PhD in Educational Sciences

About the programme in Educational Sciences

Educational research develops new knowledge about education and learning within and outside the education system, and about children’s and young people’s upbringing and development. The field is multidisciplinary, in that many academic disciplines contribute to the research. At Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN), the main research areas are humanities‑based teacher education subjects and pedagogy. In both areas, issues related to diversity, inclusion and digitalisation are central.

Purpose

The purpose of the PhD programme is to strengthen the scientific knowledge base for teacher education programmes and for professional practice in schools, early childhood education and care institutions, and other learning arenas, and to develop new knowledge about children’s and young people’s upbringing, learning and Bildung. In this way, the PhD programme also supports the faculty’s own programmes in teacher education, pedagogy and special needs education. 

About the programme

More than 40 candidates have completed their PhD degrees in the programme, and at any given time more than fifty candidates are in the process of completing their doctoral studies. The vast majority of graduates from the programme now work in teacher education. The academic environment responsible for teaching and supervision in the programme consists of more than 20 professors and 20 associate professors. All PhD research fellows are affiliated with one of the faculty’s research groups. The research groups are responsible for several large research projects with international collaboration.

Name change - from PROFF to UTVIT

The programme was established in 2012 as the PhD in Teaching and Teacher Education (PROFF) and accredited by NOKUT. A revised programme description was approved in February 2025. At the same time, the name was changed to PhD in Educational Sciences (UTVIT). The changes entered into force on 1 August 2025, and candidates admitted from this date follow the revised programme description. On this page, you will find both the revised programme description for UTVIT and the previous programme description for PROFF.

International exchange

Each year, the PhD programme welcomes international visiting PhD candidates, and an increasing number of candidates in the programme undertake research stays or fieldwork abroad. PhD candidates have completed research stays at the University of Helsinki, Stockholm University, Karlstad University, the University of Iceland, DPU – Aarhus University, and Tribhuvan University in Nepal. Previous PhD candidates have had research stays, among others, at the University of Glasgow, the University of Limerick, the University of Namibia, the University of Zambia and Universidad del País Vasco in Spain.

Target group and relevance to working life

The PhD programme is a research training provision for candidates with master’s degrees in subject didactics and pedagogy, candidates with five‑year integrated teacher education at master’s level, and others with master’s degrees in subjects or fields relevant to early childhood education and care, school and other educational arenas. The programme qualifies for an academic career in teacher education, pedagogical study programmes and other higher education and research, as well as for other positions that require a high level of research competence, including within the education sector. In this way, the programme contributes to national education policy goals of strengthening research‑based professional practice and increasing the proportion of staff with a doctoral degree in the education sector and other parts of public administration.