Requirements for Doctoral Programme

Announcements may be found under vacant positions and linked from the doctoral website.

 

Your PhD application should always contain the following:

 

• Certificate of a Master of Science degree or equivalent, please include transcripts of grades

• Other relevant certificates and transcripts

• A project/ research proposal (5-10 pages including topic, proposed method, schedule) or sometimes the announcement will ask for a detailed list of research interests instead

• Documentation of the funding for the full programme period (4 years)

• CV

• Verification document

• Minimum 2 letters of recommendations from relevant employers/tutors providing evidence of your skills as a researcher

• A milestone / research plan

• Certificates from previously completed courses at the doctoral level, if requesting approval of these for the PhD programme at BI Norwegian Business School (see last section of § 3.1.1 in our PhD Regulations)

• A complete list of all publications and/or other documented relevant activities

 

All applications must be submitted electronially through an online application form, and not through e-mail. If you use the wrong application form your application will not reach the correct department and will not be considered. We do not require a paper version of your application. We are not able to return any documents sent to us by post.

 

For certain announcements BI will ask for GRE /GMAT test and TOEFL / IELTS. If we are requesting this it will be clearly stated in the announcement.

 

Please note that students are admitted on the PhD Programme by BI and not by individual faculty members. It is essential that you should not assume that you can be offered admission to the programme on the basis of your informal contacts with faculty members.

 

Should you require further information or have questions regarding the application process please contact the PhD Administration at phd@bi.no.

Doctoral Programme Funding

The doctoral programme leads to a PhD degree and is a four-year full-time study programme, including 25% teaching responsibilities. 

There are no tuition fees in the PhD programme at BI. However, in order to have an application to the PhD programme at BI considered, you need to have funding. It is not possible to self-fund a PhD at BI.

Three different ways of funding your PhD at BI:

1. Open scholarship (funded by BI)

These scholarships are announced once a year, from November to January. The scholarships are open which means that your PhD will not be linked to a specific project but must fit it under one of the six specialisations offered by BI. A member of the academic faculty must share you research interests to be able to supervise you. A supervisor will be appointed for you if you are admitted to the programme. 

PhD candidates will have their daily workplace and shared office at BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, Norway. Scholarship positions are announced online under vacant positions. All applications are electronic. If there are no scholarships published on the page in the previous link, there are currently no available scholarships.

2. Scholarship linked to a research project

These scholarships are announced from time to time. Your PhD research and dissertation will have to be closely linked to the research project. You are usually not required to find a supervisor before applying. You are encouraged to contact the faculty involved in the project if you are interested in applying. Each project will belong to one of the six specialisations at BI. In some cases the project can be linked to more than one specialisation.

PhD candidates will have their place of work at BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, Norway. Available PhD scholarship positions linked to research projects are announced online under vacant positions.

3. Industrial PhD

An industrial PhD is a doctoral degree that is carried out in cooperation between BI and business and industry. If you are considering this kind of PhD and have funding and confirmation from your employer please contact phd@bi.no for further information. An industrial PhD has the same requirements for educational background for admission and is also considered a full-time programme. BI and the employer enter into an agreement regarding time spent at BI and time spent at the employer in addition to financial issues. For additional information on an industrial PhD, please see Forskningsrådet.no.

Please note that if you do not follow the application guidelines given in each announcement your application will not be valid and will not be assessed.

Further information about the PhD Programme can be obtained from phd@bi.no