the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers Renzo Rubele President of Eurodoc From Bologna to Bergen: A mid-term review… Workshop on the third cycle Brussels, February 12 th 2005 Working towards a doctoral degree

Eurodoc is the federation of the national associations of PhD candidates and junior researchers in Europe What is eurodoc ? Members Othercontacts

 Bologna declaration, 1999  Lisbon strategy, 2000, "3% objective" in R&D  Knowledge-based society: a challenge for Europe Why was eurodoc founded ?  PhD candidates’ associations from Europe met in Uppsala, Sweden, in February 2001  Need for an official frame of representation and discussion at the European level   Foundation and 1 st annual meeting Eurodoc 2002 in Girona, Spain Eurodoc 2002 in Girona, Spain

 7-member Board  Annual Conference (Eurodoc 2005: Strasbourg)  Delegates representing countries from all Europe  Workgroups for a number of priority issues:  Supervision & Training  International Mobility  Professional Future  Labour Conditions  Gender Equality  Communication How does eurodoc work ?

Bologna Process with 3 tiers « […] 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. […] Ministers call for increased mobility at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels and encourage the institutions concerned to increase their cooperation in doctoral studies and the training of young researchers. […] » Berlin Communiqué of Ministers, 19 th september 2003

1. Doctoral studies – the last cycle for students in higher education or the first step in the career of young researchers?

The doctorate as the 3 rd cycle of HE Problems  National and local traditions prevail – regulations may vary a lot even among departments and disciplines  To what extent might it be useful to introduce common structures? Similar practice? The ECTS credit system? The Diploma Supplement? Standards of quality and qualification frameworks? Evidence  Everywhere in Europe candidates must defend a thesis in front of a committee, appointed by Universities  About 500,000doctoral candidates in Europe are supervised and (possibly) trained towards the degree  About 500,000 doctoral candidates in Europe are supervised and (possibly) trained towards the degree

The doctorate as a professional experience Evidence  The successful candidates should demonstrate ability to produce original research – clear from the beginning  In various forms there can be given teaching duties, demonstration activities, additional research projects … Problems  Lack of recognition, including by many employers outside the academic environment  Social rights, contractual dynamics  Attractiveness of a researcher’s career

United Kingdom Ph.D. candidates:  are all students enrolled in a graduate programme  are tipically funded with grants by external bodies (not by the University itself)  satisfied because of:  academic freedom enjoyed  consumer’s rights Claim:  supervisor-student relationship is not that of an employer-worker, and in (most of) continental Europe this [supervision] sounds like a feudal relationship

Norway Ph.D. candidates:  are all workers with regular employement contracts, and related rights (and duties)  are not students, do not need any registration to take courses Enrolment in a doctoral programme:  by signing a “Ph.D. contract” where the roles of supervisor(s) and institution, etc. are specified  Work contract and Ph.D. contract are 2 separate things, also in time  Worried about a “student-oriented” Bologna Process

Comparative Table of the professional profile of doctoral candidates in Europe

2. How to ensure the quality of doctoral studies on an European basis – common quality assurance process or joint programmes and increased mobility?

Qualification framework  Promote the ‘Dublin descriptor’ for the doctoral level: this does not entail one specific route to the award of the degree while making clear standards  Promote disciplinary caucuses to define scientific contents and exchange best practice  Quality assessment as for any other activities  Governments to promote appropriate consultations with the Universities and foster dissemination of information

Supervision & Training  Little opportunity to speak against the problems  Completion rates, time needed vs. allocated  Role of the supervisor(s), management of the research project, assessment. Evaluation of the supervision  Quantity and quality of training: induction, development of disciplinary competences and of general professional and transferable skills  Institutions to put in place specific codes of practice

Charter for Supervision and Training of Early Stage Researchers  Supervision arrangements  Review Methods  Confidential and Structured Feedback Mechanisms  Complimentary Training  Input to the European Researchers’ Charter

Which way to a European Doctorate?  Doctoral programmes should provide a mobility experience to candidates, according to the existing possibilities  Joint Degree Programmes  “co-tutelle” arrangements  periods of research abroad  international collaborations of the research group  European label? Who can release the rules?  Individual choices for a degree abroad  Bologna Process and Lisbon convention should make life easier

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