DOCUMENTING DIVERSITY IN EUROPEAN DOCTORAL EDUCATION

^{Karoline Holländer, Sverre Lundemo, Zaza Nadja, Lee Hansen and Nikola Macharova}

^Eurodoc

The First Step: Data Collection

“There is a lack of comparable data on doctoral programmes and on how the doctorate within Europe is perceived. Some outcomes from national surveys, or surveys only on some topics can be found. However, these only focus on single areas of the doctorate and do not give information which provides a "general overview" on the situation of doctoral programmes and doctoral candidates in Europe. Making decisions and recommendations without having data showing the whole picture complicates the situation. This is made even worse by the diversity and the direction of structural and organisational reforms in Europe, which have taken place during the last decade. A need for more systematic information has been acknowledged for some time. Currently some institutions are doing surveys on the European level to improve the situation. Some institutions are collecting information on the level of the doctoral programme to be able to improve the quality of their programmes. The questions is, is the right approach? What does the time taken to get a degree tell us about the quality of the research work done?”

This is the “status quo” which was presented by Karoline Holländer (outgoing president) and Nikola Macharova (incoming president) at the Second Annual Meeting of the EUA Council for Doctoral Education, which was held on 4 – 5 June 2009 at University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

However, data collection was only one of six issues raised during the conference. The stakeholders from different countries and universities discussed supervision, research careers, internationalisation, research assessment and doctoral education, the role of networks in European doctoral education, and found that even in these subjects much diversity is apparent. Discussions developed around these issues and what to do about them.

There is a lack of a European register for doctoral candidates and even in those where doctoral candidates have to register they are out of the system after some years, in some cases. In fact Eurodoc has been working on a survey to find some comparable data on the situation of doctoral education in Europe. Now we are running it as the first Europe-wide survey of this kind.

This survey could be conducted regularly to produce some longitudinal analysis of the situation, the improvements and the drawbacks. Apart from that it is questionable which data should be used in surveys on the institutional level. Only talking about quantitative data like number of courses or credits taken, time to degree etc. doesn't say much about the quality of the doctoral education. Taking into account how research can be evaluated and what the positive and negative effects might be, for example of peer reviews, have to be taken into account. Negative effects of only counting the publications could be a shift towards a publication overload in the doctorate and a shift away from the skills development part that is equally - if not more - important. So we have to be careful about what we survey and which effects are likely to be produced by this.

These were the “future prospects” from the Eurodoc point of view presented at the conference.

Eurodoc´s First Step

In 2008, Eurodoc decided to launch a survey and collect information vital for the next steps leading to improved conditions for doctoral candidates and young researchers, and to gain a better picture of doctoral programmes and the situation of doctoral candidates in Europe in general.

The survey was launched in cooperation with the International Centre for Higher Education Research at the University of Kassel in December 2008, and doctoral candidates could fill out the online questionnaire until May 2009.

The survey was conducted in Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom and Ukraine, and roughly 100,000 European doctoral researchers were asked to take part in this study.

The questionnaire was structured into eight sections: qualification, career path, financing, training and supervision, working conditions, results of scientific work, mobility, socio-demographic indicators.

The results from the survey will be presented at Eurodoc’s Annual Conference in Vienna in March 2010.

What About The Next Steps?

Data collection is only the first step in the process of developing and creating a better environment for young researchers and doctoral candidates. With the results, it will be easier to identify which sections of the doctoral education are in most need of improvement, as well as gathering information on how things can be improved. This can then be used for policy recommendations and lobbying. It is a very long way, but Eurodoc is prepared to do the next step and continue along the path.

Who will be the next, joining Eurodoc in this crucial work?