Externally funded doctoral student

Here is a description of the handling and rules for external funding of doctoral students at the Swedish Defence University.

When admitting a doctoral student whose employer allows him or her to undergo doctoral studies during working hours (we call it an externally employed doctoral student and the employer can be an organisation or a public authority), the same regulations apply as for other admissions at the Swedish Defence University. The admission regulations regulate admission, and the general syllabus for each third-cycle subject describes, among other things, the entry requirements.

Admission

All admissions of doctoral students at the Swedish Defence University are governed by the admission regulations. In summary, the following applies:

• It is the respective subject councils that are responsible for ensuring that the regulations are followed.
• All applications for a doctoral position, regardless of the form of funding, must undergo quality review in accordance with the Swedish Defence University's procedures.
• In order for the higher education institution to be able to admit an applicant with another form of employment (than as a doctoral student), it must be possible to secure funding throughout the programme, and the applicant must be able to devote so much of his or her time to the education that it can be completed within a maximum of eight years in the case of a doctoral degree.
• All doctoral students must have the qualifications (both general and special) prescribed by the university. The doctoral student must also be judged by SEDU to have such ability in general as is needed to benefit from the education.
• Each Subject Council is responsible in particular for ensuring that the admission of doctoral students with funding other than a doctoral studentship does not adversely affect the quality of other doctoral education in terms of its scope or needs.

Eligibility, preparation and admission

The General syllabus describes the entry requirements, both general and special, required for admission to doctoral studies, but also details about admission as well as assessment criteria and selection criteria.

In addition to the documents that follow from the entry requirements in the General Syllabus, an application for admission must also include a certificate from the employer that the applicant guarantees the applicant's salary for a total of four years of full-time study (which can be spread over a maximum of eight years).

Each scientific council prepares applications and is also responsible for ensuring that there is a clear review process.

A general description of what it means to be (extent funded) doctoral student, how it works and what is expected can be found on the external website. It is intended as information for both the prospective doctoral student and the employer.

Agreement

Before a doctoral student can be admitted, there must be an agreement between the Swedish Defence University and an external party (the employer). The University Administration's Research, Education and Student Office, FUS, is assisting in the agreement being reached. The Subject Council should contact FUS with information in good time. A template for the agreement can be found here Word, 45 kB..

Costs

Please note that it is not possible to charge fees for (selling) doctoral education. This is governed by Section 3 of the Ordinance (2002:760) on Contract Education at Universities and University Colleges , which reads:

A higher education institution may conduct contract education only if it is linked to higher education at first-cycle or second-cycle level for which the higher education institution has the right to award degrees.

However, the university may receive grants from an external organisation for the education of individual doctoral students, but this may not be a requirement. The standard is currently (January 2019) estimated at SEK 125,000 per doctoral student and year (for full-time studies). This should cover supervision and expenses. The receiving department/subject should be clear that the cost will be borne by them if the grant ceases and that any termination of the grant must not affect the doctoral student's education.

The agreement between the Swedish Defence University and an external party regarding doctoral education is intended to secure the financing of the doctoral student's education.

Useful documents

The documents below can be found on the page Documents for doctoral studies

• Admission Regulations
• General syllabus War Studies
• General syllabus Political Science with specialisation in Crisis and Security
• Agreement template
• Overall description of doctoral education (missive to external party)
• Process description for external funding