Rules and routines for the Joint Doctoral Programme in medical technology
Doctoral students studying under this programme are admitted to medical science at KI and to medical technology at KTH. On completion of their studies and the successful defence of their theses, students may apply for a joint degree. The following rules and routines are specific for these students.
Home university
The doctoral student is a full student at both universities. However, for administrative reasons either KI or KTH is the “Home university”. The other university is called “Partner university”.
Home university refers to the party that has recruited a doctoral student and that has arranged funding for the project to which the student has been admitted under the programme. The Home University has coordinating responsibility for the student.
Supervisors
At least one supervisor per university is to be appointed for each doctoral student, with one supervisor from the Home university being appointed as principal supervisor.
Each university appoints a supervisor in accordance with its own particular rules and procedures. A decision to replace a supervisor is made by the party that appointed the supervisor to be replaced.
The supervisor from the Partner university has a special responsibility for making the doctoral student at home at that university and for advising the doctoral student on regulations and procedures of that university.
The principal supervisor shall have completed the basic course in doctoral supervision or have the equivalent competence. Ideally, all supervisors shall have this competence.
Mentor
As a complement to the supervisors, doctoral students shall choose an independent person to serve as a mentor during the Programme. Doctoral students must choose a mentor within one year of admission, which is to be noted in their individual study plans
Admission procedure
Before the admission of a new doctoral student the steering group of the programme must assess if the project is suitable for the programme. Use the form for steering group approval under Documents and Forms .
After the steering group has given their consent, an admission procedure starts that basically follows the admission procedure of KI with the following steps: 1) establishment of doctoral position, 2) recruitment (advertising and selection) and 3) admission. After that an individual study plan is drawn up.
Establishing a doctoral student position
Before a doctoral student can be recruited position can be advertised or a doctoral student recruited through other means, an assessment shall be made of the possibility of offering high-standard doctoral education.
The following will be reviewed:
- supervisors’ skills and suitability
- the scientific project
- financial plan
- the doctoral education environment
- ethical permits
The principal supervisor submits an application for establishing the doctoral student position using this KI form (docx 63 kB) regardless of home university. Attach the consent from the steering group.
Both parties must approve the application for establishing a doctoral student position. The person who decides on admission to doctoral education is the person who decides to establish a new doctoral position (prefekt at KI and head of school at KTH).
KI:
Contact the doctoral education administration at your department
KTH:
phdadmin@cbh.kth.se
Green light for supervisor
As a part of the establishment step, an application for Green light for the supervisor must be approved.
Green Light – approval of a doctoral supervisor|KI
Doctoral student admission process at CBH|KTH
Advertising
A doctoral position shall be openly advertised at the Home university following its rules and procedures. Advertisements shall include information about how to apply and shall make clear that the Programme is a collaboration between the Parties aiming towards a joint doctoral degree.
The exemptions from the advertising requirement provided in the Higher Education Ordinance (Chapter 7 Section 37) also apply to these doctoral students.
Instruction for advertising doctoral positions|KI
Instruction for advertising doctoral positions, KTH
Eligibility
The general entry requirements are stated in the Higher Education Ordinance (1993:100). Over and above these requirements, there are specific entry requirements in the form of English skills.
Eligibility is assessed and handled by the Home University. The results of this assessment shall be documented and appended to the admission decision
More information on eligibility|KI
Selection
A student is selected by the Parties in consultation from amongst the applicants who meet the entry requirements and who are otherwise judged able to benefit from the Programme with regard to their maturity and capacity for independent judgement and critical analysis. The applicants’ study results from master’s courses, independent papers, documented subject knowledge and other documented skills/experience of significance to benefitting from and completing the Programme shall also be taken into account.
Admission decision
Decision on admission is made by both Parties jointly after the eligibility has been assessed and selection been made among eligible candidates.
The doctoral student is registered in LADOK at both universities.
The application for admission is submitted, in two originals, to the KI department or to the School at KTH depending on home university), using this form. After decision both universities get one original each.
KI: Contact information to the departments
KTH: phdadmin@cbh.kth.se
Individual study plan
All doctoral students in Sweden must have an individual study plan (ISP) . After admission to doctoral education, an ISP shall be drawn up for each doctoral student by the principal supervisor in consultation with the other supervisors. The ISP shall then be approved by both Parties.
A proposal for an ISP shall be submitted by a doctoral student and his/her supervisor no later than one month after the commencement of studies. The ISP shall then be approved by both universities. All doctoral students shall have an approved ISP within three months of the commencement of studies.
A student’s ISP shall be followed up at least once a year, at which time his/her study results shall be evaluated by both parties. The ISP shall then be updated.
The processing of the ISPs takes place digitally via KTH's ISP system. This means that supervisors, administrators, and Directors of studies at KI must obtain external login credentials to KTH's ISP system . These login credentials can be requested from phdadmin@cbh.kth.se .
Instructions for completing the ISP form can be found under the Documents and Forms tab , see KI-KTH ISP guide English . In the Documents tab, there is also an example of what an ISP may look like, see ISP example .
