Graduate school committees

The PhD committee at Aarhus BSS

The head of the graduate school is assisted by the PhD committee of Aarhus BSS Graduate School. The members of the PhD committee, who represent the academic staff and PhD students at Aarhus BSS, are elected by and among these. The committee has 14 elected members – 7 tenured faculty and 7 PhD students representing the 7 fields. The head of the graduate school participates in the committee meetings.

The main responsibilities of the PhD committee are as follows:

• Nominating a chairman from among the PhD committee’s academic staff
• Proposing the composition of PhD assessment committees to the dean
• Approving PhD courses
• Preparing proposals for the head of the graduate school on internal guidelines for the graduate school, including PhD supervision
• Issuing statements to the head of the graduate school concerning evaluation of the PhD programme and PhD supervision
• In collaboration with the general study board at Aarhus BSS, approving applications for credit transfer and exemption for PhD students who have not yet finished their master’s degrees
• Issuing statements within the committee’s area of responsibility on all cases of importance to PhD studies and PhD supervision presented to the committee by the dean or by a party authorised by the dean.

Field committees

A PhD field committee is appointed for each of the graduate school’s seven field programmes. The field committees are elected for one year at a time and are valid for the period 1 February - 31 January. The website is thus updated every year on 1 February. Field committees consist of at least four representatives of the academic staff within the area in question. These committees, made up of tenured faculty, also act as standing committees in connection with enrolment to the PhD programme. 

The representative of the relevant field in the PhD committee of Aarhus BSS Graduate School is automatically a member and chair of the PhD field committee. The other members of the field committee are appointed by the head of the relevant department. The members of the field committee for Social Science and Business are, however, appointed by the dean. In connection with the appointment of field committee members, it is ensured that the composition of each field committee reflects the academic breadth of the programme. The individual PhD field committee constitutes the academically competent committee in respect of the field in question. This entails that, prior to any major academic issues being addressed by the PhD committee, all such issues have been submitted to the relevant PhD field committee, and the relevant PhD field committee also advises the head of the graduate school on all academic issues concerning the PhD programme.