Getting a PhD in Norway is nearly free--even if you're not a citizen
studyinnorway.no
studyinnorway.no
In Sweden it's the latter, so students are employed as PhD students and get a salary (though usually not very competitive compared to what you would make if working elsewhere).
The fact that the PhD students spend a lot of time teaching and not only educating themselves and working towards their thesis is what makes take around 5 years, rather than, say 3 years.
I have very high job security and a salary that's a bit lower than a coder/consultant starting salary. Also, my work is much more interesting (to me) than what it would have been out there. It's a great deal for me, but YMMV.
You mean for a "normal" (if I may) industry job or for doing a PhD within the industry?
Because before starting my PhD, the salaries that I've been proposed by recruiters from various companies were more like the double (and sometimes more, like with Google or high frequency trading firms) of what I'm making as a PhD student (but for a way less fun job, as you say).
That's around ~44.000 Euros per year (including perks).
I interviewed in 4 companies before deciding to go for the PhD (all engineering jobs). The salaries varied from 45.000 to 55.000 Euros brutto per year, with one offer at 60.000 Euros.
Friends working in industry make around 50.000 Euros which matches with my experience. Making a bit less for working in _your_ PhD is a really good deal here. If you find the right PhD for you it can be very gratifying (plus you are working for yourself). OTOH my friends in industry work way less hours than I do, so if I had a family I would probably had never gone the PhD way.
The law actually states the minimum salary for a PhD student. It is approximately 1650€ "brut" (before social taxes) which amounts to 1350€ "net" (what you actually get each month). If you have a "mission d'enseignement" (teaching hours), which is not mandatory, then you have to be teaching for 64 hours per years (that is not counting the time you spend preparing for the course or the time spent correcting students assignments of course) and should not occupy more than 1/6 of your working time. Your salary is then 2000€ "brut", which amounts 1650€ "net".
Public PhD funding almost always stays at this level of salary. However you can be paid more than this, for instance if you are paid on a project grant money or if you are in CIFRE (which means you are paid by a company for which you have to spend a defined part of your time, this is often but not always incompatible with having a "mission d'enseignement"). But then your a lot less free to do whatever you want (since the project or the company mst of the time have strongly fixed goals).
But no I did meant student status, which means most museums are free for instance, and discounts for many things such as public transportations, movie theaters, etc.
1. The criteria for selecting a student for a PhD are publicly established by each doctoral school. They do not require any justification of income/wealth.
2. PhD students are not required to sign any contract or to be paid any salary.
2.1. Some of them have a "doctoral contract" (a new thing created in 2009 specially for PhD students), some are public servants, some have signed regular employment contracts of three years specifically for the PhD. However, a large part do not get any benefit from the doctoral school: they are either unemployed, or have a job unrelated to their PhD.
2.2. The director of the doctoral school is supposed to check that all conditions, including financial ones, are met so the student can work well.
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Addendum:
- At the beginning of the 2000s, 30% of students dropping out of their PhD said it was "for financial reasons" [1].
- PhD students are almost always enrolled in a university, or in an institution related to the doctoral school. This is about 500€/year if you are lucky enough to be French, but can go up to 7000€/year if you are from outside the EU.
- Some institutions, for instance some Écoles des Mines or the École Polytechnique, still pay PhD students an "informal salary" without any employment contract [2]. This is in a grey zone, legally speaking.
* * *
[1] Philippe Moguérou, Jake Murdoch, Jean-Jacques Paul. "Les déterminants de l’abandon en thèse", 10es Journées d'études Céreq, 2003-05-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928014312/http://www.cereq.f...
[2] Anne Jouan. "Des doctorants étrangers travaillent encore au noir", Le Figaro, 2008-10-20. http://www.lefigaro.fr/formation/2008/10/20/01015-20081020AR...
BTW, just saw your webpage: hi from an Ulmite to a Cachanais ;).
De Normalien à Normalien, bravo pour Ulm, moi j'étais même pas admissible ;-)
Sinon, j'ai pas passé le concours :-p, j'étais étudiant au département informatique là bas, entré sur dossier après deux ans de fac d'informatique à Marseille. Anyway en informatique Cachan ou à Ulm à part la première année on fait vraiment la même chose :-).
Some universities ask for tuition fee.
Although many (but not most) of my colleagues receive grants or scholarships, it is common (here) to pay the PhD out of your own pocket. But I do live in Portugal, so factor in the economical (but, mostly, social) context.
The catch is that the student then signs that they will return home for a period (e.g. two years) immediately after the PhD or be liable to pay the scholarship back.
[source: am an ex PhD student, have seen friends under this arrangement].
Yes, there are. I know Cornell(USA) has had such positions. But yes, it is definitely not a norm.
I asked a former university staffer about it once and they told me the money doesn't exist. The university "charges" me x dollars per term, but in my funding there is conveniently an extra x dollars per term in addition to my y salary from the university. So I then tell the university in my funding forms that they owe me x+y dollars and they are like "oh, well we have to deduct x dollars for your tuition". So the net effect is the money doesn't actually exist.
