Application and Admission to the Natural Sciences PhD Programme

How do you apply to a natural sciences PhD programme?

You start by contacting one of the Faculty's departments who can direct you to one of it's scientific staff who works within the subject area you are interested in. You can take a look at the Department's homepages to find out which research areas are represented at our faculty.

Admission to the Programme for the Ph.D.-degree in Science is possible at any time during the year. An application for admission to the Ph.D. programme must be submitted on the appropriate application and contract form. The Faculty is the formal admission authority but the initial evaluation of applicants is conducted by the relevant department within the Faculty where you want to be attached.

Write a specific research project that provides the basis for your application for admission to the programme together with a researcher who is interested in collaborating with you. The application form for admission to the natural sciences PhD programme has to delivered to the department you wish to be affiliated to. 

When you are granted admission to the PhD programme, you will also be admitted to the doctoral courses – courses at the 9000 level – that are offered at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

9000 courses cannot be taken without having been admitted to a PhD programme.

If you want to take courses at a lower level, you must apply for admission to individual courses (in Norwegian) and pay the semester fee as an ordinary student. 

Admission requirements

The following requirements apply for admission to the natural sciences PhD programme:

• a five-year Master's degree from a university in Norway
• a degree that has been approved as equal to a five-year Master's degree
• other education or competence corresponding to the Master's level and which is approved as grounds for admission after individual assessment
• a foreign education that corresponds to at least 4 years in the Norwegian university system and which is accepted as grounds for admission after individual assessment
• C must be the lowest average grade on the Bachelor's level
• B must be the lowest average grade for courses on the Master's level
• the Master's dissertation must have the grade B or higher

If the academic environment finds that you lack the necessary knowledge in the field, you may be imposed additional requirements beyond that which are mandatory in the doctoral programme.

Do you have a foreign education that should count as part of the grounds for admission?

If you have a foreign education, you must deliver your documentation with your application to the department. Please submit all necessary documentation.

Requirement of English-language competence

Good English skills are necessary. International students must document English skills by taking one of the following tests:

• TOEFL
• IELTS

Read more about the language requirements.

Funding

You normally will not be admitted to the PhD programme without funding for a 3-year full-time education. You must procure funding yourself. This is often done together with your potential supervisor.

The most common forms of funding are:

• application for an advertised PhD candidate position
• application for a grant from e.g. the Research Council of Norway or other sources of funding
• funding from an external business

Read more about possible sources of funding.

If you do not have full funding through such a grant scheme, it is a requirement that 50 % of the working hours can be spent on research training, and that normally at least one year is allocated to full-time studies. It is not possible to plan execution of the doctoral programme at a pace that results in over 6 years of studies.