ISP seminar / start seminar
Before a student’s ISP can be approved, he/she shall hold an ISP seminar at which he/she presents the research project from his/her own perspective and obtains feedback. The seminar may be held at either KI or KTH in accordance with local procedures.
Introduction
The mandatory introduction for new doctoral students at KI is mandatory for all joint doctoral students.
There is no similar arrangement at KTH, which means that a greater responsibility lies on the KHT supervisor to ensure that the doctoral student is introduced to KTH.
Courses
Doctoral students follow the general study plan for medical science at KI and the general study plan for medical technology at KTH, with the exception as per the Agreement between the Universities.
Courses and credit-bearing activities of the study programme (pdf 102 kB) . Note that the total course requirement is 60 HE-credits.
To apply for courses at KI, please see the
course catalogue
.
To apply for courses at KTH, please see the
course and programme directory
.
Accreditation of courses from other universities
Students may also attend courses at other universities, which can be subsequently accredited. This should be done in accordance to the routine of the home university.
Courses at KI and KTH need only to be registered at one of the universities without the need for accreditation.
Half-time review
A half-time review shall be held for each doctoral student preferably two years after the commencement of studies and when the equivalent of two years of full-time doctoral study has been completed. Before his/her half-time review, a student shall have achieved a pass on 30 HE credit courses, including all compulsory basic general science courses. (see courses above).
The half-time review shall be conducted in accordance with the rules and procedures for such at KI , even when KTH is the home university.
According to the routines, the half-time review should be announced. You can find a template proposal for a half-time announcement on the tab Documents .”
On completion, the record of the half-time review shall be signed by the director of doctoral studies at the relevant KI department and at the relevant KTH school, with a copy being sent to the other party.
Completed half-time review should be registered at both KI and KTH in either the LADOK documentation system or in the digital ISP.
Research project/constituent papers
All constituent papers of a student’s doctoral thesis are to derive from both KI and KTH. The student must be affiliated to either KI or KTH for all such studies, and to both universities for half of them.
Note that all human or animal studies require an ethical permit. Without ethical permit such study cannot be included in the thesis.
Thesis
Theses produced under the Programme shall be of the compilation kind. The constituent papers shall derive from both Parties and at least half shall have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
The thesis should be uploaded in the thesis database of both universities. For questions regarding the thesis database, please contact the library or contact persons for this programme.
The cover of the thesis
The graphic design of both partners must be respected when printing the thesis. Use the template for the cover found on the page Documents and Forms .
The layout of the text
Make sure that it is obvious that the thesis derives from both universities. This means that some adjustments must be done to the ordinary thesis templates of KI or KTH.
Public defence
Pre-review, decision on examination board, opponent (examiner), time, venue and other matters related to the public defence of a doctoral thesis shall comply with the rules and procedures in effect at the Home university. Copies of decisions made by the Home University and their underlying documentation shall be sent to the other Party well in advance of the defence date.
KI’s procedures: Time to defend your thesis
KTH’s procedures: Thesis, thesis defence and qualification
The following applies to all doctoral students regardless of home university:
Reviewing ethical permits
Before any decision on the public defence is made, the constituent papers and any relevant ethical permit shall be sent to KI’s dissertation committee for review. Constituent works requiring but lacking an ethical permit may not be included in the thesis.
When KI is Home university: No difference from the ordinary KI procedures.
When KTH is Home university: The Dissertation committee must be contacted disptuation@ki.se before KTH make a decision on public defence.
Plagiarism check
Before the defence, a plagiarism check is to be made of the thesis in accordance with the Home university’s procedures.
Examination board
The Examination Board shall comprise three or five experts, at least one of whom shall come from a higher education institution other than the two parties. Medical and technological scientific competence shall both be represented on the Examination Board.
Advertising
The defence is to be advertised on both universities. Please contact administrator for doctoral education at the KI department and Fredrik Häggström at the School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health.
After the public defence
After the completion of the dissertation, two identical records are established, both of which must be signed. One original is kept by the home university and the other is sent to the partner university. Note that it must be stated in the record that this is a dissertation within the joint education (it is fine to write this by hand).
The record is to be submitted on the form provided by the Home university. A pass grade is reported in LADOK at both KI and KTH.
Degree requirements
Before a joint degree may be awarded, students must meet the following requirements in addition to those applying to all doctoral students at KI and KTH.
- have been admitted to doctoral education by both parties under the KI-KTH joint programme agreeement
- have had supervisors from both KI and KTH
- have completed and passed courses equivalent to at least 60 HE-credits (see above), and
- have undergone his/her half-time review.
Degree certificate
Degree applications are to be made to KTH, which has responsibility for the administration of degree-related matters. The application for the degree is made via the "Services" tab on KTH's website. Under the tab you will find the heading "Degree Certificate" which leads to the application.
If you have any questions, please contact Fredrik Häggström at KTH before the application is submitted.
Note that a licentiate degree cannot be issued as a joint degree. If the student decides to apply for a licentiate degree instead of a PhD, he or she must choose from which university/subject to have the licentiate issued.
Ladok
Note that since not all courses can be found in the home university’s Ladok, students will need extracts from both universities’ Ladok systems to see all courses and modules.
Students can see their Ladok of both KI and KTH here .