OsloMet follows the Norwegian model set out in our NTNU guide. This page covers what is specific to OsloMet, including one short deadline that arrives when you are least likely to be watching for it.
The shape of the degree
| Component | Credits |
|---|---|
| Educational component | 30 ECTS |
| Supervised research and thesis work | 150 ECTS |
| Total | 180 ECTS over three years |
As at Nord, the training element is a gate:
The training element must be approved by the Faculty or Centre before the candidate can request assessment of the thesis, with documentation of its completion and approval.
The three outcomes
The assessment committee's recommendation is normally available within three months of receiving the thesis, and resolves to one of:
| Outcome | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Approved | Worthy of public defence |
| Revise thesis | Minor revisions required before the committee presents a final recommendation |
| Not approved | Not of adequate quality for public defence |
The middle outcome is worth reading precisely. Minor revisions happen before the final recommendation, not after approval. So a "revise" verdict is not a conditional pass with tidying attached; the committee has withheld its recommendation pending the changes.
If the thesis is not approved
The thesis may be assessed no earlier than six (6) months after the Faculty or Centre makes its decision. The Faculty or Centre shall then appoint a new assessment committee, which shall carry out its assessment on independent grounds. Reassessment may only take place once.
And a disclosure obligation:
The candidate shall, in the event of a new request for assessment, state that the work has previously been assessed and found not to be of adequate quality for defence.
A fresh committee assessing on independent grounds is a genuine second reading rather than an appeal against the first. But you must declare the history, and there is no third attempt.
The errata window
This is the detail most worth knowing before you need it.
After approval, the candidate may request permission from the Faculty or Centre once to correct formal errors in the version of the thesis that will be published. An errata list shall be enclosed with the request, showing the corrections. The deadline for requesting correction of formal errors is one week after the recommendation has been received by the candidate.
Three constraints: once, formal errors only, and one week.
The timing is the hard part. The week begins when the committee's recommendation lands, which is a moment of relief, probably of celebration, and almost certainly of a backlog of other things. It is not a moment when most people sit down to proofread a thesis they finished months earlier.
The practical answer is to do the work in advance. While the thesis is out for assessment, keep a running list of every typo, mislabelled figure and broken cross-reference you notice. If the recommendation is positive, you already have the errata list and simply submit it.
Note the scope: formal errors. This is not an opportunity to improve an argument or add a reference you wish you had cited.
Publication
The thesis shall be publicly available no later than two weeks before the public defence. It shall be published in the same format submitted for assessment, with any revisions made on the basis of the preliminary comments from the assessment committee, or corrections performed in accordance with the approved errata list.
So the published thesis is the assessed thesis, plus only what the committee's preliminary comments or your errata list permit.
The summary is published alongside the thesis.
The trial lecture and defence
The trial lecture constitutes an independent part of the doctoral examination and shall cover a given subject not based directly on the topic of the thesis. The candidate receives the topic ten working days before.
The trial lecture and the public defence are normally held on the same day, at OsloMet's premises.
As at USN, both on one day, and the topic explicitly off your own subject.
Admission timing
An application for admission to the organised research training should normally be submitted within 3 months of starting the research project that will lead to the doctoral degree.
The same three-month expectation as USN, though OsloMet's regulations do not attach the same explicit rejection rule for late applications.
Time limits
As a general rule, the candidate shall not be entitled to an extension beyond six years from the start date. Statutory and contractual interruptions and career-enhancing work shall not be included in the six years. Stricter requirements relating to progress may be imposed in the supplementary regulations for the programme.
The familiar Norwegian pattern: a six-year outer bound with duty work and documented interruption excluded, and the possibility of a tighter schedule set at programme level.
Co-authorship and joint work
The candidates shall follow the standards for co-authorship generally accepted in the research community and shall comply with international standards.
OsloMet also permits work to be submitted for evaluation by multiple candidates, provided that individual contributions can be identified. That is more permissive than some Norwegian institutions, and it rests entirely on the identifiability of who did what. If you and a colleague are considering it, the documentation of contributions is the whole question.
The Faculty or Centre decides which languages may be used in a thesis, so confirm that rather than assuming English.
Pre-submission checklist
- Training element approved, with documentation, before requesting assessment
- Assessment committee proposed by my main supervisor and in place by the submission date
- Running errata list maintained while the thesis is under assessment
- One week reserved after the recommendation to file the errata request
- Clear that errata covers formal errors only
- Thesis ready to be public two weeks before the defence, in its assessed form
- Trial lecture prepared for a topic not based on my thesis, with ten working days' notice
- Planned for lecture and defence on the same day
- Within six years, with interruptions and career-enhancing work excluded
- Language of the thesis confirmed with my Faculty or Centre
- If work is shared with another candidate, individual contributions clearly identifiable
Where to get help
Your Faculty or Centre approves the training element, appoints the committee and runs the closing stage. Your main supervisor is responsible for finding and proposing committee members, and OsloMet notes it is important the committee is established by the submission date to avoid delays.
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.
