Developing Doctoral Education in Europe

Dr. Sybille Reichert (Zürich)

UNICA Bologna Lab, Lausanne, 1 June 2007

The most frequently mentioned aims of the doctoral reforms in Europe

      Enhancing quality (supervision, mentoring, support, financial and framework conditions, duration) Increasing relevance and career attention in view of diversified research-based career paths (UK, Ireland, Sweden) – competences and skills Linking doctoral training to centers of research excellence (with sufficient critical mass) (Finland, Netherlands, Germany) Increasing interdisciplinary and social integration Enhancing international attractiveness of research environment Establishing doctoral or graduate programmes and schools to support all of the above aims

Factors hindering attractiveness of doctorate studies

      length of doctorate studies:    delayed entry into labour market and professional life delayed individual economic/social returns uncertainty regarding successful completion, attrition rate Varied quality of supervision and high degree of dependence on supervisor specialisation – little attention to career prospects and frequent labour market mismatch, attention to subject-specific and transferable competences and skills lack of funding and social security personal/family dependencies and effects isolation academically and sometimes socially

Less of a problem with the number of doctoral degrees

Doctoral S&E Degrees by World Region 30.000

80% U.S. Citizen 25.000

75% All U.S

20.000

70% 15.000

Europe 10.000

Asia 5.000

65% 60% 55% 0 1975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002 50% USA Europe Asia % US Citizens

Nor with scientific production

… than with researcher career opportunities

Distribution of Researchers over Sectors

Doctoral training as first step to brain drain

Proposed Solutions

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Improve supervision (clear expectations, additional institutional support and integration into team) and create support structures Create integrating structures, including some taught elements Introduce or enhance the career relevance and attention to competence development, including career-relevant skills training Improve financial situation of doctoral candidates

1. Supervision

 Supervisor supplemented by team, additional contact points, possibility of complaints, peer pressure among professors  Ensure appropriate research expertise „At least one member of the supervisory team will be currently engaged in research in the relevant discipline(s), so as to ensure that the direction and monitoring of the student's progress is informed by up to date subject knowledge and research developments.“ (UK Code of Good Practice)  Ensure appropirate advisory (pedagogic) ability: „All supervisors need appropriate expertise for their role. They will wish, and institutions will require them, to engage in development of various kinds to equip them to supervise students.[…] Institutions will expect existing supervisors to demonstrate their continuing professional development through participation in a range of activities designed to support their work as supervisors. Supervisors should take the initiative in updating their knowledge and skills, supported by institutional arrangements that define and enable sharing of good practice and provide advice on effective support for different types of student. Mentoring relationships are one example of how support can be provided for supervisors.“ UK Code of Good Practice  Responsibilities and expectations of supervisors and doctoral candidates clearly communicated through written guidance/ contract and in the induction process

2. Structures: Graduate or Doctoral Schools

    Long debate in Germany, Nordic Countries (since early 90ies), with new structures being introduced through funding agencies Mixed aims:  support and better integration of research perspectives and opportunities for exchange  Higher degree of selection, transparent recruitment and admission criteria  Link to research profile of institution, method of institutional positioning Explicit recommendation by CRUS/ HRK/ ÖRK in their common position Very different models and intransparent nomenclature: Graduiertenkolleg, doctoral programmes vs. PhD programmes (with Master phase integrated), Doctoral and Graduate Schools

Different Types of Graduate Schools

Type of Graduate School

Thematically

Primary aims

Promotes subject-specific often interdisciplinary excahnge, focused Graduate School/ Promotes excellent research environments in key areas of institutional strengths, Graduiertenkolleg/ Increases international Rekrutierung im Ausland visibility and attraktivität/ Research School

Frequent in:

D, NL Faculty-based or Promotes interdisciplinary exchange, interfaculty Graduate School Common offer of soft skills training and support services in cognate disciplinary cultures, synergies through common administrative functions GB, US, D Institutional Graduate School (admission, recognition of foreign degrees, financial admin., quality assurance) Administrative and social roof for research training, incl. support S ervices, coordinated offer in „transferable skills“ Lobbying and respresentation of research training issues at institutional and national level GB, US Inter-institutional Graduate School/ Creates critical mass in a given area, enhances subject based exchange, increases international visibility, enhances Doctoral School/ national coordination and complementarity of the offer in the field Research School NL, Finland

