Planning a doctoral course

Are you planning to arrange a doctoral course? See the flow chart below describing the process from course concept to the advertising of a course in the course catalogue. Keep in mind that most courses should be given within a doctoral programme and that contact with one or several programmes needs to be taken at an early stage.

Image showing the process for creating a doctoral course.
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Financing and coordination

When planning to organise a new doctoral course there are two things you need to examine: how large the doctoral student base is at KI for the intended course and how the course can be funded. Funding can be applied for in various ways, depending on if it is an optional course with focus on a particular research field or a compulsory/general science course (see the general syllabus for doctoral education).

Most doctoral courses are arranged within the framework of a long-term course programme of any of KI’s doctoral programmes or research schools. When designing a new course, you should consider which programme (or programmes) could be suitable and get in touch as early as possible with this/these. Start off by contacting a programme coordinator who can also comment on the need for the course in question. 

If the course is important for only a few KI doctoral students, collaboration with other universities can also be investigated.

A few courses, mainly compulsory or general science courses, are financed by the Course and Programme Committee. The committee assesses the need for course places on these courses, based on the number of applicants and on participation in previous courses, and decides on the allocation of funds in accordance. This is usually done in the autumn semester, ahead of the following year. For new courses, which are not already in KI's range of doctoral courses, and which do not fit into any doctoral programme, a course idea and calculated doctoral student basis (i.e. a needs analysis) can be sent to doctoralcourses@ki.se in good time for assessment.

See also Applying for funding of freestanding courses and Current deadlines.

Syllabus

To arrange a course, you need a syllabus established by the Committee for Doctoral Education (delegated to the chairperson of the Course and Programme Committee). The syllabus is created in Fubas when you have gained clarity from where to apply for funding and, if it is within a doctoral programme, a preview of the syllabus proposal has been made by the programme’s educationally responsible.

Read more about the procedures on the page course syllabi for doctoral courses. See also current deadlines for when a syllabus proposal must be submitted.

Course information and course occasion

All doctoral courses, excluding courses such as those within research schools, should be advertised in the semi-annual course catalogue. For this, a course information and a course occasion need to be created in Fubas. Read further on course information and course occasions for doctoral courses and user guides for Fubas

Contact 

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Anna Gustafsson

Administrative Officer
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Anna-Karin Welmer

Chair of the Course and Programme Committee
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Vladana Vukojevic

Vice chair of the Course and Programme Committee
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Ingeborg van der Ploeg

Central director of studies