The qualifying exam takes place about half-way through your studies, and concludes your part A studies. The purpose of the qualifying exam is to assess your ability to successfully complete part B, and thereby obtain the PhD degree.

To sign up for the exam you must fill in an application to be found here, which must be handed in to Ida at GSST secratariat. You must sign up for the exam no later than six weeks before planned exam. AGSoS will inform you and your supervisor by email.

If you are  admitted to the PhD programme on a 4+4 programme, that is four years of MSc studies and four years of PhD studies, and you are enrolled as a MSc student and will obtain the MSc degree from the Aarhus University after passing the qualifying exam.

Please see GSST detailed information concerning the qualifying exam.

Requirements

Qualifying Exam

GSST has changed the rules for the qualifying exam so that you no longer necessarily need to have obtained all 30 ECTS by the end of your Part A studies. This makes it easier for you to chose courses that are more relevant for your studies.

Please note that 4+4 and 3+5 students still need to meet the regulations for the Master programme by the end of the Part A studies. Questions about your Master's or studies contract in general, courses or the like, contact Gudmund.

Postponement of the qualifying exam does not prolong the total study time, except in the case of maternity/paternity leave, sickness and the like.

Please note that if you are on the 3+5 or 4+4 programme you must pass your qualifying exam no later than 2 weeks before your part A studies are concluded.

Participants in the exam:

• PhD student
• Supervisor(s)
• External referee
• Internal referee (a member of the PhD Committee)

Contents

The basis of the exam is a progress report that you prepare over your research so far as well as what you plan to do in the future

Progress report:

• Describes the research carried out this far and plans for future research, including references to key literature within your research area.

• Max. 30 pages.

• Frontpage

• 5 hard copies (if you have any co-supervisors, please make an extra copy to each of them) and a pdf-file must be handed in to the PhD aministrator at GSST secretariat no later than four weeks before the exam, unless otherwise agreed.

Form

The exam focuses on the project report AND on the future work of you PhD study.

The exam itself takes approx. two hours and consists of:

• A presentation of the progress report (30 minutes).

• A discussion with examiners of the report contents, the oral presentation, and the plans for future research (30 minutes).

• Evaluation

The qualifying exam is evaluated as a pass/fail exam. Your supervisor, the external referee, the internal referee, and the course examiner write a short statement containing an assessment of your qualifications including:

• Contents and quality of the progress report

• The oral presentation

• An overall assessment of your qualifications and future research potential.

The evaluation is handed in to AGSoS from where you will receive the statement.