1 / 20

Doctoral Studies A Joint Vision with Common Challenges

Doctoral Studies A Joint Vision with Common Challenges. UNICA General Assembly Bratislava, 14-16 October 2004 M. Gabriela Fernandes. Definition of Doctoral Study (University of Vienna). Institutionally supervised research project carried out by an young academic

brandy
Download Presentation

Doctoral Studies A Joint Vision with Common Challenges

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Doctoral Studies A Joint Vision with Common Challenges UNICA General Assembly Bratislava, 14-16 October 2004 M. Gabriela Fernandes

  2. Definition of Doctoral Study(University of Vienna) • Institutionally supervised research project carried out by an young academic • Goal: acquiring capability & demonstrate quality in carrying out independent original scientific research • Doctorate: original research work (Dissertation) & a final examination (Rigorosum)

  3. Short overview on models of Doctoral Studies S, CH, FS -- Doctoral Studies, Doctoral School D, F -- (Intern.) Doctoral Studies (+ Cotutelles de Thèse) -- Intern. Max-Planck-Research School on Astrophys. Examples for a stronger Professional Orientation: ESO -- Intern. ESO Studentship Programme (D & Chile) USA -- Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning (MAC-MTL) (Doctoral & Post-Doctoral) (having Austria / University of Vienna in mind...)

  4. Admission: • bottom up candidature • submission within calls (open field or specific PhD research projects) • restricted to universities from member states • restricted by number per Study / research field • selection check after the first year (by 4 years Doctoral Study)

  5. Admission requirements & selection procedure: • Formal: • Certificate of Master Degree or equivalente • Cotutelles: support by an agreement between the 2 institutions • Eligibility as PhD at the home institution • Restricted to students who have funding for the entire period

  6. Quality: • Restricted to excellence (Good – Very Good) • Capability to carry out postgraduate doctoral research • Doctorate must be in the interest of the faculty • Selection: • evaluation Board, Doctoral Committee, Department of Postgraduate Studies • Doctoral School and/or Supervisor, Lab director

  7. Foreign candidates access: • Foreign PhD students have access for a limited period of time • Cotutelles: citizenship or residence in one of the partner countries • Open to candidates from all countries

  8. Foreign candidates access requirements: • Exchange agreement or similar • Excellence, quality & scientific interest • Recognised quality of the supervisors & existence of a collaboration at the supervisors level • Financial support guarantee from the home institution (ESO)

  9. Foreign PhDs language requirements: • No formal requirements • Well defined for both the courses & PhD work • If not German or English native language, than TOEFL or IELTS required

  10. Status during Doctoral Study: • (may vary within the same institution) • Doctoral Student, Doctoral Fellow • Professionals (large majority employed as Assistants)teaching assignments to the undergraduate level and other duties in the institution

  11. Main characteristics: • Duration:~ 3-4 year • Doctoral Schools as strategy instruments within the institution • Cotutelles: based on bilateral agreements • PhD Students as Professionals are required to fulfill a number of additional requirements (undergraduate courses, Symposia, Book seminars, smooth running of their research unit)

  12. Financing: • Diverse: institutional, nat., intern., private, own funding • Cotutelles: extra funding for exchange periods additionally ruled • Through a major grant from the national Funding Agency (ex.: NSF, SNF, FWF, DFG)

  13. Why discuss Joint Doctoral Studies? • Basic assumptions:ONE of different valuable models! Different disciplines have different needs in different countries and institutionsEither a new defined or a modular accorded curricula • Rapid exchange / complementary of knowledge, methods & experience • Increase employability of young researchers • Promotion of quality standards & quality assurance

  14. Which added value and synergy can be expected from Joint Doctoral Studies? (Austria - legal basis on place) University of Vienna views: • Capitalize education & research • Visibility & critical mass (brain drain-gain equilibrium) • Support institutional strategic focus & priority fields • Development of new sub-fields capitalizing existing expertise • Increase competitiveness

  15. Which challenges do we face in the implementation of Joint Doctoral Studies? • Different admission standards & procedures • Compatibility of curricula in all 3 cycles easy Joint PhD • Legal aspects (free move of PhD’s, their status, maternity leave, etc.) • Competition between cooperating institutions (Student – Fellow – Professional) • Language requirements underline inequality of chances (independently from the scientific skills & excellence) • Precary financial support difficults the envolvement of economically less favoured

  16. Goal:Attracting resources and skills, target excellence Bottom up approach: researchers, existing research activities Top down approach: institutional strategy instrument (filling gaps) (“Innovation / Originality doesn’t happen by decrete”) Choice of partners and decision upon curricula: responsibility of academics and researchers Duration:~ 3 years in average for a PhD; Joint Doctoral School should run for ~ 10 years. Related implementation issues:

  17. Dimension: 5-10 faculty, 10-20 PhD Students, 10-20% PostDocs (?) • Share of infrastructure and equipment: needs & costs vary with field (case by case agreement) • Exchange of students and faculty: agree on minimum/maximum levels • Legal issues: rule through agreement or contract (IPR, work contracts, partner funding contributions, conflicts, ethik issues, knowledge transfer & commercialisation, etc) • Administrative support: for agreements & cooperation contracts, legal & joint curricular issues, allocation of funding, quality assurance & monitoring, etc.

  18. The costs of excellence: dealing with financial aspects of Joint Doctoral Studies • Salary costs = [PhD Students + Gast Researchers, exchange Faculty + Post-Doctoral positions + administrative staff] • Material, equipment (vary from field to field) • Travel & Allocation costs • Additional measures like Symposia, Workshops • Publication & dissemination of scientific results; Translation costs (official documents, contracts, Diploma)

  19. Calculation basis (examples): • Doctoral School (University of Vienna) outstanding researchers teams 5-12 researchers duration: 12 years (mid-term evaluation every 3 yr) funding volume: 340 – 680 kEuro/yrdimension: 10-20 PhD-St., 1-2 Post-Docs, Adm. support • Science College CMS (Uni Vienna, Tech. Uni Vienna) 4 Institutes, start Autumn 1998, 2 positive mid-term evaluationsuntil now 8 PhD theses finished Present Status: 8 Professors (Faculty), 12 Post-docs, 13 PhD Students, 7 undergraduates

  20. Salaries ~ 500.000,00 Euro / year Travel & Allocation ~ 50.000,00 Euro / year Additional costs ~ 15.000,00 Euro / year subTOTAL ~ 565.000,00 Euro / year • Overhead / Infrastructure costs not included • Material costs Molecularbiology, Genetic... add ~ 12.000,00 Euro / Student / yr

More Related