Table of contents
The scope of supervision
All doctoral candidates at ILOS are entitled to supervision equivalent to 126 hours during the PhD period. This includes preparation time for supervisors, guidance meetings, and any follow-up work. The guidance time can be used by up to 42 hours per year. In practice this corresponds to 14 guidance meetings per year.
All PhD candidates at ILOS should have both a main supervisor and a co-supervisor. According to Regulations for the degree Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Oslo (Section 7.2) it is recommended to have a co-supervisor whereas it is mandatory at ILOS.
At least one of the supervisors must be internal in the sense of being employed by the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages. The co-supervisor, as a general rule should be recruited externally, from a foreign university. The time distribution between the main- and the co-supervisor is normally 66.6% for the main supervisor and 33.3% for the co-supervisor (of remaining hours at the time the co-supervisor is appointed).
If the candidate, the main supervisor and co-supervisor want a different breakdown of the hours, the parties should apply to the department. It is also possible to apply to have two co-supervisors, on an academic basis; the hourly distribution would then normally be 50% for the main supervisor and 25% for each co-supervisor. The application shall be submitted to the PhD coordinator.
The main supervisor, co-supervisor and candidate must have a start-up meeting when the co-supervisor has been recruited. In this meeting, one should clarify mutual expectations and create a plan for the supervision of the thesis. The main supervisor, co-supervisor and candidate must also have a follow up-meeting at the time of the midway assessment. During the follow up-meeting, the team should evaluate the cooperation so far and create or adjust the plan for the remaining period. This meeting must be held separately from the midway assessment, where focus primarily should be on the thesis and where the external reader plays a central role.
For further information on supervision at the PhD level, please refer to the faculty's page on supervision.
Appointment of supervisors
The head of department at ILOS is responsible for ensuring that each candidate receives a supervisor. After the candidate has received the offer of admission to the PhD programme, the department contacts the main supervisor candidates and consults the PhD candidate. When the main supervisor is in place, the agreement is signed for admission to the PhD programme by the head of department, the main supervisor, the candidate and the faculty director.
The appointment of a co-supervisor may take place later, when the candidate and main supervisor have established what kind of supervisory expertise the project requires. The candidate is encouraged to look for an external co-supervisor at an institution abroad or possibly at another Norwegian university. It is important that the candidate consults with the main supervisor before an agreement is agreed on co-supervision. The PhD consultant at the department then draws up a co-supervisor agreement to be signed by the candidate, supervisors and Head of Department.
Educational component
The supervisor is expected to stay up to date with respect to the progress of the candidate’s educational component, and may suggest courses, seminars and conferences of interest to the candidate, beyond those offered at the University of Oslo. Before they hand in their separate progress reports on 1 December every year, the supervisor and the candidate should have discussed the status of the candidate’s educational component.
Payment of fees
The payment of supervision fees to external supervisors is based on the completed and signed PhD agreement. We encourage the candidate and supervisor to keep track of the number of supervisor hours used.
An external supervisor may require payment of fees when the candidate is no longer entitled to additional supervisor hours, when the candidate has completed the thesis, or if the candidate and supervisor conclude their relationship.
Internal supervisors register the supervisory hours in the work duty account. In addition, subsidies are paid out when the candidate hands in the PhD dissertation, amounting to up to NOK 20,000.