Report Thematic Group 2 2006-2008 Research and Education.

Report Thematic Group 2 2006-2008

Research and Education

Members of Working Group 2• Marcis Auzinsh

University of Latvia [Latvia (LV)] – [email protected]

• Jan Naudts (Secretary) University of Antwerpen [Belgium (BE)] – [email protected]

• Giovanni Vittorio Pallottino (Chair) University of Rome La Sapienza [Italy (IT)] – [email protected]

• Marek Trippenbach University of Warsaw [Poland (PL)] - [email protected]

• Laura Tugulea (Coach) University of Bucharest [Romania (RO)] – [email protected]

• Vaggelis Vitoratos University of Patras [Greece (GR)] – [email protected]

Mission of WG2

WG2 investigates the interaction between research and education in physics

Nature of the interaction• The education process is traditionally aimed at

preparing the students for a career in research institutions and the research done by university lecturers influence their teaching.

• The students receive an imprinting for a research orientation.

Any mismatch?

• The professional activity of most of our graduates is outside of the academia, with a wide and increasing variety of jobs. Some of them not specifically related with what we mean by physical research. But still contributing to innovation and progress.

• There is little mismatch, however, because the research oriented education is very valuable also for the non traditional work destinations, concerning the labor market in general.

• But there is room for improvement.

Activities of WG2: 1) Wiki site

1) Establishment of a Wiki site

• Survey of existing possibilities for summer research trainings for physics students

• Presentation of this information in a Wiki site created and managed by prof. Jan Naudts, in cooperation with IAPS (International Association of Physics Students)

• The site is open to the physics students for consultation

• URL of the site: http://www.wn.ua.ac.be/trainingwiki

Activities of WG2: 2) 2006 Questionnaire

2) 2006 Questionnaire

A. Entrance to the studies of Bachelor in Physics• Entrance examination? 22 YES out of 58• Numerus clausus? 24 YES out 56, with positive effects

on the quality of the studiesB. Initiatives towards secondary schools and general

public• Efforts to increase the number of physics students?

46 YES out of 57• Open door days? Lectures at schools? Other activities?

Large majority of YES


C. Research training during physics education• Range of ECTS credits devoted to research training?

during Bachelor: mostly 1-30 creditsduring Master: mostly 31-60 credits

• Estimate % of Master theses leading to international publications (51 answers)

0–19%: 17 Universities 20-39%: 12 Universities40-59%: 7 Universities 60-79 %: 5 Universities

80-100%: 5 Universities__________________________________________________________________

More details in the 2006 WG2 Report given in Genthttp://www.eupen.ugent.be/conf/presentatie/

Gandawa_presentation_FORUM_2006_SOSnowska.ppt


3) 2007 Questionnaire: two sets of questions

A. How do students choose their research topics? Transition from undergraduate (first cycle, bachelor) to graduate (second cycle, master) and choice of master thesis)

B. Contacts between universities and local industries, and their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with our graduates


A.How students choose their research topics

A1. What mostly influences the students choice?• Personal curiosity, interest toward specific issues, new “hot fields”• Attendance of specialized courses, personality of the teachers• Employment opportunities

A2. How do they obtain the required information?• Formally organized sessions with presentation of the activities • consultation of list of research projects, websites of the research

groups• informal talks with teachers and older students

A3. What proportion of the first level graduates continue in the same institution?

• Very different in the various universities. It ranges from 5-10% in a few universities, to larger values in others, but mostly it is 90-100%.


A4. How does prior knowledge and training contribute towards acceptance?

• As for the admission to the graduate courses, the answers indicate that practically all of the first cycle graduates are admitted. In a few universities, however, there are admission exams on specialized topics for each Master program offered.

• As a result, in general, prior knowledge and training contribute little to acceptance.

A5. Which partners (industries, research labs, ...) are involved in the research training during the second cycle?

• Most of the answers report a strong involvement of partners external to the universities, such as national or international research institutions, with which there are scientific collaborations already established with the departments.

• But only a fraction of the respondents reports involvement of industrial partners; that in few places, as in Lille and Groningen, are institutionalized.


B. Answers on the links university/industry B1. There is in your department a contact with the local

industries (more generally, with the local labor market)? • Only a few respondents report a permanent contact with

industry in institutional form. Most have only occasional contacts or none.

• But there are indications of a general trend toward the establishment of permanent contacts, in some cases driven by the central authorities of the university.

B2. Are the local industries actually interested in the physics graduates of your university?

• Here the majority of the answers reports a strong Yes. Others say that the interest of the industry only comes after they become aware of the existence and competence of Physics graduates.


B3. How much the labor market is satisfied with the competences and skills of the graduates?

• The satisfaction is reported to be generally high, in agreement with other data available (Padova inquiry, report from the Dutch Physical Society, …).

