How to apply for MSCA Doctoral Network Joint Doctorate

At KI, the Pre-Agreement is signed by the Academic Vice President of Doctoral Education at KI. The Pre-Agreement is an assurance that the university will commit to award a joint, double or multiple doctoral degrees. At KI, the double degree is the preferred degree, if you are planning for a joint or multiple degree, please contact the international office for guidance. 

In order for KI to sign the Pre-Agreement each partner university must agree to follow the five declarations below.  The described declarations are to be appended and submitted to lotta.lundqvist@ki.se or mia.bjerke@ki.se by October 3, 2022 at the latest. There is no specific template for the declarations, but items 1 to 5 are to be attested andincluded in the declaration the declarations which must be dated and signed by the relevant central administrative and academic representatives (e.g. administrative manager/head of the Legal Unit/head of the International relations office and dean/pro-dean, respectively) at the university in question. The Academic Vice President of Doctoral Education at KI will make the decision to sign or not sign the Pre-Agreement after review of the submitted declarations. 

Guidelines for approving Pre-Agreement   

A university that a KI applicant proposes for inclusion in a consortium within the framework of a Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Doctoral Networks leading to the delivery of joint, double or multiple doctoral degrees must attest that: 

1. it is prepared to waive any doctoral tuition fees for the students in the consortium 
2. it is prepared to discuss how to arrange one – and only one – joint thesis defence on the principle of an open and publicly accessible examination with the unlimited right for members of the public to ask questions and interact with the respondents
3. it accepts compilation theses based on at least two articles accepted in peer reviewed journals  
4. KI is allocated at least two doctoral students with a principal supervisor from KI (i.e. at least two students employed at KI and who thus have KI as their home university)
5. it accepts that doctoral education at KI comprises four years of full-time study (240 ECTS). 

Support and general information regarding joint/double/multiple degrees at KI 

Doctoral education in the EU has a lot in common, but the national rules and regulations might differ as the rules, regulations and administration govern doctoral education at universities can be very different. 

Below are some important points to consider and discuss with your collaborators before applying for a MSCA DN-JD.

Doctoral education in Sweden

• The duration of doctoral education at KI is four (4) years, equals 240 weeks of full-time study (Higher Education Ordinance). 
  •  As the length of doctoral education might differ in other countries, it is necessary to make all the partners aware of that KI participation require projects lasting four years.   
  • Before the proposal is submitted to the commission it is recommended to come to an agreement between the parties regarding who will cover the cost for the fourth year of the doctoral student.  
• KI cannot charge tuition for doctoral education and KI require that collaborators do not charge tuition fee for KI admitted doctoral students. (Higher Education Ordinance).
• When writing the proposal, it is recommended to ensure the content concerning doctoral education is according to the Higher Education Ordinance as well as KI rules and regulations as that is a prerequisite for conferring a KI degree. (https://staff.ki.se/rules-and-general-syllabus-for-doctoral-education).

Agreements

• The Pre-Agreement is an assurance that KI commit to award a joint or double or multiple degree (as stipulated in the proposal).  
• A co-tutelle agreement for each doctoral student defining the conditions for the doctoral students' degrees must be negotiated after the proposal has been approved.  
  • The negotiations for the co-tuelle agreement are done by the international relations office at KI.  

Admission 

• There is no system available for joint admission or processing applications to both KI and another University/Institution simultaneously. 
• All positions for doctoral students where KI is the main/home institutions should be processed via VARBI according to the admission process at KI (https://staff.ki.se/admission-to-doctoral-education-at-ki).
  • For a joint admission process, we recommend using the EUROAXCESS and the Consortium webpage for the announcement with a link to the application in VARBI. 
• Please note that there are entry requirements (eligibility) for doctoral education to be admitted to KI (https://education.ki.se/entry-requirements-eligibility-for-doctoral-edu…). The entry requirements might differ between Institutions in Europe, so please check this with your partners.  

Selection

• Refer to the guide for recruiting doctoral students at KI to ensure a good recruitment process (https://staff.ki.se/recruit-doctoral-students). 

Supervision 

• The proposed KI supervisor needs to meet Green Light requirements at KI (https://staff.ki.se/green-light-approval-of-a-doctoral-supervisor).
• At KI there are no restrictions on the maximum number of supervisors, but this might be an issue at some Institutions. Please consider this when discussing the supervisor/co-supervisor composition with your proposed collaborators. 
• There will always be a main supervisor at KI for all doctoral students admitted to KI, this is also true when KI is a partner Institution in a double or multiple degree program.  

Courses and obligatory activities 

• All doctoral students at KI is admitted to the doctoral education subject Medical Science and will follow the general syllabus for Medical Science (https://staff.ki.se/rules-and-general-syllabus-for-doctoral-education).
• The KI general science and compulsory doctoral courses (https://staff.ki.se/about-doctoral-courses) may differ from the compulsory activities at other Universities and Institutions, this needs to be considered when writing the proposal and the individual study plan.  

Monitoring and assessment procedures 

• At KI we have an annual follow up (https://staff.ki.se/annual-follow-up) as well as a half-time review (https://staff.ki.se/half-time-review) in order to follow the progress of our doctoral students. The progress needs to be registered in LADOK in order for the doctoral candidate to proceed. 
• The individual study plan must be submitted digitally within 1 month after admission to KI and updated annually irrespective of study rate (https://staff.ki.se/isp-individual-study-plan). 

Thesis and defence

• The doctoral thesis shall be presented and defended orally in public. A faculty examiner (opponent) shall be appointed for this presentation. (Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 6) 
• Always aim for a joint public defence. Details regarding the defence should be included in the co-tutelle agreement mentioned above.