Research Education
It is to close to my retirement to keep this
site updated, but I anyway keep some of it alive. The research school in forest
genetics and breeding is an important new factor in research training.
A web site for the post-graduated education at
the faculty is
Time
passes and formal rules changes. Those who have been post-graduated students
for some years can generally trust that what has been agreed with the main
supervisor will be honoured even if rules change for later students.
Post-graduated education seems often more centrally organised from the formal
documentation than it actually is, and sometimes there occur organisational “jippos”, this comes in waves. There may also be a larger
room for exceptions (at least if you have an influent professor behind you),
than may seem apparent if some subset of the rules should be narrowly
interpreted.
The work by each
postgraduate (PhD) student is regulated in an individual plan of study. The
studies for PhD should be planned so they can be completed in four years full
time (160 credits (p) in the Swedish system, which
honours a week as 1 credit and a year as 40 credits). There is
also a lower research degree, the licentiate, which should be possible to
complete in two years. A forest genetic thesis at the department typically
consists of five papers, of which some are accepted by journals and the other
are manuscripts heading for journals. The postgraduate studies may comprise 30%
course work. The trend now is to place less emphasises on other things
than the research and directly associated matters (like research seminars,
literature connecting to the research, courses, guest lectures, excursions,
foreign travel). Often 40 p “courses” is accepted, earlier 60 was seen as
normal even if 40 occurred. Personally I think this is a pity; there should be
some room for PhD students to develop a broader sense of skills. I also think
that the licentiate should focus more on course work and less on science than
the doctor. The licentiate could be a good start, as it is difficult to get an
assured funding for 4 years or if time does not permit.
Doctorand courses in forest
genetics are given at irregular intervals inside and outside the department.
Nordic doctorand courses are arranged (http://www.norfa.no), this includes courses in plant breeding, which have been arranged every year
and joined by most past students. We have a sister department at
To be accepted as research
student a relevant undergraduate exam is needed. Forest Genetics is nowadays seen as a specialisation within Biology, thus
knowledge in biology (60p) is formally required, but exceptions occur. The most
important factor nowadays seems to be to have finances arranged (not an easy
thing).
Many of our students and
staff are of foreign descent. No knowledge of Swedish is needed,
we require only good knowledge of English. It is easy to live at Umeå without
knowing Swedish. Living quarters can be arranged by the department within
walking-distance from the University. Umeå is a city with 100.000 inhabitants
and the campus is 3 km from downtown. The city is big enough to offer services
and communications, but small enough to make communications a minor problem. It
is built for bicycles, which some visitors and students appreciate. It is cold
and dark in winter (although the white snow brighten things up a bit), but most
visitors find our climate acceptable.
The thesis from some of my
latest previous research students can be seen on this web site
As we have been merged into a centre for plant
biology, which at irregular intervals interests itself for research education,
rules similar to these issued by the centre may have some relevance.
Last edited 04-07-07