PhD Admission Requirements

A suggested supervisor must be named in the cover letter.

The PhD project proposal, authored by the applicant, must include an original research question and the main goals of the proposed PhD project. The proposal should be of maximum 5 pages, however, please check the specifications in the actual call.

• If the applicant works with interdisciplinary approaches, including social sciences and humanities perspectives, the statement of purpose should also include a motivated choice of theory and method and an empirical basis for the research

• The statement of purpose will be used to determine the applicant’s abilities of independent thinking, definition of original goals, and grasp of the state-of-the-art of the relevant research field. Goals and research field should match the interest and competences of the suggested ITU supervisor

Please note that the academic admission requirement to the PhD programme is a Danish two-year (120 ECTS points) MSc degree or equivalent.

All documentation must be provided either in English or in Danish. If the applicant has a document in any other language, a translation in English must also be included. The translation should be done by the institution issuing the document or by a state-authorised translator. Transcripts that are not issued by an EU country must be accompanied by a grade key or an explanation of the local grading scale (in English).

• If the applicant has not yet obtained a full master’s degree: You are welcome to apply for a PhD position before you obtain your master’s degree. It must be documented by submitting diploma and transcripts of the bachelor’s degree and transcripts of the master’s education. When the master’s degree is obtained you must send the diploma to ITU as soon as possible. Enrolment will be contingent of obtaining the master’s degree

• Application to the 4-year PhD programme: it must be documented that the applicant has completed 4 years of studies towards a master’s degree, i.e. bachelor’s degree and one year of master level studies. It must be documented by submitting diploma and transcripts of the bachelor’s degree and transcripts of the master’s education. If a diploma for the master is obtained, this must be included too. Enrolment in the 4-year programme is contingent on a positive credit transfer assessment for the MSc programme at ITU

The CV must contain name, address, phone number, e-mail, previous and present employment, and academic background. It is allowed to register references in the CV.

The minimum requirement is usually considered met if one of the following options for documentation can be provided:

• English at minimum Danish level B (gymnasium level)

• A BSc or MSc degree obtained on the basis of an English study programme

One of the following English tests with a certain score:

• TOEFL paper-based test result of at least 550

• TOEFL iBT test result of at least 80

• IELTS (academic) test result of at least 6.0

• Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English passed

• Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English passed

If the applicant has any publications with more than one author, co-author statements must be provided. This can be in the form of a traditional co-author statement or as part of a recommendation letter.

If you do not have any publications, you are welcome to include another example of written work. Most applicants choose to include their written master thesis.

Letters of recommendation should be relevant for the assessment of the applicant’s potential as a researcher and be written in either Danish or English. Each letter should clearly state the name of the person who has written it, contact information, and this person’s affiliation to the applicant. The IT University reserves the right to ask for verification of any copies that might be enclosed as documentation. Letters of recommendation must be uploaded as part of the application and cannot be sent to ITU directly.