PhD Norwegian Style

Before Easter I was invited to discover how a PhD is examined in Norway. A guy from the centre was due to defend his PhD and I went along for the cultural experience. Of course in Australia you submit the document, wait for examiners reports and adjust the PhD according to the comments received. In most parts of the world, however, you are actually required to 'defend' your thesis. In Norway, this means first giving a one hour lecture on a topic given to you by your examiners, which is then followed by an open public meeting the next day. At the public meeting, you first summarise your thesis in 15 minutes. Then each of your two examiners has about an hour each to question you publicly about your ideas and arguments, while you stand there and try and defend yourself.


The defense I saw was brutal! The first examiner (from the US) held no punches and spent an hour and a half firing totally penetrating questions at the poor student, questions which were both rudely and aggresively posed. It was truly frightening, and especially daunting given that the student was required to understand and answer these questions in his non-native tongue! What I found out during the break between examiner questions though was that by making it to the defense stage, the thesis had actually already been passed. This meant that being granted your PhD did not depend on whether you could answer questions like "what constitutes second modernity" within a split second of thinking time, and that the process was mostly just ritual. The second examiner was much more polite and made me start liking the idea of being able to discuss your ideas with your examiners in person.


After the defense there was of course the usual champagne and cake back at the centre. I then had the glorious responsibility of taking one of the examiners walking in the mountains around Bergen for the afternoon before the 'formal' celebration dinner. The dinner was in a building that was I was told had hosted kings, queens and presidents and was indeed formal. Some of the men were in tuxedos kind of formal! There were endless speeches, some in english thank goodness, and lots of schmoozing of course. Over coffee, cognac and cigars, for example, I had the head of bioethics at UNESCO (who also happened to be on both my selection committee for the job and the examination committee) telling me that I "simply must come to Paris" to meet with colleagues at UNESCO. Of course I replied that yes indeed, I simply must. Anyway, it was a fascinating event and the pic is from the lovely faculty of Arts building where the defence occured.