Guide for Business PhD

Transcription

1 Ilinniartitaanermut Ilisimatusarnermullu Naalakkersuisoqarfik Ministry of Education and Research Guide for Business PhD This guide applies to projects approved after 1 September In this document the following abbreviations are used: The Government is short for the Government of Greenland, IIN is short for the Ministry of Education, Research and Nordic Cooperation, and ISN is short for the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources. Objective and target group The objective of the Business PhD is: to qualify researchers with insight in the business aspects of research and development, to promote the development potential for Greenland s business sector, to build up networks for knowledge exchange between business enterprises and Greenlandic, Danish and/or foreign research institutions, and to have knowledge rooted in the Greenlandic society, its business enterprises and knowledge institutions. 01. jun 2011 Journal No Doc. No P. O. Box Nuuk Tef: Fax: IIN@nanoq.gl The Business PhD is aimed at: business enterprises, including both subsidised and public enterprises, capable of supporting a triennial business-oriented research and educational project, graduates with the necessary qualifications to accomplish a PhD project, and universities. Structure A PhD educational programme is aimed at educating researchers at an international level in interaction with the international world of research. The PhD educational programme is accomplished primarily through active guided research work. A business PhD project is a special PhD project oriented towards the business community. The project is accomplished as a concrete research project established in cooperation between a business enterprise, a Business PhD student, and one or more universities. The Business PhD student will be employed by the business enterprise. In Greenland, the business enterprise concept includes privately owned, subsidised and public businesses. It is the enterprise that applies to IIN for support of its project. Public institutions may exceptionally apply for approval of a Business PhD programme in cooperation with a university, provided the programme lives up to the general requirements of a Business PhD programme. The student is guided by at least two supervisors, one from the university and one from the business enterprise, and possibly also a third-party supervisor. In special cases the university may appoint a person not employed by the university as the principal supervisor. The student will be employed by the business enterprise and paid a salary throughout the Business PhD programme and normally divides his time equally between the enterprise and the university. 1/9

2 The business enterprise to which the Business PhD is attached must be registered with the Greenlandic Business Register (GER), and is required to have the professional and financial strength to ensure that the Business PhD project can be accomplished. The university can be Greenlandic, Danish or foreign. If the programme is accomplished at a foreign university, a supervisor from a Greenlandic and/or Danish university must be attached to the project. Objectives The Government has established a number of objectives for the Business PhD programme. The continued high professional quality of the programme is the most important factor, which is in particular reflected by the special requirements made to the marks obtained by the applicant and the applicant s research production, if any. Moreover, it is the objective to ensure that the accomplishment ratio is at least of the same level as ordinary PhD programmes, and that the participating business enterprises are satisfied and/or very satisfied with their benefit from the scheme, and that the project contributes significantly to knowledge development in the concrete field covered. The programme will be advertised with a view to: applying the Business PhD to all occupational disciplines and sectors, promoting the development potential of Greenland s business community, and building up and gathering knowledge within central areas of business development in Greenland. These objectives are not criteria for evaluation of the applications. As mentioned, the professional quality will have the highest priority at all times and be secured by certain minimum requirements to the participants qualifications. Criteria The Business PhD candidate must: have accomplished graduate studies, have obtained a weighted average mark above average for the entire graduate programme (including both the Bachelor s degree programme and the Master s degree superstructure), including his/her Master s thesis, and he/she must have demonstrated research readiness, and have obtained scholarly references and personal approval from his/her supervisor/university and from the participating business enterprise, respectively. In special cases marks below average will be approved, provided the candidate is able to document research readiness, for instance by submitting articles published in scientific journals, patents or other types of qualifying work. A calculation of the candidate s Bachelor s degree and Master s degree marks is to be enclosed with the application. Candidates with a foreign master s degree are required to have the same scholarly level as equivalent candidates with Greenlandic or Danish Master s degrees. In connection with foreign Master s degrees, the evaluation of the level of the marks compared to a similar Greenlandic or Danish Master s degree and must be approved by the matriculat- 2/9