B4. Which competences do they expect from the graduates?• Problem solving and analytical thinking, mathematical skills,

experimental skills, informatics knowledge, aptitude of learning unfamiliar fields and handling “vaguely stated” problems.

B5. Which competences and skills do they find missing or weak?

• The main weaknesses reported are: project management, working against deadlines, and communication, oral and written. In addition, they asks more experience with working in groups, especially within interdisciplinary teams.


B6. Please mention one or more non traditional jobs in which some of your graduates are involved

• The list of the jobs is extraordinarily rich and varied, besides the professional activities in the information and communication area, in the medical sector and in general in the industry. New jobs are in fact emerging in the financial sector as well as in other fields.

• A few examples of activities: astronaut, technology consultant and broker, patent attorney, specialist about accidents, scientific investigators in the police corps, technology officer in the military, civil servants in the energy field, air traffic controller, television meteorologist, scientific journalist, …

• Other unexpected activities: rock musician, publisher, manager of the work organization, graphical artist, Hollywood executive, …

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

More details in the 2007 WG2 Report given in San Feliuhttp://www.eupen.ugent.be/conf/egf2007/presentation/

egf2007_reportG2.ppt

From conclusions to action 1

University-industry

• The main conclusion is that the research imprinting received by our graduates means openness and versatility, which in addition to the basic culture in physics and mathematics, turns out to be advantageous in a large variety of professional activities.

• The advantage concerns the graduates, that find employment; the companies, that exploit their capabilities; the society, where innovation is the key for competiveness.

However• A consistent part of the labor market, with particular reference to

small companies, is not aware of the potentialities of the Physics graduates.

• A consistent part of the departments of Physics seems to be unaware that academia only offers limited chances to their graduates. Most of them in fact has to find a job in the general labor market.


The results of the 2007 Questionnaire show that:

• some departments clearly recognize that taking care of the future jobs of their graduates, outside of the traditional channels, is a constitutive part or their mission. As regards both the education of the physicists and the establishment of permanent relations with the world of labor.

• other departments think differently, or do not think at all, on that matter. This is due to change, because the evaluation of the performance of the universities is gaining momentum. This means that education process is to be checked in terms of the response of the labor market. In particular, the opinions of stakeholders such as the employers and the alumni are now required as strongly relevant.


We have developed a Profile of the Physics graduate, addressed to the industry or more generally to the labor market,

which is accompanied by recommendations to the departments involved in the education process.

They should in fact recognize that their mission, in addition to perform high level research, is to contribute to the society by producing high quality graduates, able to foster and promote innovation in all the fields of activity, according to the Lisbon strategy of EU.

The Profile 1

Profile of the Physics graduates• 1. Overview

Physicists are commonly considered as dealing with abstract topics, with scarce or no connection to practical matters. But this is not so. Their fundamental discoveries, which have advanced our understanding of nature, have also led to extraordinary practical applications such as electricity, radio communications and nuclear energy. But other contributions, less academic in their nature, are also to be mentioned, such as for example the development of WWW at Cern by the English physicist Tim Berners-Lee or the realization of the microprocessor at Intel by the Italian physicist Federico Faggin; both with exceptional impact on industry as well as on society as a whole.

The Profile 2

• As a matter of fact we now find a large number of physicists involved in a rich and increasing number of professional activities outside of academia, often not specifically related with physics. Their skills contribute to the development of a competitive “knowledge society”, fostering innovations in a variety of fields.

• …

2. Knowledge and skills2.1 First cycle (Bachelor), usually 3 to 4 years of studiesKnowledge …Competences and Abilities …2.2 Second cycle (Master), usually 2 additional years of studyKnowledge …Competences and Abilities …

From the Recommendations 1

Physics graduates and labor market

Research training of physics students is very useful also outside academiaTraining students for scientific research is the traditional and fundamental task of the Physics departments, but we have to recognize that at present the large majority of the graduates is absorbed by the general labor market, outside the academia, where they are generally very much appreciated. Only rarely, here, they are involved in what we mean by scientific research in Physics, most often however contributing to innovations, factual as well as methodological, very important for the development of Europe according to the Lisbon objectives of the UE. …

From the Recommendations 2

…It is important to make the students know their actual perspectives of employment, giving proper value and meaning to the professional activities outside the academia as a precious contribution to society. …

The feedback from the labor market, obtained from direct contacts with the industry or from specific inquiries, should be taken into account when designing new curricula or fine tuning the present ones. …

This requires to improve the formation of the physicists in some specific directions, such as the communication skills, oral and written, and the attitude to work against deadlines. Both very important, too, for any serious research activity.

Report Thematic Group 2 2006-2008 Research and Education.

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Transcript of Report Thematic Group 2 2006-2008 Research and Education.