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COIMBRA GROUP GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2004

University of Sienna, April 14-16

The Ph. D. thesis across Europe: a comparison of procedures and

practices J.-M. Boisson

Université Montpellier 1, France

Doctoral Studies and Research TF

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INTRODUCTION

• Globalisation implies competition in goods and services but also in science and knowledge.• The European response: the Bologna process

3 years ⇒ 5 years ⇒ 8 yearsBachelor Master Doctorate (PhD)

• It is necessary to better know how different higher education systems function• More precisely, to compare the last stage of the process: the doctoral studies

• Methodology for comparison: a questionnairecompleted by Universities of the Coïmbra Group (and some others, among which some American ones)

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OUTLINES of the “Exposé”

Objective of the presentation: To outline broadly the overall context and content of the training of PhD students in Europe through the questionnaire sent to the Coimbra Group partners (29 answers out of 36 Universities )

The main points of the Exposé 1. Institutional and regulatory framework 2. Enrolment in the doctoral programme 3. PhD duration and funding 4. Course of study / completion of the Thesis 5. Examination (defence) of the thesis

…...and some concluding remarks..

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Two preliminary nota bene:

1. Some blocks of questions did not depend on disciplines: for ex. block 1 on Institutions and regulations framework Other blocks, on the contrary depended much on disciplines: - Sciences and Medical studies on one side - Humanities on the other - Social Sciences and economics in between However evolution goes more or less in the same direction

2. Each point will be explicited along the following way: - firstly, the General case, i.e. the most frequent situation

- then, some special cases or specificity - thirdly, the tendency of the evolution,

- and, last , a question, if there is an interesting one to be raised.

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1. INSTITUTIONAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

1.1 Institutions

• General Case: only Universities award the PhD degree

According to the European University Association definition, Universities are institutions «with full power to award doctoral degrees ».

• Specificity: students are sometimes welcome in other higher education institutions or research institutes but have to proceed through University for the thesis submission and examination, e.g. France,

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INSTITUTIONAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK (Cont’)

1.2 Regulations• General Case: there are general public

regulations and national public accreditation institutions (Ministry, National Accreditation Committees). More detailed regulations are developed at University level

• Specificity: in some countries the system is more decentralised, for ex. Ireland, UK – Universities set partly their own regulations according to customary traditions. Each university has usually its own examinations regulations

• Tendency ../..

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• a Tendency : an increased autonomy of the Universities in countries where the State used to

play an important role

• a question : which difference to be made between:

the authority which gives the right to deliver a diploma “ habilitation”

the authority which controls and certifies the quality “ Accreditation “

…..if they are different ( i.e. business schools)

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2. ENROLMENT IN THE DOCTORAL PROGRAMME

2.1Qualifications for admission• General Case: after a Master or another equivalent

University degree requiring a course of study 4-5 years long ( or even more)

• Specificity: in some countries,namely.UK,Sweden , BSc could be sometimes sufficient ( but some additional requirements could exist for this option, e.g. very good degree results).

• Tendency: a move towards minimum entrance requirement of a research-oriented Master.(5 years min)

• Question :is it necessary to make a difference between “vocational” (or taught) Masters and research oriented Masters ?

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2. ENROLMENT IN THE DOCTORAL PROGRAMME (cont.)

2.2 Selection criteria• General Case: quality of the results from the previous degree support from a supervisor relevance of the research project to the Department availability of funding and supervision

• Specificity: sometimes a formal entrance examination (for national students only): in Italy at national level, and at University level in some other countries. Often mentioned as depending on available funds

• Tendency: more and more selection is determined by the possibility to be financed,and thus the research needs and interests of the Departments/research centres.

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2. ENROLMENT IN THE DOCTORAL PROGRAMME (cont.)

2.3Fees and registration• General Case: no fees or very low fees in most of

the continental Universities. Registration each year • Specificity: relatively high fees in Ireland and

mainly UK. Fees differentiation according to the country of origin of the student – EU or non-EU . Sometimes fees in Eastern Europe Universities

• Tendency: more and more, it is a third party who covers the fees, or matched by a teaching load

• Question : Simple registration or formal contract ? ( to be seen with the students ’status)

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2. ENROLMENT IN THE DOCTORAL PROGRAMME (cont.)

2.4 Status of the PhD StudentGeneral case: PhD students are registered as students in a programme, with sometimes a teaching or a research assistance load.

Specificity : PhD students have sometimes the status of University employees, for part or for all of them.

Tendency : to consider PhD students as young researchers rather than students and to define commitments on each side ( University and students), on top of the usual registration regulations: It takes sometimes the form of a contract in northern countries.

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3. PHD DURATION, FUNDING AND SUPERVISION

3.1 PhD Duration• General Case: full-time PhD are normally funded

for 3/4 years, in practice it takes usually 4 or a little more years to complete a thesis. It depends much on disciplines: PhD in Sciences are usually shorter than in Humanities

• Specificity: In several countries much longer duration :4.5 years mentioned as an average, but in practice 5-6 years.

• Tendency: more strict limitations on the period from the registration to the submission of the thesis in order to decrease the average duration of the thesis completion.

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3. PHD DURATION, FUNDING AND SUPERVISION (cont)

3.2Funding opportunities• General Case: PhDs grants are usually funded

by the State, university, external funds, and much less frequently than before by personal funds.

