The University has decided upon arrangements relating to doctoral programmes at Lund University to
be applied on admission at third level of education and in the event of
subsequent employment as doctoral student.
Every Faculty Board shall approve an ordinance for how the
admission to education at third level shall take place.
In order to be accepted to
the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Law, the applicant must fulfil both
the basic requirements and the special requirements stipulated by the Faculty
board. Furthermore, the applicant must possess the necessary capacity required
for the completion of the programme.
In
order to be accepted to the doctoral programme, the applicant must be employed
as a doctoral student or deemed to have sufficient long-term financing to
complete the programme.
Applicants with Swedish juristexamen/juris
kandidatexamen degrees must have attained a grade average of Ba in the
compulsory courses of the undergraduate programme. Applicants holding other
degrees must have attained in principle an equivalent grade average in
comparable portions of the degree programme. Only where very special
circumstances apply may the Faculty board approve exemption from this rule.
Admissions
matters are dealt with by the Faculty’s committee on doctoral education,
normally in connection with the decision regarding the employment of new doctoral
students. Notification of vacant fellowships including employment as a doctoral
student is normally made public. Such notification is usually done once a
year, and the committee on doctoral education determines the specific date of
notification. Exceptions to the notification requirement may be made because of
contractual arrangements related to external financing.
Application
for admission for the degree of Doctor in Laws or Licentiate of Laws is to be
made using a form.
Persons
interested in applying for doctoral studies, are recommended to contact the director
of studies at the faculty to discuss a suitable research project. A graduate
thesis can be a base for a project description for a dissertation.
If the number of applicants
exceeds the number of vacant doctoral fellowships, a selection shall be made
based on an examination of the applicants’ qualifications. In accordance with
the regulations of the Higher Education Ordinance and the decision regarding admission arrangements relating to graduate level
education at Lund University, the selection is based primarily on an assessment of
the applicants’ ability to succeed in the programme. To demonstrate this ability, the application for
admission should contain a project description, curriculum vitae and a master’s
thesis or other written work as well as an indication of at least one or
maximum two referees. The project description must not exceed five pages, and
must be written in English, Swedish, Danish, or Norwegian. For further information, see Guidelines for the
project description.
The capacity of each applicant to succeed in the
doctoral programme is determined primarily on the following grounds, which are
given in no particular order of importance:
Applicant’s general competence:
·
quality and content of
the applicant’s previous written work, such as a master’s thesis
·
ability to participate
actively in the faculty’s research environment
·
relevant educational
background and grades/grade average
·
relevant work
experience
Scientific quality of the project description:
·
ability to describe,
question and discuss the current state of research
·
sufficient clarity and logical
coherence in the formulation of the arm and the research questions
·
stringency of legal
reasoning and analysis
·
adequate selection of
theory and methods
·
capacity
for creativity
and innovation in the formulation of the research questions and approaches
·
clear expression and
sufficient detail
The committee on doctoral education is also free to
consider available resources and competence in the Faculty for supervision
during the selection process.
Before the committee on doctoral education makes its
decision on admission, the case is normally prepared by an admissions committee
appointed by the committee on doctoral education. The admissions committee
consists of the director of studies or assistant director of studies, the
chairperson or vice-chairperson of the committee on doctoral education, en
researcher who is a member or deputy member of the committee on doctoral
education, and a doctoral representative or a deputy for the doctoral students
in the committee on doctoral education. Members of the admissions committee
must be selected prior to announcement of open doctoral student positions.
Based on a proposal from the admissions committee, the
committee on doctoral education invites a small number of the applicants to
interviews. In this activity, the committee on doctoral education can choose to
disregard the admissions committee’s proposal, either in part or as a whole.
Contact between invited applicants and suitable supervisors should be
established at this point, if contact has not been made earlier.
Someone in an administrative function will gather
references regarding the applicants before the interviews. Invited applicants
are to be interviewed in a personal meeting or by streaming media. The
interview should be based on the application and is intended to provide the committee
on doctoral education with deeper understanding of the applicant and his or her
ability to succeed in the programme. After the interviews, the committee on
doctoral education ranks the applicants and presents a proposal for admission
of applicants to the doctoral programme. Applicants are normally informed of
this proposal at least two weeks before the decision on admission is made and
should contain information on the possibility of lodging an objection to the
admission proposal to the committee on doctoral education within a designated
period of time. The committee on doctoral education’s decision is made in
accordance with the proposal if the applicant’s objection does not lead to
another conclusion.
