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Certificate/ECTS
Which certificates does Polforsk issue to Ph.D. students that have participated in courses? What is ECTS, and which ECTS guidelines has Polforsk laid down?
Polforsk accredits ECTS to Ph.d students that participate in courses arranged by Polforsk. These ECTS are calculated according to the standards negotiated in the Polforsk network. This means that all PhD students not only needs to have the particular course approved from their own department but also the ECTS. Polforsk is not authorised to give ECTS but we calculate how many ECTS our courses are worth but it is the individual departments responsibility and decision whether to award the ECTS. Remember to ensure this is done before the commencement of the course. Polforsk has no responsibility whatsoever for the individual departments final approval of ECTS.
All Ph.D. students that participate in a Ph.D. course that Polforsk is responsible for receive a certificate containing information about:
- name of course and Ph.D. student
- duration of Ph.D. course
- number of pages of litterature
- form of participation (abundance, delivery of paper, presentation, solving exercises)
- in case paper has been delivered: number of pages and title
- approval of paper - if it required by the Ph.d student
With this information, the Ph.D. student may be accredited for his/her participation according to the rules of their own appartment.
ECTS is acronym for European Credit Transfer System. It is a system decided by EU with the purpose of introducing a standard measure of the workload of university bachelor and master educations (ECTS Guidelines p. 16, footnote 12). In Denmark, it is also applied to measure the workload of the courses which is a part of the Ph.D. education.
Danish Ph.D. students must follow courses corresponding to a half year workload, that is, 30 ECTS. Taking the number of yearly working hours in Denmark into consideration 1 ECTS is 28 hours. In Politcal Science Research School network a Ph.D. course lasting one week takes app. 28 hours. Calculating with preparation taking 4 times as long as the course, this means that a week course gives the Ph.D. student 5 ECTS. This requires full participation and delivery of a paper or participation in exercises. Participation will only award the half, unless anything else has been explicitly noted.
So, the guideline for accrediting ECTS is: A Ph.D. course lasting 28 hours gives the Ph.D. student 5 ECTS maximum.