Third cycle: doctoral education

Across Europe, the early years of the Bologna Process were focused on introducing and consolidating the bachelor and master cycles. Doctoral education as third cycle was formally introduced to the Bologna Process by Ministers meeting in Berlin in 2003 and has since become an increasing priority:

Conscious of the need to promote closer links between the EHEA and the ERA in a Europe of Knowledge, and of the importance of research as an integral part of higher education across Europe, Ministers consider it necessary to go beyond the present focus on two main cycles of higher education to include the doctoral level as the third cycle in the Bologna Process. (Berlin Communiqué)

The European Research Area (ERA), launched in 2000, is a European Union initiative, involving about three quarters of the 46 countries participating in the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Its ambitions, such as creating a borderless area for research and knowledge exchange in Europe and increasing research expenditure, have underpinned the growing focus of Education Ministers on the doctoral cycle.

With the Bergen Communiqué of 2005, Ministers stressed the importance of research and research training and recognised the need to improve synergies between higher education and research.

Regarding doctoral education, Ministers made the following statements:

• Doctoral level qualifications need to be fully aligned with the EHEA overarching framework for qualifications using the outcomes-based approach.

• Core component of doctoral training is the advancement of knowledge through original research.

• The normal workload of the third cycle in most countries corresponds to 3-4 years full time.

• Doctoral programmes should promote interdisciplinary training and the development of transferable skills to meet the needs of the wider labour market.

• More doctoral candidates should be encouraged to take up research careers within the EHEA.

• Participants in third cycle programmes are considered both students and early stage researchers.

On the basis of work undertaken by the European University Association (EUA), Ministers again put doctoral candidates high on the Bologna Process agenda when they met in May 2007 in London. In the London Communiqué, they stressed the need to enhance provision in the third cycle and to improve the status, career prospects and funding for early stage researchers as preconditions for strengthening Europe's research capacity and improving the quality and competitiveness of European higher education.

Read more on key issues related to the latest developments in doctoral education.

Ministers invited EUA to support the sharing of experience among higher education institutions on innovative doctoral programmes emerging across Europe and on issues such as transparent access arrangements, supervision and assessment procedures, the development of transferable skills and ways of enhancing employability. To provide a forum for sharing good practice and to contribute to the enhancement of doctoral education, EUA established in early 2008 a Council for Doctoral Education.

Upcoming events

17-18 June 2010, Warsaw, Bologna Seminar on Doctoral Studies in the European Higher Education Area

Past and ongoing events

30 September - 1 October 2008, Helsinki Bologna Seminar on doctoral candidates, with particular emphasis on the issues of funding and developing career prospects.

7-9 December 2006, Nice: Doctoral Programmes in Europe

3-5 February 2005, Salzburg: Doctoral Programmes for the European Knowledge Society

For more information on the numerous projects carried out by the European University Association (EUA) on doctoral programmes, visit the EUA website.