Doctoral education: key issues
Institutional commitment
While acknowledging the value of diversified provision, the reform of doctoral programmes, in common with other Bologna action lines, requires firm commitment at top university management level. Doctoral education must find its place in university strategic planning to ensure quality provision and a healthy research environment. Institutional management of doctoral programmes also helps ensure proper coordination with the first two Bologna cycles.
Doctoral, Graduate and Research schools
In accepting responsibility for high quality doctoral provision, universities in many European countries have begun to develop programmes within innovative structural arrangements, integrating different types of public institutions, organisations, research institutes and companies. The EUA Trends V report illustrated that many countries now have such structures in place for a large number of doctoral candidates, and this pattern looks set to develop further in the future.
Internationalisation and global competition
The development of a European and wider international dimension in higher education is a fundamental aspect of the Bologna Process. Attracting more international candidates to European doctoral programmes, expanding university research partnerships to other world regions, and retaining more of Europe’s domestic research talent are critical issues in making Europe internationally more attractive and competitive. Only internationalised doctoral programmes that attract candidates and faculty from all over the world can be truly responsive to the needs of today's globalised world.
Mobility
Although mobility during doctoral programmes is already well established at many universities, considerable debate is underway about how to encourage more mobility at doctoral level as part of institutions’ overall internationalisation strategies.
Status
Prevailing cultural and funding mechanisms have traditionally determined whether doctoral candidates are regarded as employees who receive salaries or students who possibly receive student financial support. The decision whether or not to treat doctoral candidates as employees has important implications in terms of finances and social security but also for their later career prospects.
Career prospects
More effort is now being undertaken to make the doctoral cycle and research careers more attractive, but also to ensure that doctoral graduates have a wide variety of career options in Europe. Treating doctoral candidates as early stage researchers with an employee status makes the doctoral cycle more attractive and facilitates the transition into the wider labour market. Transversal skills - acquired "on the job" or through specific skills trainings, which increasingly find their way into doctoral education - are relevant for research careers and for careers in other fields. The notion that doctoral graduates are widely employable beyond research and academia still needs to be realised consistently across Europe. One important task therefore is to make doctoral graduates and employers aware of the skills doctoral graduates possess, which ideally leave them well-prepared for a wide range of career paths.
Sustainable funding of doctoral education
If Europe is to meet its goals, the considerable effort involved in reforming doctoral programmes through innovative structures and practice, and more extensive international cooperation, must be adequately funded. Yet this is more easily stated than achieved.
Also the doctoral candidates need adequate funding, especially if suitably qualified candidates from lower income groups are to be encouraged, as the social dimension of the Bologna Process suggests. However, there is considerable work to do if this goal is to be met, as doctoral candidates often face financial hardship from limited funding opportunities. Universities are therefore encouraged to create an employee status for doctoral candidates and to look into innovative funding practices, such as balanced industry partnerships or partnerships with foundations and research institutes.