Supervision
When admitting the doctoral student, (at least) two supervisors are appointed: a main supervisor and an assistant supervisor, at least one of whom must have associate professor (docent) competence. The supervision time is often distributed unevenly over the study time. However, it is important that supervision takes place regularly throughout the doctoral education period. The doctoral student is entitled to supervision corresponding to two years of full-time studies for a licentiate degree and four years for a doctoral degree.
The main supervisor has the overall responsibility, insofar as this falls on the faculty, for the doctoral student to follow his or her individual study plan and complete the education within the specified time frame. The main supervisor must be employed at or co-opted to Uppsala University. He or she is generally chairman of the licentiate seminar and/or doctoral defence and examiner, ie. the person who approves that the dissertation is submitted and that the department's certificate of fulfilled requirements for the degree is signed.
The assistant supervisor is often a specialist in the research student's discipline, but can also contribute in other ways.
Main Supervisor’s Retirement
If the main supervisor retires, he or she may still remain as the main supervisor. In that case, the retired person is employed for a limited time. Decisions are made by the department, of course in consultation with the doctoral student and supervisor.
If the doctoral student wants to change the main supervisor or if the main supervisor does not want to continue the assignment after retirement, he or she can be appointed assistant supervisor – provided that both wish to continue their cooperation. In that case, the department appoints a teacher employed at the university as the new main supervisor according to the department's usual routines.
More about third-cycle education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences:
Merits/Educational Development