Assessment of applications

Assessment of applications for PhD scholarships Applications for PhD scholarships will be assessed in accordance with the Danish Ministerial Order on Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities in force at any time (see the Danish Ministerial Order on Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities), and following a UCPH shortlisting process. The shortlist is a list of the candidates, who are selected for assessment.

The shortlisting process starts before the deadline for applications, when the Head of Department appoints an employment committee and an assessment committee. Two persons are born members of the  employment committee: The Head of Department, who ultimately makes the decision about offering employment to a candidate, and the chair of the assessment committee. Other members of the academic staff may also be appointed members. The assessment committee consists of at least one internal specialist member currently working at associate professor level or higher at UCPH. Normally the work of the two committees should be completed within one month.

The initial shortlisting

The employment committee goes through the applications, and makes its recommendation as to whom should be chosen for the shortlist. The Head of Department makes the final decision about the shortlisting. Normally at least 5 applicants must be selected for the shortlist. The Faculty Secretariat informs those who have not been chosen for assessment, and sends the chosen applications for assessment with the assessment committee, and informs the selected candidates of the composition of the assessment committee.

Assessment of the applications

The task of the assessment committee is to produce a written assessment of the candidate and the qualities of his/her project compared to the entry requirements of the PhD curriculum at the relevant department. Candidates are divided into two groups:

• Candidates who qualify for a PhD scholarship
• Candidates who do not qualify for a PhD scholarship. In practice, however, this would be very rare, since the candidates selected for assessment will be the best qualified.

The only task of the assessment committee is to assess and indicate whether or not the individual candidate qualifies for enrolment as a PhD student. The committee may, in the process of its work, contact the candidates asking for further information or seeking answers to questions that arise. All contact takes place by intermediary of the Faculty Secretariat, and all enquiries are generally made in writing. The committee forwards its assessments to the Head of Department.

Enrolment and scholarship

When the assessments are ready, they are sent to the employment committee, and interviews with selected candidates may be held. On the basis om this, the committee decides who among the qualified candidates would be best qualified for a scholarship, and makes its recommendation to the Head of Department, who makes the final decision. Prior to sending his/her final recommendation to the Dean, the Head of Department should, in cooperation with the Head of PhD programme, discuss any unresolved matter pertaining to the recommendation, including date of employment. The head of department may make one of the following recommendations:

• The candidate is qualified and eligible for a scholarship
• The candidate is qualified, but will not be offered a scholarship because one or several other candidates is/are better qualified

Once the recommendation is received by the Faculty Secretariat, the legality of the recommendations is verified. When verified, it is sent to the Dean for approval. Subsequently, each candidate will receive his/her individual assessments. The Faculty Secretariat offers the scholarship(s) to the selected candidate(s), and informs the candidates who were not offered a scholarship, and those who were not selected for assessment.