Financing of Third-cycle Studies
There are different ways of financing third-cycle studies. When admitting PhD-students, the university must make the assessment that financing can be secured throughout the program.
For all PhD students, regardless of the source of funding for their studies, the university must ensure, at the time of admission, that applicants can devote enough time to their studies to complete them within four years for licentiate degrees and eight years for doctoral degrees. This is regulated in the Higher Education Ordinance. The head of department at the department concerned must confirm the funding.
Employment at BTH
In the first instance, third-cycle studies at BTH shall be financed through employment as a doctoral student. This form of employment is regulated in the Higher Education Ordinance. For example, it specifies how much work alongside studies you may do within the framework of employment at the university (maximum 20%) and the possibility of part-time employment (at least 50% of full-time). Employment as a doctoral student is limited in time and is usually extended for one year at a time.
Open positions with associated doctoral employment are advertised via www.bth.se/jobb and the university's notice boards.
External employment
External employment can mean employment at another higher education institution as well as employment at a company or organization that BTH collaborates with.
In all cases where third-cycle studies at BTH are financed by an external employment, an agreement must be signed between the financing employer and BTH. The agreement must as a minimum regulate the level of financing, the time for financing and that the employee is allowed to devote working hours to third-cycle education so that it can be completed within the specified time (at least 50% of full-time employment). The funding agreement must be attached to the application for admission to doctoral studies.
Scholarship from external funding body
Scholarship from external funder means that BTH is not the payer but that the research student brings funding in the form of a scholarship from an organization, foreign university or similar. In order to guarantee continuous funding, the grant provider must be an official organization, recognized as a grant provider, funder or similar.
A copy of the contract between the donor and the scholarship holder, or a description of the terms and conditions of the scholarship, certified by the relevant head of department, must be attached to the application for admission.
BTH can accept funding of scholarships that meet the conditions in the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100) Chapter 5. 4a § p. 1 or p. 2. i.e. the scholarship shall be provided within the framework of:
- An aid and capacity building program where scholarships are an accepted form of funding with reasonable scholarship conditions and the adopting university has transparency in these conditions and in how the scholarship is paid,
or - a European Union funded program or other cooperation, where scholarships with reasonable scholarship conditions are an established form of funding and where the requirement of funding through employment becomes an obstacle to the participation of the host institution.