Differences of doctoral applications in Nordic countries

It is often said that Northern Europe consists of five countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland (Denmark's overseas autonomous territories Greenland and Faroe Islands are not discussed here), while the mainstream countries studying abroad are Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Although from four countries, the requirements and steps of doctoral application are similar.

There are two modes of doctoral application in northern Europe, one is to apply for doctoral positions, and the other is to apply at one's own expense, including self-funded and off-campus scholarships.

Nordic job recruitment steps

1. Prepare materials

2. Application location

3. Preliminary screening

4. Interview (or video interview)

Notify the result

Doctor of post system: when sending a magnetic email to the tutor, you will receive such a reply in 90% cases: "You can apply for the post directly." When there is a project that needs enrollment, the tutor will not contact the applicant alone before the enrollment deadline. Only after the deadline will the tutor uniformly review the application materials, screen candidates and invite prospective candidates for interviews. During the period before the interview, according to the regulations, the applicant can't contact the tutor directly. In other words, "magnetic trap" is not very effective in this case. However, special circumstances are not excluded. For example, if you are excellent and recommended by other coaches, you are excellent enough to make your mentor shine or smart enough to attract your mentor's attention.

Self-financing project development: The concept of self-financing here includes self-financing and external sources of funds. If a student is willing to pay for a project, whether the tutor has a project or not, he will accept you in most cases. In other words, if you decide to study at your own expense, you can try to seduce any tutor you are interested in, whether he has a project or not. Or you have an external scholarship source, which is also necessary. The source of this scholarship is provided by the government or sponsored by a company, such as CSC.

? Basic requirements of P h D application

● Degree requirements: It must be noted that you must have a master's degree to apply for Nordic PhD. The implication is that you must graduate with a master's degree certificate when applying. Since PhD is regarded as a position, it is necessary for employees to hold the required degree.

● Language requirements: You may not speak Danish, Swedish, Norwegian or Finnish, but you must have some English skills.

As far as the language proficiency test is concerned, both TOEFL and IELTS are accepted. The minimum requirements for TOEFL or IELTS can be found in the specific job description. If you mainly apply for a doctorate in northern Europe or Europe, IELTS can cover the applications of most schools in Europe.

● cover letter (cover letter)

Doctor is a job in northern Europe, so it is one of the necessities for you to find a job. The cover letter is one of the things you need to pay attention to, and its function is similar to the personal statement or purpose statement required by the British and Australian applications in North America. But the form is similar to a magnetic letter, which needs to reflect personal information, research interest in job matching, research ability and desire for jobs in relatively short words.

● Research proposal (research plan)

Each post will have a corresponding project or topic introduction, and what kind of ideas and implementation plan you have for a given topic is also the focus of tutor recruitment. Then specific ideas and plans should be reflected through research proposals. However, because the duration of each job information release is not necessarily (the explanation will say that the application is closed), you need to make a qualified research proposal within a given time.

● Other requirements

Academic degree certificates, transcripts, resumes, letters of recommendation (or referees) and other materials are classified as other materials here because these materials are similar in all degree applications around the world, so I won't repeat them here.