1. 1 31/03/2006Centrale doctoraatsbegeleiding Developing awareness of skills Mark Runacres & Gunter Lauwers Vrije Universiteit Brussel EUPIDE - 12 June 2008

2. 2 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 2 Why skills? In general –rapidly changing world –increasing mobility (international and intersectorial) –the knowledge economy (Lisbon agenda) –continuing education

3. 3 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 3 Why skills? For PhDs –particular situation...

4. 4 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 4 PhDs in Belgium (Verlinden, 2006, KULeuven)

5. 5 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 5 Academic positions (Verlinden, 2006, KULeuven)

6. 6 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 6 Production of researchers

7. 7 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 7 After the PhD Belgium: ~ 10% of PhDs finds permanent position inside academia The others don’t necessarily end up in research Need to convince industry that PhDs are employable, that research degree is an asset Need for skills that can be transferred to other sectors ➔ Generic skills

8. 8 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 8 What skills? Vocational skills –technical –sector-specific –also transferable

9. 9 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 9 What skills? Generic skills –communication, management, teamworking, interpersonal, career management,... –also useful for research

10. 10 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 10 Developing skills Acquiring skills –may be present at entry –may be explicitly taught –may be acquired during (research) activities –may be acquired outside degree programme or research

11. 11 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 11 Awareness of skills Who needs to be aware? –early-stage researchers –advisers and academic staff –the university leaders –industry

12. 12 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 12 Skills needed by PhD students SUBJECTimportant [English for Academic and Research Purposes: WRITING ]75% [English for Academic and Research Purposes: PRESENTATION SKILLS] 70% [Statistics for research purposes]62% [Software for statistical analysis]51% [Software for the management of bibliographic references]44% [Research management]43% [Qualitative research techniques and methodology]41%

13. 13 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 13 Skills rated by (ex-)researchers in industry (schaal van 1 tot 7, S’Jegers & Braeckman, 2002)

14. 14 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 14 Vaardigheden

15. 15 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 15 Electronic tools Portfolio –structured record –personal development planner (reflection) –training needs analysis –linked to annual reports –some kind of certified output –empowers early-stage researcher

16. 16 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 16 Portfolio at Vrije Universiteit Brussel –convincing and implementing has proved to be much, much more difficult than we had anticipated... –skills-based education is gradually being adopted at the Ba-Ma level –most advisers and academic staff still tend to think of skills as “extra”

17. 17 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 17 Explicit training VUB vocational (sector) skills and generic (transferable) skills not compulsory mostly free for registered PhD students professional record

18. 18 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 18 Explicit training VUB scientific training in research skills research methodology and techniques; awareness of scientific ethics scientific writing and publishing; academic writing in English; presentation skills intellectual property rights (patents, copyright, …) research management how to get funded scientific typesetting

19. 19 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 19 Explicit training VUB training in transferable (generic) skills writing and communication skills; networking and team-working; material/human resources and financial management; leadership skills; time management; project management career management including job-seeking techniques; ethics and philosophy

20. 20 12 June 08 Mark Runacres - EUPIDE 2008 Pag. 20 Remarks/Questions We are training people for managerial tasks in industry by putting them in a lab and making them write lots of papers, preferably in Nature How many PhDs does industry really need? How to convince advisers that completing the dissertation on time is not all that counts? The role of central agencies such as QAA, research councils, etc