3. Career Development and Skills Training

  „New instruments for the career development of researchers and improved recruitment methods and career evaluation/appraisal systems as a prerequisite for a genuine European labour market for researchers.“ (Com Recommendation 2005) Skills training pushed strongly in the UK and Nordic Countries (Sweden) Joint Skills Statement of Research Councils in 2000 UK government -review by Sir Gareth Roberts 2003: „

….PhD students’ training should include at least 2 weeks’ dedicated training a year, principally in transferable skills….“

UK: National Quality Standards Framework for Research Degrees

Academic Supervisory Student Process

Institutional arrangements Research environment Selection, admission, enrolment & induction Supervisory arrangements Review & progress Skills development Feedback mechanisms Appeals & complaints www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2003/03_23.htm

Challenges for Institutions

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Doctoral education has to reflect and develop research profile, implying Enhancing attractiveness for international applicants Enhanced role of institutions, highlighting relation to international research strengths, creating opportunities for training professionally relevant competences Doctoral education has to become more aware of needs of non-university employers

1. Attracting qualified individuals

    Framework conditions: pay, social benefits, housing, family support, orientation, integration, possibility for foreign doct. to work after PhD Quality of supervision (quality of research capacity and quality of process) Integration into wider interdisciplinary horizons Opening a wide range of career possibilities, diversity of profiles Training professional competences?

Collaboration with non-academic institutions?

2. Enhancing relation to institutional profile and international research strengths

     Addressing controversial issues of critical mass for excellence / centers of excellence / common offer between several institutions / common infrastructure Doctoral training, programmes or schools, with coherent quality control, selection and supervision procedures supported by committees Designing doctoral training modules (subject-specific and transferable) for all doctoral provision? Which ones should be offered centrally, when is a subject perspective needed?

Institutional merit-based grants, supporting excellent graduate programmes: decisions by whom, research commission? How to encourage areas with development potential which are not yet internationally competitive?

3. Creating links between academic research and non-university employers

 Need for adjustment of skills base in terms of quantity and relevance of competences?

 Even career options on the academic markets may raise some questions about relevant research skills!

 Institutions have to take into account diversity of labour market needs that in their doctoral offer.

But what kinds of skills training should be associated with doctoral research education, without undermining independent research time and focus?

Example: Skills training at Imperial College London

Research skills and techniques Research environment  Ethical issues, concerning peer review, pressure for results, conflicts of interest, secrecy, obligation to the public  Commercialisation Research management  Time management, prioritisation, realism  Project management, milestones etc  Data management, IT skills Personal effectiveness   Self-discipline, motivation, initiative Awareness of self limitations, training needs Communication skills  Writing  Oral presentations: brief, long  Professional audiences, public understanding  Teaching, media Networking and teamworking  Within research group, institution, wider research community  Understand behaviour, impact on others Career management:  Ownership, realistic goals, identify development needs  Insight into transferable nature of research skills, range of career opportunities within/outside academia  Effective presentation -CVs, applications, interviews

Example: Definition of Competences to be promoted at a German Graduate School of Excellence

Scientific skills:

 the intellectual capability to analyze complex situations and problems in a methodologically and scientifically sound and reliable manner  expert knowledge in the application of modern research instrumentation and computer-assisted methods in the area of XXX development, quality control and safety issues

Propositional knowledge:

 broad and general knowledge in the area of XXX science which forms the basis of products and devices to be used in and developed for advanced technologies where XXX act as drivers of innovation  specialised expertise including a theoretical background in methods of characterisation of XXX in the context of their applications, including modern methods of processing  socio-economic and ecological aspects of XXX science in the context of developing and maintaining national and international wealth. Corresponding lectures will be provided by an external partner.

Definition of Competences to be promoted (2)

Technical skills:

 computer-assisted methods and data mining in XXX research, learning how to establish simulations  detailed expertise in specific instrumentation and specific laboratory and data analysis skills

Communicative skills:

 regular delivery of oral and written reports on the progress of their research project  conducting research in a team environment  learning how to develop a personal network through interaction with seminar speakers, international guest scientists and lecturers, participation in the definition of research objectives and programmes, participation in the organisation of scientific meetings and seminar series with external speakers, interaction with external speakers, presentation of research results at conferences, secondments and excursions to industries

Diversity:

 diverse teams comprising physicists, chemists, biologists, engineers, and trained technicians with different national backgrounds.  a gender-balanced composition of scholarship-holders.