
HLS8014 HLS8015	Current issues I Current issues II	5 2.5	* *
HLS8018 HLS8019	Children of the Welfare State I Children of the Welfare State II	5 2.5	* *
SARB8008 SARB8009	Ethnicity and diversity I Ethnicity and diversity II	5 2.5	* *
SARB8010 SARB8011	Social exclusion I Social exclusion II	5 2.5	* *
SARB8012 SARB8013	Qualitative Analysis I Qualitative Analysis II	5 2.5	* *
SARB8014 SARB8015	Qualitative research methods I Qualitative research methods II	5 2.5	* *
SARB8016 SARB8017	Current issues I Current issues II	5 2.5	A A
SARB8018**	Individually selected syllabus	5	A/S

 * The course is offered after further announcement,
** The course is reserved for candidates enrolled in the PhD Programme in Social Work

 

THESIS (§ 7.4 in 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).

The thesis may be handed in as a larger collective piece of work (monograph) or a collection of articles. If the thesis consists of a number of smaller pieces of work, there should be at least 3-5 pieces as well as a summary. Dependent on quality and scope, exactly number of articles is to be clarified with the supervisor. In special cases an exception from the demand of 3-5 articles may be made.

The articles may be articles in scientific referee based periodicals or chapters in anthologies. It is assumed that at least 50 % of the articles is already published, or accepted for publishing when the thesis is handed in. All articles are demanded to have a standard that is appropriate for publication in scientific referee based periodicals. Normally, the candidate is to be the primary author of all articles. In special cases, dispensation from the directions above may be given.

Dispensation is to be clarified with the supervisor.

 

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 "Finalization ".