Doctoral Programs
on the light of the
EHEA
Highlights of the reccomendations
from the ad hoc WG on III cycle
Nicola Vittorio
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
1
Why a BFUG WGIIIcycle ?
  According to the Bucharest
Communiqué (2012)
  “Taking into account the “Salzburg II recommendations” and
the Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training, we will explore
how to promote quality, transparency, employability and
mobility in the third cycle, as the education and training of
doctoral candidates has a particular role in bridging the
EHEA and the ERA.
  Next to doctoral training, high quality second cycle
programs are a necessary precondition for the success
of linking teaching, learning and research. Keeping wide
diversity and simultaneously increasing readability, we might
also explore further possible common principles for master
programs in the EHEA, taking account of previous work.
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
2
BFUG ad hoc WGIIIcycle
  Set up by the Bologna Follow up
Group-BFUG
  as sub structure of the Structural Reforms WG
  with the mandate to formulate policy proposals
✓  to promote quality, transparency, employability and mobility
in the third cycle, taking into account the developments foreseen
within the ERA by Horizon 2020 and other EU initiatives;
✓  to improve the transition between the second and the third
cycle, with the aim to strengthen the link between education and
research.
✓  related to the third cycle, such as sustainable funding for third
cycle education or candidate recruitment practices.
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
3
BFUG ad hoc WGIIIcycle
  Co–chaired by
 
 
 
Italy: Marzia Foroni and Nicola Vittorio
Romania: Cezar Haj and Horia Iovu
Spain: Gloria Molero
  The membership of the group includes
 
Armenia, Austria, Belgium/Flemish Community, Belgium/French
Community, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany,
the Holy See, Hungary, Ireland, Moldova, Poland, Ukraine, United
Kingdom, the European Commission, the EUA, EI, and EURODOC.
  The group has met five times
 
in Rome in December 2012, in Bucharest in May 2013, in Madrid in
October 2013, in Bucharest in February 2014 and in Rome in May 2014
  The WGIIIcycle report
 
 
has been delivered at the Structural reform group in the Summer 2014
will be discussed in a thematic session on Doctoral education at the next
BFUG Meeting of November 27th 2014
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
4
The European High Education
Area
What concerns do we
have?
5
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
Purpose
Ph.D. is a research certification.
Ph.D. requires broader professional preparation.
To prepare students as academics.
To prepare students for a variety of career options.
Enrollment
Ph.D. programs need to be very selective.
Ph.D. programs should admit all qualified applicants..
Need to decrease the number of Ph.D.s
Need to increase the number of Ph.D.s.
U.S. students should be privileged.
International students should be encouraged.
Training
Best preparation is the
apprenticeship model.
Other types of mentoring are
needed.
Funding practices work well.
Funding practices need to change
Current model attracts the
"best and the brightest
Current model discourages the“best and the brightest.”
Interviewees revealed their individual positions along these dimensions, often strongly advocating their
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
6
Doctoral training or doctoral
education?
  Doctoral programs
  are an integral part of the EHEA and of the ERA.
  “Training to research through
research”
  must be the distinctive feature of any doctoral program
  Skills and competences
  are the outcomes of a doctoral training based on a researchdriven approach
  attention should be paid to proper definition, implementation
and assessment of intended outcomes for the third cycle
esearcher specific skills, professional/specialist knowledge and
transferable competencies that the PhD candidate is expected to
develop during the doctoral training with the help of the supervisor
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
7
Promoting quality and improving
quality assurance
  Guidelines for QA in the III cycle
  should include principles that will guide institutions to:
✓  provide sufficient resources, critical mass of research, a
supportive and inclusive research environment based on good
supervision;
✓  include dedicated procedures in order to ensure retention and
timely completion;
✓  Include in the internal QA framework provisions about the
supervisors’ competencies and role in the candidates’
training
✓  support the involvement of doctoral candidates in improving
the overall quality of the programme, as a key element to
quality assurance within the third cycle;
✓  apply independent and external peer review to assess originality,
creativity and independence of the research done during the
Doctoral programme, with special attention to the thesis defence;
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
8
Development of transparency
tools
  Diploma Supplement for the III cycle
should
  be issued automatically and free of charge to all Doctoral
graduates across the EHEA, in line with the existing format.
  be available also in a widely spoken European language
  encapsulate
✓  the doctoral programme description, specific learning activities,
thesis title and assessment, as well as mobility experiences,
transferable skills, international cooperation activities that the
student has been involved in and research projects the student
has been a part of.
  make visible all the competencies and skills achieved by
candidates.
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
9
Development of transparency
tools
  Not consensus on ECTS in the III cycle
  Pro’s
  ECTS for the third cycle
✓  describe the workload to achieve expected outcomes at the end of
specific training/learning activities,
✓  allow doctorate holders to better promote their skills and competences
to employers.
✓  could also be used as one of the transparency and QA tools for
doctoral programs.
✓  facilitate the issuing of certification where doctoral students interrupt
their studies or need valorization outside of the academia of the skills
acquired.
  Con’s
  ECTS for the third cycle
✓  could generate a ‘race for credit’
✓  'intended learning outcomes' at doctorate level cannot be as
specifically defined as they can be in the first and second cycle levels.
  Doctoral degrees are based on individual research projects,
which are difficult to divide in different parts to be assigned a
certain number of credits.
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
10
Development of Doctoral
Education
Larger variation
in the # of PhD students
wrt
University students
11
Employability
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
Pool and Seewell, 2007
  Motivation to enter Higher education
 
