How to apply for approval of the educational component
You should apply to have your educational component approved as soon as it is deemed completed according to the faculty’s rules, see § 8 of the Supplementary rules pertaining to the Regulations. Application for approval of the educational component should be submitted at least 6 months before you hand in your thesis for evaluation.
You will receive a formal letter of approval after the educational component has been approved.
Application content
- Application form for approval of the educational component (docx). List the courses you wish to have approved in order of priority. You will not be given credits beyond the requirement of 30 credits.
- Documentation of each component in the form of diplomas, course certificates and confirmations must be enclosed. Confirmation of courses registered in the University’s Studentweb is not necessary.
- Participation in conferences can be approved by sending in:
- the front page of the conference programme with name and date of the conference
- the page with the title of your presentation - poster or oral presentation
- the abstract
- the conference participation must have taken place while you are admitted on the PhD Programme
Approval of conference contributions - Corona pandemic
Candidates who had planned to attend a national or international conference with presentation, where the conference has been cancelled due to the corona pandemic can still apply for approval of the activity in his/her educational component if the following documentation is submitted:
- Abstract
- A zoom recording of the presentation or an image of the poster to be presented
- Documentation that the candidate was registered to attend the conference, preferably in the form of a conference programme in which the candidate's participation appears, alternatively a confirmation of registration with presentation from the organizer
- The candidate must also state name, place and original time of the conference, unless stated in the programme or the confirmation of participation.
The number of credits earned will be as before: 2 credits per international conference. A maximum of 4 credits can be obtained in this way. 1 credit per national conference, a maximum of 3 credits can be obtained in this way. The presentations must be on different individual projects if several conferences are sought to be approved.
Conference participation at conferences held before or after formal admission period does not give credits in the educational component.
Application requirements
- Elements that are to be recognised as part of the educational component may not have been completed more than 2 years prior to the date of admission to the PhD programme. Other activities (like conferences) cannot be completed before admission.
- At least 20 credits must be obtained after admission to the programme.
- Application for approval of the educational component should be submitted when you have achieved 30 credits.
- External courses and other activities will not be preapproved.
The application should be sent by e-mail or post
- postmottak@medisin.uio.no
- Research Support, The Faculty of Medicine, P.O.Box 1078 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway
Completing the educational component
The educational component can be taken on a rolling basis, but most of it should be taken during the first year of the admission period. It consists of a compulsory 10-credit part and an elective 20-credit part.
Compulsory PhD courses
The compulsory part of the educational component consists of 10 credits.
Candidates working on research projects involving animal testing are required to attend a mandatory course in laboratory animal science based upon FELASA C requirements.
Elective component
The elective component consists of 20 credits.
- A minimum of 15 credits must consist of PhD courses at a Norwegian or international educational institution.
- Specialisation in medicine is approved as a 5-credit PhD course. You can only have one specialty approved.
- Individual courses forming part of specialisation are not approved, see § 8 of the Supplementary rules pertaining to the Regulations.
- Up to 5 credits can be taken as other activities than PhD courses. For details, please see § 8 of the Supplementary rules.
Approval of external courses
A minimum of 15 credits must consist of PhD courses at a Norwegian or international educational institution. PhD-level courses from an educational institution which give ECTS credits can be approved as part of the educational component.
You have to apply to have international or Norwegian PhD courses approved if the institutions providing the courses do not have ECTS-accredition. The following attachments must be enclosed with your application:
- Confirmation that the course is a PhD-level course.
- Confirmation of course duration (i.e. number of hours course lasted). If relevant, confirmation of number of hours of preparation before the course started/course literature and confirmation of exam (i.e. number of hours an exam lasted as well as any preparations before an exam).
- If relevant, confirmation of presentation - poster or oral presentation.
- Web address to the course.
Courses cannot be approved as part of the educational component if the above mentioned documentation is not enclosed.
Credit points equal the ECTS grading scale (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). 1 credit = 1 ECTS= 25-30 hours.
Courses taken at the Norwegian Medical Association
Courses at the Norwegian Medical Association (Den norske legeforening) count as continuing and further education courses and will not be approved as part of the educational component.
Using courses at Master’s Level
- Courses at Master’s level can be approved in exceptional cases if the candidate has a particular need to acquire supplementary knowledge for an interdisciplinary assignment. A confirmation from the principal supervisor must in such cases state that the course is relevant for the research project, § 8 of the Supplementary rules pertaining to the Regulations.
- Courses that form part of a candidate’s bachelor or master degree cannot also be credited as a PhD course.
- Master degree courses that overlap with PhD courses may on application be approved. Courses must be passed with grade A or B.
The Medical Student Research Programme
Candidates who have completed the Medical Student Research Programme normally get their educational component approved as equivalent to the PhD programme’s educational component if the research done on the Medical Student Research Programme leads to a PhD project.
Former students on the Medical Student Research Programme may nevertheless be required to take new courses if this is academically justified according to the expected learning outcomes of the PhD programme and the project’s theme and/or method, or if it has been a long time since the educational component of the Medical Student Research Programme was completed before applying for admission to the PhD programme. Assessment of this is done by the faculty in connection with admission.
Forms
- Application for approval of educational component (docx)
- Form for research period at an institution abroad (docx)
Contact us
- Application for approval of the educational component should be sent by email to postmottak@medisin.uio.no or by post to Research Support, The Faculty of Medicine, P.O.Box 1078 Blindern, NO-0316 Oslo, Norway
- Contact information