Nord follows the Norwegian model set out in our NTNU guide. This page concentrates on what is specific to Nord, and on one rule that changes the order in which you should do things.
Coursework is a gate, not a background task
The application for evaluation of the doctoral thesis may only be submitted after the required coursework has been approved.
At several universities the training component runs alongside the research and is tidied up near the end. At Nord it blocks the assessment process entirely. A single outstanding credit means the thesis cannot be submitted for evaluation, no matter how complete it is.
And the component itself is not fixed at the national floor:
A training component comprising a minimum scope of 30 ECTS credits. The faculties may decide that the training component shall comprise more than 30 ECTS.
So check your faculty's supplementary regulations. The number that applies to you may not be 30.
The practical reading: clear the credits early. They are the one part of a doctorate with a firm, knowable workload, and leaving them to the end converts them from manageable into obstructive.
The four approvals
Nord confers the degree on:
- An approved doctoral thesis
- Approved completion of the required coursework
- An approved trial lecture on an assigned topic
- An approved public defence
Submission
The thesis shall be submitted to the faculty in both paper and electronic (PDF) form. Both versions will be forwarded to the expert committee.
Both go to the committee. The printed copy is not an archival afterthought, so print it to be read: legible figures, a binding that opens flat, pagination that works on paper.
Assessment
| Element | Rule |
|---|---|
| Committee | At least three members |
| Scope | The thesis and the public defence, with the committee also participating in the trial lecture |
| Submission to defence | Normally no more than 5 months |
| Public availability | No later than 2 weeks before the defence |
| Trial lecture title | 10 working days before the lecture |
The committee assesses the academic quality of the thesis, draws up a preliminary assessment, and participates in both the trial lecture and the defence.
Where revision ends and rejection begins
Most regulations describe revision vaguely. Nord draws the boundary:
If the committee permits minor revisions to an academic thesis, a new deadline is set based on the date the thesis is re-submitted.
If the committee finds that extensive changes are needed to the theory, research question, hypothesis, material or methods in order for the work to be deemed worthy of public defence, that is a different matter.
That list is the useful part. Theory, research question, hypothesis, material, methods. If a committee would have to ask you to change any of those, you are not in revision territory.
It is also a usable self-check before submitting. If you find yourself hoping the committee will not look too hard at your research question or your method, the regulation has already told you how that goes.
The trial lecture
An independent part of the examination, held on an assigned topic. The purpose is to test the candidate's ability to acquire knowledge beyond the topic of the doctoral thesis and to convey this knowledge in a lecture situation.
The same formulation appears at Oslo, and the point is identical: two abilities are examined, learning something new quickly and teaching it. Ten working days' notice.
Time limits
The maximum permitted length of study is six (6) years. Statutory leave of absence, extended sickness absence and required duties are not included in these six years.
As across Norway, duty work and documented absence do not consume the clock. But note the addition:
Stricter requirements for progression during the course of study may be set in supplementary regulations for the PhD programme.
So six years is the outer bound, and your programme may hold you to a tighter schedule inside it.
There is also a route for candidates who have run out of agreement:
A candidate may apply to have their thesis assessed for a PhD degree after the end of the agreement period and/or study period.
That is worth knowing if your contract ends before the thesis does: the end of the agreement is not automatically the end of the possibility.
Co-authorship
Where the thesis or part of it has been created together with other authors or collaboration partners, the candidate must follow the norms for crediting contributions and co-authorship generally accepted in the academic community, in accordance with international standards.
A thesis that includes contributions from co-authors must be accompanied by a signed declaration, submitted to the assessment committee along with the thesis.
The declaration goes to the committee with the thesis, so it is part of the submission rather than a form filed elsewhere.
Pre-submission checklist
- Coursework approved, not merely completed, before applying for evaluation
- Faculty's actual credit requirement confirmed, which may exceed 30 ECTS
- Faculty supplementary regulations read for stricter progression rules
- Thesis ready in both paper and PDF, with the print copy genuinely readable
- Signed co-authorship declaration prepared for the committee
- Honest check against the revision threshold: no expected changes to theory, question, hypothesis, material or methods
- Within six years, with leave, sickness and duty work properly registered as excluded
- Thesis ready to be public two weeks before the defence
- Trial lecture prepared for an assigned topic with ten working days' notice
Where to get help
Your faculty appoints the committee, approves the coursework and runs the closing stage. The evaluation committee guidelines linked above tell you what the committee is asked to judge, which is the most efficient preparation available before submitting.
If the writing is the bottleneck, our thesis writing support works chapter by chapter, our PhD thesis help covers doctoral work, and our research paper support is relevant for an article-based thesis.