• Specificity: in some countries there is still approximately 90% state funding, I.e.France, Italy where the funding is given through Universities but on the basis of Government grants. On the other hand, in Ireland, UK and other northern countries 70% of Sc. PhDs are funded by research projects.

• Tendency: an increased importance of external (research project) funding, even in Social Sciences

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3.PHD DURATION, FUNDING AND SUPERVISION (cont)

3.3Supervision• General Case: the supervisor is nominated from

the start of the PhD course by a formal body. The supervisors are professors, or at least PhDs. Shared supervision is nearly always possible.

• Specificity: Sometimes students apply for a supervisor during the first year, and there is usually a formal nomination after a few months . At least one supervisor, who should be a permanent staff member

• .Tendency: more frequent shared supervision, and nomination of a monitoring committee( 2 or t3 members with sometimes external members).

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4. COURSE OF STUDY

4.1 Taught component• General Case: Usually a limited ( if any) taught

component, including mainly theory and methodology, but also philosophy of Sciences, However it varies much from one University to another, and even more depending on disciplines and/or departments.

• Specificity: in some cases, it depends on the supervisor or the department: often short seminars for PhDs and ad hoc attendance of some MSc courses on supervisor’s request. In some disciplines there is not taught component. Sometimes there is overlapping between last year of Master and first year of PhD

• Tendency: move towards an extended taught component following the American practice which is by far much more developed

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4. COURSE OF STUDY (cont)

4.2 Annual Progress Reports• General Case: annual reports are not formally

compulsory; the department or the supervisor decides.But it is the usual practice.

• Specificity: annual reports are compulsory,for ex. in Poland, Italy. In the UK and some countries, the students could be initially registered for a double possibility and intermediate reports determines the final choice.

• Tendency: to set-up monitoring committees (progress panels) to check the research progress. On the other hand, funding through research contracts implies sequenced and regular deliveries.

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4. COURSE OF STUDY (cont.)

4.3 Content of the thesis• General Case: The scope of the thesis shall be

what might be reasonably expected after 3-4 years of full-time research. In most countries, it is usually presented in the traditional way as an integrated whole (similar to a book) but it is going to change.

• Specificity: acceptance of both models: traditional thesis or a series of published papers In Northern countries,(and scientific disciplines) it is now predominantly a collection of papers.

• Tendency: more and more often Universities accept a series of more or less ( rather more than less) integrated published papers as a thesis.

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5. SUBMISSION AND EXAMINATION OF

THESIS5.1 Submission• General Case: normally pre-examiners, external and/or

internal, or a special committee including external members decide the readiness for submission on a proposal from the supervisor.

• Specificity: the decision to submit the thesis rests formally with the student alone, for ex. UK. In practice, in most of the cases, the student follows supervisor’s advice. Sometimes,the decision is made by the supervisor alone, for ex. Germany, Ireland, or by a special board

• Tendency: the choice of pre-examiners becomes less influenced by the supervisors (or the candidate), and depends more and more on a special board.

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5. SUBMISSION AND EXAMINATION OF

THESIS (cont.)

5.2 Examination ( or defence)• General Case: the examination procedure is formal

and public. There are normally 2-3 examiners, internal and external, and a defence jury (3 to 6 members). In a majority of countries the doctorate is awarded without any honour mention.

• Specificity: the procedure is private, e.g. UK and Ireland, only the examiners and the candidate. The supervisor can be present only if invited by the candidate. Doctorate is sometimes given with an honour mention, e.g. in France, Germany, Greece, etc Sometimes there is a pre-defence ( Belgium).

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5.SUBMISSION AND EXAMINATION OF

THESIS (cont.)

5.3 The case of failure• General Case: the failure is mostly due to the lack

of submission. Usually there is no other diploma. The student can sometimes re-start the defence after a few months of additional work.

• Specificity: there is (rather seldom) another degree Mphil in UK, or a Master or a licentiate in Sweden, Finland. These degrees are not automatically awarded.

• Tendency: To improve the monitoring of research progress in order to minimise the probability of failure: contract, monitoring committee,etc.

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CAREER OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUCCESSFUL PHDs

• General Case: Several options are open to successful candidates: mostly academic work, but also public or private sector. PhD can usually start University lecturing immediately after the degree award.

• Specificity: there is sometimes a formal exam to become a University Teacher, e.g. France, Italy,etc Requirement for a second thesis or habitur for full professorship France, Germany, Greece

• Tendencies: There are more and more positions for PhDs at high managerial and administrative level. The criteria for full professorship becomes centered on publications in refereed journals

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CONCLUDING REMARKS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER CO-OPERATION

1 Concluding remarks• Despite the differences in modalities, fundamentally

the PhD courses in Europe have a common core: to prepare the students for independent research work (and thinking) and professional positions with high qualification requirements.

• PhD has become the most recognised prestigious degree at European and international level besides all national peculiarities. This increases the competition amongst Universities for good students.

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CONCLUDING REMARKS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER CO-OPERATION (cont.)

2 Questions for the future• In each University the organisation of the course is

influenced amongst other factors by national traditions in education. Therefore, full standardisation is not totally feasible (nor perhaps wishable), but increased harmonisation will help joint supervision by academics from different countries and foster student mobility within Europe.

• The challenge for Europe in general, our Universities in particular, is to stand the competition with the best Universities from the rest of the world.

• The best way is to set up a synergetic network, and define selective common quality criteria.

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Thank you for your attention