Developing Doctoral Education in Europe Dr. Sybille Reichert (Zürich) UNICA Bologna Lab, Lausanne,...
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Transcript of Developing Doctoral Education in Europe Dr. Sybille Reichert (Zürich) UNICA Bologna Lab, Lausanne,...
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
0
5.000
10.000
15.000
20.000
25.000
30.000
S &
E P
h.D
. Deg
rees
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
U.S
. Cit
izen
s an
d P
erm
Res
USA Europe Asia % US Citizens
All U.S
Europe
Asia
U.S. Citizen
Proposed Solutions
1. Improve supervision (clear expectations, additional institutional support and integration into team) and create support structures
2. Create integrating structures, including some taught elements
3. Introduce or enhance the career relevance and attention to competence development, including career-relevant skills training
4. 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 SchoolsType of Graduate School Primary aims Frequent in:
Thematically
focused Graduate
School/
Graduiertenkolleg/
Research School
Promotes subject-specific often interdisciplinary excahnge,
Promotes excellent research environments in key areas of
institutional strengths,
Increases international visibility and attraktivität/
Rekrutierung im Ausland
D, NL
Faculty-based or
interfaculty
Graduate School
Promotes interdisciplinary exchange,
Common offer of soft skills training and support services in
cognate disciplinary cultures,
synergies through common administrative functions
(admission, recognition of foreign degrees, financial admin.,
quality assurance)
GB, US,
D
Institutional
Graduate School
Administrative and social roof for research training, incl.
support Services, coordinated offer in „transferable skills“
Lobbying and respresentation of research training issues at
institutional and national level
GB, US
Inter-institutional
Graduate School/
Doctoral School/
Research School
Creates critical mass in a given area, enhances subject-
based exchange, increases international visibility, enhances
national coordination and complementarity of the offer in the
field
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
Doctoral education has to reflect and develop research profile, implying
1. Enhancing attractiveness for international applicants
2. Enhanced role of institutions, highlighting relation to international research strengths, creating opportunities for training professionally relevant competences
3. 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 profilesTraining 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?
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?
3. Creating links between academic research and non-university employers
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
ExcellenceScientific 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 skillsCommunicative 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.