Doctoral education must be future-proofed, survey indicates

Higher education institutions across Europe paint a picture of a doctoral system that is in good shape, but needs to be readied for coming challenges, a survey by the European University Association has found.

“The organisation of doctoral education in Europe has undergone a rapid transformation in the past decade,” according to the report of an EUA survey that garnered responses from 311 higher education institutions in 32 countries.

In particular, institutions have increasingly taken responsibility for doctoral education, rather than leaving it solely to individual supervisors, the survey confirmed. Previous EUA data showed that the proportion of higher education institutions with doctoral programmes or schools increased from 29 per cent in 2006 to 84 per cent in 2014, the report, published on 17 January, said.