3 ing university. A translation of the marks to the GGS scale 1 prepared by the university must be enclosed with the application. Moreover, it is a condition that the candidate is admitted to the PhD programme of the host university 2. The fact that a candidate has already been admitted to the PhD programme of the host university does not per se bind IIN when processing the candidate s Business PhD application. The Government assumes the Business PhD project to be commenced as from the date on which the student is admitted to the PhD programme of the host university. Grants to the project programme can be paid as from this date. The Business PhD application can be written in Greenlandic, Danish or English. The host enterprise must: be a Greenlandic enterprise. It can also be a private foundation such as, for instance, the Innovation Centres or other foundations, organisations with a significant element of self-financing activities or subsidised or publicly owned enterprises, be able to financially support the Business PhD programme for a period of three years, have at least one employee who is professionally competent to act as the Business PhD student s supervisor, accommodate a professional environment in the enterprise that supports the Business PhD project. This implies that there should be at least one or two persons in the enterprise within the relevant subject area, besides the candidate and the supervisor, who are capable of taking over the supervisor function, should the occasion arise, and ensure the organisational rooting of the project within the enterprise. Moreover, the project is to form part of the development strategy of the enterprise and to have a novelty value and a utility value for the enterprise. The latter applies especially to subsidised enterprises. Other relevant participants, who are part of the professional environment of the subject area and capable of supporting the project, may be attached to the Business PhD project. By way of example, enterprises may join forces to set up a joint Business PhD project, provided they: 1 The Greenlandic Grading System (GGS scale) was introduced for higher educations in Greenland August 1 st In the GGS scale the international approved and used European Credit Transfer System (ECTS points) is used. The GGS scale consists of seven marks. 2 If the Business PhD student is admitted to a Danish university and has his/her residence and place of work in Denmark, the employment will be subject to Danish legislation. If the Business PhD student is admitted to Greenland s University and has his/her address and place of work in Greenland, the employment will be subject to the laws of Greenland. If the Business PhD student is admitted to a Danish university while residing and having his/her place of work in Greenland, the laws of Greenland will apply, because the student works primarily in Greenland, unless the circumstances dictate otherwise. 3/9

4 satisfy the requirements of financial strength and professional environment between them, conclude a binding cooperation agreement to finance the project and share the Business PhD student s time, set up the Business PhD project in one of the union s enterprises having at least one employee with the professional expertise to supervise the Business PhD student. A professional third party will share the responsibility for the practical implementation of the project, but without obtaining any financial subsidies for participating in the Business PhD programme. The parties must reach an agreement as to the settlement of any balances between them. The Business PhD student is subject to the Act on Employee Inventions. 3 The host university must: be a university in Greenland, Denmark or abroad. As regards foreign universities, these must be approved by their national authorities for conducting PhD programmes, have at least one permanent employee with professional expertise enabling him/her to act as the Business PhD student s supervisor, accommodate a professional environment within the subject area of the project enabling it to support the Business PhD project. This means that the university must have several employees within the relevant subject area who will be capable of taking over as supervisors, should the occasion arise, if the host university is a foreign university, a Greenlandic or Danish university must be attached to the Business PhD project as a third party, the university supervisor who is requested to be attached to the Business PhD project must make a specialist research evaluation of the project description before the application is submitted to IIN. The supervisor s evaluation and any references obtained by the student must be enclosed in an annex to the application. Other relevant participants and third parties with a professional environment within the subject area may be attached to the Business PhD project to provide support. Several universities and sector research institutions, for instance, may form a joint venture where also an employee of the sector research institution may act as supervisor. The joint venture must conclude a binding cooperation agreement on the Business PhD project. The project is to be rooted at the university conferring the PhD degree. Such third party will be co-responsible for the scholarly implementation of the project. University supervisors and supervisors at other public research institutions are subject to the provisions in the Act on Inventions Made at Public Research Institutions 4. 3 In Greenland, the relevant legislation is Act no. 142 of 29 April 1955 on Employee Inventions, which governs the relationship between employees and employers in situations where an employee (in a public or private enterprise) has made an invention for which he/she wishes to take out a patent. 4 If the supervisor accomplishes his/her work as an employee of a Danish university, the relationship will be governed by Danish law. Similarly, if the supervisor is employed by a foreign university, the relationship will be governed by the legislation of the country in question. 4/9

