Lost against NTNU in court

A former research fellow at the Faculty of Economics (Eco faculty) went to court in mid-April after being forced to finish his PhD at NTNU. It was in February 2022 that the Faculty of Higher Education decided on the compulsory termination of the degree for the fellow.

The scholarship holder complained about the decision, but NTNU’s appeal board believed that the decision was correct and it was upheld. It is the validity of the decision that was at the heart of the dispute when the parties met in the Oslo District Court on 15 and 16 April.

Refused to undertake mid-term evaluation

The appeals board, for its part, believed that the scholarship holder had committed repeated or significant breaches of his information, follow-up or reporting duty during the PhD period. Among other things, he is said to have shown a lack of will to carry out a mid-term evaluation. The scholarship holder had also not been informed about the status and progress of his work.

This in itself gave grounds for forced termination in the tribunal’s view.

The appeal board also referred to an incident where the scholarship holder had shown serious breaches of trust towards NTNU. According to NTNU, the scholarship holder must have used an old letter of recommendation from his main supervisor at NTNU to start a research stay in Singapore, even though the letter had been withdrawn. The fellow received repeated information and clear messages that such a research stay would not be approved, but traveled anyway.

Thought the decision was invalid

The scholarship holder, for his part, believed that the decision on forced termination is invalid. In addition, the person concerned believed that he was entitled to compensation from NTNU, as he will suffer a financial loss at least 10 years from now, and is in danger of losing both his degree and 4 years’ seniority in working life. The scholarship holder believed that the annual loss on this was NOK 114,300. In addition, he believed he was entitled to compensation of around NOK 50,000 to 100,000.

In the judgement, the court finds that the appeal board’s decision to terminate the person’s PhD was valid. The court believes that NTNU went to great lengths to make arrangements for the fellow, and gave him sufficient guidance.

The court also concluded that the scholarship holder was not entitled to compensation. Instead, the person concerned must pay legal costs of NOK 131,350 to the Ministry of Education.