Before applying
If you are a new applicant for PhD education at NMBU, we recommend that you read this.
- Requires a completed master's degree or five-year programme of professional study
- Three years of full-time studies
- Independent research work of 2.5 years
- Educational component of 30 credits
- Is concluded with a public trial lecture on a specified topic and a public defence
- NMBU has approx. 90-100 public defences annually
To be admitted to one of NMBU`s eight PhD programmes, you need to have the following requirements met: education background, sufficient knowledge of the English language, and funding. In addition, the faculty must have supervisory capacity within the relevant field of study.
Education
You must have a master's degree with a scope of at least 120 credits (ECTS) that is based on a bachelor’s degree of minimum 180 credits (ECTS), or a cand.med.vet. degree, or an integrated master’s degree with a scope of minimum 300 credits (ECTS).
Professional background and grade requirements
You must have a strong academic background from previous relevant studies. The faculty may adopt further admission requirements based on specific criteria. See more information about the faculties supplementary rules here (lenke).
English language skills
You are required to document proficiency written and oral skills in English. This requirement can be met in one of the following ways (ref. Section 5.2 (2) in the PhD regulations):
a. English at upper secondary level 1 from a Norwegian upper secondary school (140 hours) with a grade of 4 or higher, or in-depth English from upper secondary level 2 or 3 with a pass grade, or an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma.
b. English language test:i. Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a result of at least 580 points for the paper-based test (PBT) or 92 points for the internet-based test (IBT), or
ii. IELTS Academic Test with a score of at least 7.0, or
iii. Cambridge Certificate, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency, with a grade of C or better, or
iv. Pearson Test of English (PTE Academic) with a score of at least 65 pointsc. Completion of at least one year of university studies in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the USA, Canada, New Zealand or Australia. A completed bachelor's degree, or minimum one completed year of a master’s degree programme, with English as the language of instruction, in a Nordic country.
English skills at a level corresponding to that described in a.–c. that are documented in other ways, may in special cases be approved by the Faculty based on an individual assessment of the applicant’s documentation
Funding
You must be able to document provision of full funding for the entire contract period (i.e. 3 years full-time study). The most common form of financing is the appointment of a PhD fellowship position.
PhD fellowship position
A PhD fellowship means that you get a temporary employment at one of the university's faculties. PhD fellowship positions are normally given for 3 years without any required work duty or 4 years with required work duty. Applications for PhD fellowship positions are by open announcements only. New positions are announced on a continuous basis.
Open PhD fellowship positions at NMBU are announced in this list of vacancies.
External funding
It is also possible to get admission to a PhD programme with other funding. Examples of such funding may be employment in a PhD fellowship position or in a position with sufficient research time at another institution, or (you and) your employer might be eligible of applying for Industrial PhD or Public Sector PhD. The faculties may impose requirements for connection with a professional environment (residency) (see more information about the faculties' supplementary rules here). If you have external funding, you must be able to document full funding for the entire programme period, including fixed assets.
Other requirements
The faculty for which application is to be made may have requirements that you attend specific courses, and/or be expected to pass specific tests before admission is concluded.
NMBU has seven faculties an eight PhD programmes. The faculties are responsible for the PhD programmes and application for admission is sent to the faculty. NMBU has one set of PhD regulations, and each faculty has their own supplementary rules.
You should never start by applying for admission completely on your own without having been in contact with the faculty beforehand. In the list of links below you will find contact persons at the individual faculties. If you are not sure which faculty to contact, ask forskerutdanning@nmbu.no, and Anna or Antonella will help you further.