5 Co-financing Business PhD projects that are promised a grant will be co-financed according to the below guidelines for a maximum period of three years. Such co-financing is provided by three different parties: Government Greenland s contributes DKK 200,000 per year, the Bank of Greenland s Venture Foundation contributes DKK 200,000 per year, and the participating business enterprise contributes DKK 200,000 per year. Government/IIN will collect the co-financing funds provided by the Bank of Greenland s Venture Foundation. 1) The host university will receive grants of DKK 120,000 per year according to the socalled taxi-meter principle (the rates will be adjusted each year in the Danish Finance Act). The host university s grant covers: supervision of the Business PhD student and dialogue with his/her place of work, the Business PhD student s work facilities at the host university, the Business PhD student s participation in relevant PhD courses at the university. If the host university does not hold any relevant PhD courses within the subject area, the host university may use part of the university s grant to cover the student s participation in PhD courses at other universities, the supervisor s travel expenses, if any (approximately DKK 20,000), and evaluation of the PhD thesis. Trips or stays abroad are to be financed by external funding from, for instance, foundations etc. 2) The business enterprise will receive a regular monthly salary contribution for three years. The Business PhD student s salary etc. is governed by the collective agreement 5 of the business enterprise in force from time to time. In addition, expenses incurred by the business enterprise as a result of the following activities may be reimbursed: The Business PhD student s travel expenses are reimbursed up to an amount of DKK 50,000 per year by IIN upon presentation of vouchers. The enterprise defrays all other costs; however, these may be co-financed with other public financing sources. Thus there must be a documentable financial and subjectmatter delimitation between the Business PhD and any other public development project subsidies paid to the enterprise. Co-financing by others is welcome, but must not cover already financed costs. Co-financing of the Business PhD student s salary costs by other public parties will result in inability to set up a Business PhD programme. 5 The salary level of a PhD student is calculated, according to the PhD entry in the collective agreement between GH and ASG, in proportion to the salary scale in article 3 of the collective agreement and a supplement without pension entitlement of DKK 18,000 per year. An example: a civil engineer will have a monthly salary of DKK 21, and a supplement of DKK 1,500 per month, or a total of DKK 22, per month (to which should be added the employer s pension payments and holiday with pay). 5/9

6 3) Accommodation costs at the host university are subsidised by an amount of DKK 2,000 per month (for a maximum of six months per year) subject to documentation of double rent. 4) Business PhD programmes can be financed exclusively by private or public funds; however, they must satisfy the requirements for approval in force from time to time. Evaluation of the application A Business PhD project must be approved by The Government evaluation committee and at the same time obtain the scholarly approval of the host university before its commencement. Application procedure I. Together with the future Business PhD student, the business enterprise decides to apply for implementation of a Greenlandic Business PhD. II. The Business PhD project application is evaluated professionally by the host university that determines, among other things, whether the Business PhD student can be enrolled at the university. III. After the scholarly approval of the host university the Business PhD project application is evaluated by the Government evaluation committee, who will determine whether the application can be approved for financial subsidy purposes. The application to the host university is forwarded and processed according to the rules of the host university. The application is to be sent to IIN, but will be processed by the Government evaluation committee, which has the following members: One representative appointed by IIN One representative appointed by ISN One representative appointed by Bank of Greenland s Venture Foundation When evaluating Business PhD application the Government evaluation committee attaches special importance to the accordance of the project with the objectives and provisions of the Greenlandic Business PhD, whether the enterprise is capable of supporting the project professionally and financially, whether the candidate is qualified to accomplish a research project in the project area, and whether the university environment is relevant for the project in question. Applications for Business PhD projects must, in relation to the concrete project, give an account of the research area, a clear research hypotheses, an account of the project s professional research perspectives and a stage-by-stage project description. Moreover, usefulness considerations with regard to the business enterprise must be included. According to the respective PhD rules in force, and no later than six months after the start of the project, the final project plan must be presented and approved by the university. If the Business PhD application obtains a conditional approval by the Government evaluation committee, the conditions must be satisfied before the project can start as 6/9

