Noah Torp-Smith
IT University of Copenhagen
December 9, 2004
Abstract
This small note is meant to guide primarily new Ph.D. students at the IT University of Copenhagen to write the mandatory study plan.
This little document is meant as a small guide for new Ph.D. students at ITU that has to write a study plan for the first time. I will not write so much about why you have to write a study plan; this is more of a check list of things that you should include.
I have been a member of the Ph.D. study board for three years now, and I know what things that are considered when the board evaluates a study plan. This document is meant to list those items. For reference, I have put my own study plan online at http://www.itu.dk/people/noah/ Please note that this note is my own, and the Ph.D. study board are not responsible for anything that is written here. It just sums up my own experiences from being a member of the board.
There are two Ph.D. programmes at ITU. If you are on the three-year programme, your study plan should account for all of the three years. However, if you are on the 4-year programme, the plan you hand in after six months of studies need only account for the first two years. Along with your qualification report after those two years, another study plan with a plan for the remaining two years has to be enclosed.
The Ph.D. regulations at ITU has a list of items that must be included in a study plan.
I will give an explanation of some of them here (some are obvious and do not need an explanation). Please note that whenever you revise your study plan, make sure to update all of these items (where relevant), not just the milestones.
Project Description As a relatively new student, it is hardly possible to give a full description of what your research for the next three or four years is going to be about.
But since you’ve started as a Ph.D. student, you should have some vague idea as to what the area is, and