What subjects were these PhDs in by the way?
I am talking specifically about Computer Science. This is not even a modern instance. The first case I've heard about is in 1999.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country...
Acceptance to the program is quite a bit easier than getting funding. I wouldn't recommend studying without funding - in addition to the expense I have seen these students are often treated as second class.
In Canada, most people were funded in research assistantships coming from their PI, or had independent scholarships. This covered tuition and about $10,000 salary for research-based Masters or $15,000 for PhD, and could be supplemented by about $5000/year by teaching. This is marginally enough to live on without loans if you were thrifty and don't have dependents. I didn't know of anyone who wasn't paid (in Engineering - I think there were in Arts).
Its worth noting especially for STEM people that the biggest cost is probably opportunity cost compared to the salary (or start up) you could be doing instead of a PhD.
TL;DR - not paying tuition for a PhD isn't newsworthy.
[NB "free at the point of delivery" is how the UK NHS (all 4 of them) have always described their services]
Technically my program charges tuition, but everyone gets a paycheck every month, and the department pays itself your tuition fees. I just owe the school $20 a semester for "student fees".
In the UK, in the sciences, a PhD place comes with funding from a research council. An institute gets funding for places, which they award.
For arts subjects (I believe), an application by the student for a particular project is made to a funding body. It is possible, however, to fund yourself if you cannot get funding. I know a very dedicated person who did this, funding with part time work. He's now a lecturer in a good university in the UK.
As a side note though, if Scotland becomes independent when voted later on this year, then "Thousands of English, Welsh and Northern Irish students will study at Scottish universities for free" [1]
[1]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/102...
This assumes that an independent Scotland would be a member of the EU, which is far from certain:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/impossible...
See this is where everything just gets confusing... Scotland already IS a country by itself, as is England, NI, and Wales, so if Scotland were to become independent, it would in no way be a "new" country, would it? mhhhh, my head hurts.
However, there are a few clues:
- Issues its own currency
- Recognised as a sovereign state by other countries
- Taxes its people
- Issues passports and polices its borders
The UK does all of these. As far as I'm aware Scotland does at most 1 of them.
A couple of other notes:
- Privately-held banks don't print money on behalf central government. Those 'Bank of Scotland' notes bear a promise (obligation) made by the Bank of Scotland, and not by any government.
- That England, NI, Wales don't have their own embassy in other countries is irrelevant. I'm not arguing that they are countries.
it's more of its own country than now, I'd say.
Do you live in Scotland?
No country within the United Kingdom itself issues passports, so for example you cannot have an English passport. They are all British Citizens who hold British passports (which confusingly isn't a UK passport, but a passport for Great Britain and Northern Ireland).
I'm really not sure how tax works in the UK. Scotland as well as other UK members all tax, but how that is then divided up internally, I have no idea...
When you say the UK does all of these, that doesn't mean England, NI, or Wales does all of them itself.
When I say they are printed on behalf of the government, I meant that the government decides how much money is printed. As far as I'm aware, Scottish banks who have the right to print money (e.g. Bank of Scotland) cannot simply print as much money as they would like. They're printing it on behalf of the governments guidelines etc. Confusingly though, Scottish printed money isn't even legal tender, not even in Scotland.
i.e. If a country splits into two parts surely you have two new countries.
(note that it's significantly more expensive for foreign students though)
The 1.8k EUR applies to MA/MSc/BA. If part of the requirement to do a PhD is a to do a MSc degree and the programme is joint you might get a waver from the university for that 1.8k EUR. Also, most Dutch get that money back through the government stipend programme that "lends" people about 250EUR a month and gives them free travel across the whole country. At today's prices this package is worth 4000+ EUR. You only have to pay back that loan if you do not graduate in time (=+1 year of what is the duration of the programme), if you do graduate the loan is considered paid. Foreign students can get on this action by working one day a week, somewhere (incl. TA/RA/etc.). And then there are also various subsidies that students often qualify for. It is not unheard of to see a student in the Netherlands sporting 10k+ EUR income by working one day a week.
This has changed, I used to get this but since 2014 my job (10 hours a week) does not qualify for it anymore. I think the new regulations allow only people working more than 16 hours per-week (not 100% sure on the exact number).
The point is that you can, having finished high school, go to Norway and get the whole 8-9 years of bachelor->masters->phd education completely free of tuition fees (disregarding the nominal ~100/year enrolment fee).
However, it didn't pan out too well – now foreigners from non-EU countries have to pay around (varies somewhat at the different universities) 9000USD per semester.
This also applies for non-citizens.
PhD for free != interesting, I'm paid a tax-free stipend (UK) which also covers tuition fees (same for MSc). There are "self-funded" positions advertised but it's generally junior faculty trying their luck for overseas students. I've never heard of anyone actually paying out of their own pocket for PhD study in the EU.
That probably also indicates that phd is only for those who managed to find funding. Is it hard to secure funding for studies in the UK for the UK or EU nationals?