Stakeholders, skills and statistics: doctoral context

a quick tour of the doctoral landscape

Neil WilleyPaul Spencer

Bologna Process• European Higher Education Area (EHEA)

• 3rd (doctoral) cycle of Bologna (Berlin Summit 2003)

• 10 doctoral level principles (Salzberg meeting 2005)

• 3 main areas for consideration (Bergen Communiqué 2005)

But also

European Research Area (ERA) – early stage researchers (Lisbon Agreement)

Bologna Process - Doctorates • Salzburg ‘ten doctoral principles’

• Quality of supervision + move from single supervisor to team

• Incorporation of taught courses & training

• Development of transferable skills

• Doctoral or Graduate Schools– Research environment– Interdisciplinary research & supervisory teams– Critical mass– Inter-institution & international collaboration– Links with industry, business, public sector

Doctoral/Graduate Schools “The establishment of Doctoral schools is raising the

question of the organisation of transparent admission processes, assessing the thesis, and monitoring completion rates. Particularly, the move away from the traditional, one-to-one apprentice relationship toward arrangements based on a contract between the Doctoral candidate, the supervisor(s) and the institution has entailed thinking of ways to raise and ensure standards of supervision, e.g. through developing professional training for supervisors.”

Sursock A & Smidt H (2010) Trends 2010: a decade of change in European Higher Education, London: EUA. p43

2010 on - Salzberg II• Current consultation

• The European Universities Association – Council For Doctoral Education

• Vitae Response

United Kingdom

National context – Policy Drivers

• Quality assurance – institutional audit 2009• Doctoral descriptor • Equity of admissions and recruitment• Supervisory teams • Research training for students• Critical mass & intellectual/research environment• Graduate / doctoral schools• Generic transferable skills – employability• Supervisor training/development• Independent chairs for viva • Record /data keeping• Accessible guidance /regulations etc• Transparent complaints/appeals procedure

• Publish qualification rates – measure how many complete within 7 years (FT) or 9 years (PT)

• But only fund (through QR) - 3 years for FT and 6 years for PT (restricted to high RAE scoring units as part of concentration policy)

• Students leaving in year 1 (FT/PT) don’t count as non-completions, so important to hold Progression Exam within first year

• Concentrating funding - move towards Block Grants in “Centres of Excellence” rather than individual studentship funding (EPSRC DTA, ESRC DTC, AHRC BGPs…)

• Allow 3.5 years in funding model• Expect completion in 4 years• Still heavily focussed on young,

British, full-time students• Higher Education Commission

Inquiry into Postgraduate Education (Graham Spittle –IBM)

• The Wilson Review (Business-University Collaboration)

Influence of Research Excellence Framework (REF) REF measures, for each UoA, by year, from 2009: • REF includes PGR in the assessment of the overall

research environment (15% of the total)• Number of PhD and MPhil awards up to the census point• These will be taken from HESA stats from institutions

Doctoral Context at

UWE – Jan 2012• CAS - Academic Regulations, Code of Practice,

• RBI - PGR Studentships, PGR Workshops, Supervisor Training

• Graduate School & Graduate School Office

• University Graduate School Committee

• University Research Degrees Award Board

• Faculty Research Degrees Committees

Key points• Change in landscape of doctoral research

• European, National, institutional concerns with quality assurance

• Influence of Research Councils, their focus on funded full-time

young doctoral researchers, early career researchers

• High cost of doctoral students; cost increases for lengthy ‘problematic’ non- / slow completions

• Lengthy / non-completions impact negatively on PGR numbers as an indicator of UWE research quality

• UWE work-load bundles for doctoral supervision:30 to the team for F/T; 20 to the team for P/T.

Key points

Key points