Guidelines for Extending Employment and Study Periods for Doctoral Students holding Positions of Trust

The valuable contributions of doctoral students on the university's boards, committees, and councils are recognized through extended time allowances for their thesis work.

This ensures that the time spent on these positions of trust does not negatively impact their overall study duration, effectively making these roles neutral with respect to their net study time.

According to the Higher Education Ordinance (Chapter 6, § 29), the education period for a doctoral student may be extended if there are special reasons. Examples of special reasons include holding positions of trust within trade unions and student organisations. There are corresponding regulations for the period of employment under the Higher Education Ordinance (Chapter 5, § 7).

As the workload can differ between various bodies, the guidelines set forth a minimum level of compensation. For positions of trust financed by the disciplinary domain/faculty board, the board has the authority to decide on further extensions. These decisions are made following an application from the doctoral student.

The guidelines for extending employment and study periods apply regardless of the doctoral student’s form of funding.

The specified extension corresponds to compensation for holding a position of trust for a period of one year. Assignments must be documented with certificates and meeting minutes. A decision on extension entails reimbursement to the doctoral student’s department for the cost equivalent to the number of working days specified below. The calculation is based on the salary scale for doctoral students applicable at the time of application when 80 percent is achieved.

The application for funds must be submitted during the doctoral studies, but no earlier than six months before the end of the regular doctoral period.

The following minimum levels and cost responsibility apply to extensions for doctoral students holding a position of trust.

In addition to the above-mentioned positions, assignments such as assessors in UKÄ's university audits, programme evaluations and appraisal of degree-awarding powers should also be considered for prolongation. The duration of the prolongation should correspond to the time required to fulfill these assignments. Where UKÄ provided an assessment of the time scale, this should serve as a guideline.

These guidelines are in effect from 1 July 2024, replacing the previous guidelines concerning extension of employment or study period for doctoral students holding positions of trust (UFV 2021/2081).