Doctoral studentship

Chapter 5 of the Higher Education Ordinance includes the following provisions:

• A person may be appointed to a doctoral studentship for a total of eight years. The total employment period may, however, not exceed the time corresponding to a full-time doctoral study of four years.
• The initial appointment may apply for no longer than one year. An appointment may be renewed for no more than two years at a time.
• A doctoral studentship shall be a full-time post. If a doctoral student so requests, the appointment may be a part-time post but for no less than 50 per cent of a full-time post.
• Appointment to a doctoral studentship shall apply for an indefinite period but never for a period extending more than one year after the award of a doctorate.

Employment terms

An employed doctoral student is covered by the same employment terms as the other employees at Uppsala University. They include insurance cover, statutory holidays and parental leave. In some cases they are also entitled to certain benefits, for which doctoral students are required to have an activity level of at least 20 percent. It is important for doctoral students to find out what applies in their individual case.

Primula is a tool that doctoral students, like all other professional categories at Uppsala University, should be thoroughly familiar with. In Primula Web students can report back to duty after sick leave, change their address details and so on. For doctoral students it is important to report sick if you are unable to continue with your doctoral studies as the sick leave period does not count as part of your net study period. Doctoral students should be familiar with and be able to use the other administrative tools and aids that the university provides.

Salary ladder for doctoral students

In the first year of their studies, doctoral students employed on a studentship receive an initial salary which increases by increments of a fixed amount at the start of the second and third years of doctoral studies. The requirements for reaching the fourth and fifth steps of the salary ladder for doctoral students are not expressed in terms of years but as 50 or 80 percent, i.e. the required level of completion of the doctoral degree. One basic rule is that the requirements for 50 or 80 percent completion must be fulfilled within 24 or 38 months of full-time study. Any deviations from this basic rule need to be motivated. The decision regarding adjustments in the salary ladders of doctoral students is taken by thehead of the department after consultation with the supervisor.

Certain categories of doctoral students can receive a salary supplement. You can read about this and the salary ladder as a whole in the local collective agreement on salaries for doctoral students (in Swedish only), see link in the right-hand column.