Johnes, 2006
§  To study a specific discipline in depth, to gain a degree, get higher qualification
and this get a good or better job
§  The better qualified have far greater employment opportunities
  Employability
 
is not simply to get a job in 6 months after graduation
  Employability
 
Hillage and Pollard (1998)
§  is about the capability to move self-sufficiently within the labor market to realize
potential through sustainable employment
 
Hinchcliffe, 2001
§  Having a set of skills, knowledge, understanding and personal attributes that
make a person more likely to choose and secure occupations in which they can
be satisfied and successful
  Generic or transferrable skills
 
Bennet, Dunne & Carré, 1999
§  The skills which can support study in any discipline, and which can potentially be
transferred to a range of contexts, in higher education or the work place
 
York and Knight, 2002
§  The point of view of the employers: “give us a bright and engaged graduate, and
we will build specific expertise for this organization on top of that”
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
12
Nature,
4 SEPTEMBER 2014 | VOL 513 | 5
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There is life after academia
With high numbers of postdocs emerging from universities, prospective PhD students must
be prepared for the fact that they will probably not end up with a career in research.
W
But instead of culling graduate students or abandoning the PhD, why
not rebrand it? Rather than being a first rung on a ladder that ends with
tenure-track professor (unless you tumble off), doctorates could be
treated more like a trail that feeds through to a number of different
paths (some easier, some harder, some even rather scary).
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
13
Structured doctoral training/
programs
  Structured doctoral training
  leads to clearer governance structures and policies at the
institutional level
✓  admission, quality assurance, assessment, supervision.
  Structured Doctoral programs
  institutions embed training activities in the discipline or in
transferable skills
  Structured doctoral training/programs
  usually introduced through Doctoral Schools.
  Salzburg II Recommendations
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
14
Employability
  The outcome of doctoral programs
  a doctorate holder with a high level of research competences
and a broad set of skills that help to develop his/her potential
inside and outside the academic sector.
  HEI’s shall increasingly :
  use of structured training and Doctoral schools
§  to provide transferable skills, interdisciplinary, valorisation of research, self –
entrepreneurship and leadership
§  The MORE2 Higher Education Survey: only 52% of PhD candidates and
recent PhD received structured training
  implement doctoral programs
§  in cooperation with non-academic entities
  allow research stays
§  in non-academic environments
  include mentoring
§  for career development in addition to supervision of the research
  provide lifelong learning opportunities
§  to ensure a permanent update and improvement of competencies and skills
on an ever dynamic employment market;
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
15
Introduce innovation in the
curriculum development
  Governments should consider
  valuing Doctorate holders
§  with regard to employment and career development in public
institutions
  the negative impact
§  of the wide spread use of temporary contracts in academia and its
impact on the attractiveness of the careers in academic research.
  tenure track and open recruitment
§  as more attractive careers paths towards academia and research
institutions
  specific actions
§  to make aware the society of how PhD holders can contribute to social
progress, the advancement in knowledge, innovation and productivity
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
16
Internationalization and mobility
  HEI’s should be encouraged:
  to increase mobility opportunities
§  geographical as well as inter-sectorial
§  functional to the research-based approach of Doctoral training.
  to develop programs and other forms of collaboration with
international partners.
§  co-tutelle, joint and double degrees, ….
§  to increase the number of scientific collaborations and to further
diversify and enrich different academic environments.
  EHEA countries shall contribute, in a
coordinate way, to data collection on
§ 
§ 
§ 
§ 
§ 
offered Doctoral programs
Joint or collaborative programs
number of candidates and their profile
candidates’ international mobility
doctorate holder’s employment.
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
17
Transition between II and III
cycles
  EUA clearly states that
  “The first two levels should be looked at also from the
perspective of those who will continue on to pursue Doctoral
education” (EUA, TRENDS 2010).
  HEIs should
  continue to develop II cycle programs based on learning
outcomes related to research should supported
§  this would be a help also for second cycle graduates who will not go in a
Doctoral program, but who nevertheless would profit very much from a
qualified, although necessarily short, period of research.
  sparking the interest of students towards research already at the
II cycle
  encourage and facilitate the transition of students who
demonstrate attitudes towards research from II to the III cycle.
  All this,
  taking into account diversity in II cycle
  having clear that most of the Master graduates will go in the job
market
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
18
Funding
  To ensure a sustainable development
of the third cycle across EHEA,
  It is necessary to empower the research capacity of
universities
  the appropriate budget for research should be allocated
primarily from public funds, while assuring transparent
systems of funds’ allocation.
  European level funding for doctoral programs should be
awarded where European added value can be demonstrated
and should not be used to replace national public
investments.
InterDOC 2014: the triple “I” approach to doctoral training
Padova 20-21 Novembre 2014
Nicola Vittorio
19
Thank you
for your attention