7 a Business PhD project, irrespective of whether the project has obtained the scholarly approval of the host university. If a Business PhD application is turned down by the Government evaluation committee, it cannot be subsidised under the Greenlandic Business PhD programme, irrespective of whether it has obtained the scholarly approval of the host university. In any case, no subsidies can be paid to the business enterprise and the university until the project has been finally approved by the Government evaluation committee and by the host university, and the project has been started. Obligations in the course of the project The Business PhD student will be employed full-time by the business enterprise on ordinary employee terms and conditions for the entire three-year period. The salary is to be agreed by the Business PhD student and the enterprise, but must as a minimum correspond to the PhD salary provided for by the collective agreement. The student s tasks must reflect the coherence between the business enterprise project and the research education programme. This means that the working hours must be used entirely for the project of the application and basically be distributed equally between the university and the business enterprise. It is a requirement that the student spends approximately 50% of his/her time in the enterprise during the three year-period of the project. The host enterprise can be ordered to refund the subsidy received if it interrupts a Business PhD programme or prevents the planned implementation of a Business PhD project that the host university and the candidate are still interested in continuing. On the contrary, the candidate is obliged to live up to the research conditions agreed upon in the application. IIN does not pay the grant to the enterprise during periods of leave. If the educational programme is temporarily interrupted due to temporary leave, including sick leave or maternity or paternity leave, the enterprise must inform IIN hereof in writing prior to the beginning of the leave. The enterprise is obliged to accomplish the entire three-year educational programme, and the term of the project is consequently extended by the number of months of the temporary interruption. The obligations of the enterprise and the host university in relation to IIN are determined by a subsidy commitment to be drawn up by IIN. It is recommended that the enterprise, the university supervisor and any third party conclude a written agreement on the right to use the research results. Half-yearly report and communication obligation The student and the host university supervisor as well as the public third-party supervisor, if any, draw up a half-yearly report to be submitted to IIN and the supervisor in the business enterprise in which it is confirmed that the project is progressing satisfactorily. It is a condition for payment of the subsidy to the university and the third-party supervisor that IIN is able to endorse the half-yearly report. According to the PhD Executive Order, all PhD students have an obligation to communicate their work. A Business PhD student can meet his/her obligation to communicate by teaching or through project supervision at the host university, presentation of 7/9

8 papers at conferences, publishing of research articles and other articles that are relevant to the project, articles in trade and scientific journals and in newspapers, participation in radio and TV programmes, briefing sessions in the business enterprise and the like. The extent, nature and period of communication are subject to agreement between the cooperation partners (the enterprise, the Business PhD student and the host university). A temporary plan for such communication of knowledge must be available at the time of application. The plan is therefore to be described in of the application form for the Greenlandic Business PhD programme and forms part of the overall evaluation of the project. Communication activities carried out are also to be stated in the half-yearly reports. In case of lack of communication activities the university fee can be withheld. Subsidies to the business enterprise Subsidies to the business enterprise are paid on a monthly basis subject to a request for payment. The request is to state any expenses incurred that are eligible for subsidies during the subsidy period made up according to nature and the amount for which payment is requested. Each year an auditor s certificate confirming the existence of the underlying vouchers of the requests for payment is to be submitted. Contact person in The Government evaluation committee The Government evaluation committee will appoint a member as the Business PhD project contact person. If problems arise during the project, the Business PhD student may request assistance from this contact person. Any questions regarding practical matters and payment of subsidies are also to be directed to IIN. End and approval of the Business PhD programme The host university approves the overall PhD programme and confers the PhD degree when the PhD thesis has been evaluated as qualified and defended in a public defence session. If the student is enrolled in a Danish or foreign university, this institution is to award the PhD degree, cf. the national regulations of the country in question. Any questions regarding confidentiality in relation to the business enterprise or the university are basically to be agreed in advance between the parties to the educational programme and should not give rise to any delay in the defence of the PhD thesis. In this connection, it can be contemplated whether any confidential parts of the research project can be omitted from the PhD thesis without having an impact on the overall scholarly evaluation of the thesis. A copy of the PhD thesis is to be sent to IIN and a copy to Ilisimatusarfik library. If the PhD thesis is approved, the student is awarded a Business PhD certificate. The Business PhD certificate cannot be issued until IIN has received documentation from the host university that the PhD thesis has been approved. Applications Applications for subsidies for Business PhD projects are to be sent to the Ministry of Education, Research and Nordic Cooperation (IIN), Postboks 1029, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland. The application form can be retrieved from The application form and the enclosures can be sent by post or scanned and sent as a pdf file. 8/9

9 The application form is to be used as presented on the website. The final date for submission of applications is: September 1 st The application must be received by IIN no later than at 12:00am (noon) on the final date of application. If the Government receives more qualified applications than it is able to grant subsidies to, the qualified applicants will be prioritised according to an overall evaluation of the research and professional qualifications of the qualified applicants and their relevance for the Greenlandic society (cf. the objectives mentioned in the introduction). 9/9