Border crossings: Research training, knowledge dissemination and the transformation of academic work

At the crossroads of current innovation policies towards a European Research Area (ERA) and a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) lies an important province of higher learning and research: doctoral training and the further careers of PhD graduates. A considerable number of higher education systems across Europe shift their paradigms for doctoral training away from the traditional so-called Humboldtian model towards the so-called professional model. On this background, the paper discusses (1) the German pattern of a strong link of the PhD to the labor market outside academe that is based on a traditional academic-disciplinary mode of apprenticeship training, and (2) approaches that argue for a new mode of knowledge production replacing an academic-disciplinary model of research training by a hybrid model that crosses disciplinary and organizational borders. The paper argues that a diversity of organisational and structural forms as well as different validation criteria and procedures will probably determine the future face of research training.     

A Diversity Of Doctorates: Fitness for the knowledge economy?

There is now an increasing diversity of doctoral education in the Australian higher education landscape. As well as the traditional PhD by thesis, there are professional doctorates, doctorates by publication and PhDs by project. The latter are a particularly significant development since for the most part they are entirely work-based with minimal formal disciplinary input. This paper seeks to relate this diversity of doctoral degrees to the growth of the knowledge economy and the imperatives it is said to impose on universities and the education of doctoral students. Changes in knowledge production and what constitutes legitimate knowledge are related to doctoral education. Can research training any longer remain an education in disciplinary knowledge and skills? Does it also need to include the skill development required by the knowledge economy? In this context, the growth of doctorates by project becomes particularly significant since these programs, it is argued, are most appropriate for fitting doctoral studies to the needs of the knowledge economy. However, their growth also poses serious problems of accreditation and assessment, in the process raising fundamental issues concerning the academic mission and purpose of universities.     

From Scientific Apprentice to Multi-skilled Knowledge Worker: changes in Ph.D education in the Nordic-Baltic Area

There is no doubt that what is generally referred to as 'Ph.D education' has undergone dramatic changes in Europe in recent years. Whereas the Bologna Process, launched in 1999, originally had in mind to make it easier for undergraduate students to gain international experience and enhance their employability by facilitating mobility and transparency of higher education in Europe, the idea of a 'third cycle' of doctoral studies came relatively late in the discussion (2003). For some academic cultures, the idea of educating doctoral students was and still is perceived as a threat against academic freedom, originality and credibility. Other academic cultures have already long adopted Ph.D training schemes as an integrated part of training future scientists and knowledge workers. This article presents the result of a recent survey on Ph.D training in the Nordic-Baltic Area (Andreas Önnerfors: 'Ph.D-training/PGT in the Nordic-Baltic Area', Exploring the North: papers in Scandinavian Culture and Society 2006:1, Lund 2006) initiated by the Nordic research organisation NordForsk, which discusses new concepts of doctoral education and training in the five Nordic and the three Baltic countries as well as in Russia, Poland and three northern states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Whereas there is great correspondence in the performance of doctoral training and education in the Nordic countries and changes have been introduced permanently for about 30 years, Poland, Germany and Russia are battling with their academic traditions and the challenge of adapting their academic cultures to joint European standards. This concerns especially the phenomenon of two postgraduate degrees (the Ph.D and a further degree) and the view upon training elements in doctoral studies. After their independence, the three Baltic countries rapidly adapted their systems of higher education to the Nordic model.     

Faculty attitudes and training needs to respond the new European Higher Education challenges

The main objective of the Bologna Process is to create a “European space” for higher education that allows for comparability, compatibility, and coherence between the existing systems of higher education across Europe. This objective is commonly known as the European higher education area (EHEA). The creation of the EHEA is a new and specific challenge for higher education in Europe, one that depends upon improved faculty development and training across Europe. The integration of Spain and other European countries into European higher education more generally entails these challenges. In order for necessary changes in faculty development and training to take place, university managers and policy makers must account for designing training plans, as well the knowledge, attitudes and needs of faculty members. This investigation was undertaken with these themes in mind. Conducted in Madrid, Spain, it included 257 professors from ten different schools of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The aim of the investigation was to understand faculty knowledge and attitudes about changes in higher education in Europe. Moreover, with an eye to helping faculty members cope with the change that is accompanying the creation of EHEA, the investigators sought to understand the importance that faculty members place upon professional development and how current approaches to professional development at the university level could be improved. The results indicate a degree of ignorance regarding changes in European higher education as well as a feeling of resistance on the part of many faculty members. While many faculty members consider knowledge of change processes and adaptability to be important qualities, faculty responses also indicate a clear need for guidance if they are going to integrate new learning models and adequate coping strategies into their work in higher education.     

Quo Vadis Doctoral Education? New European Approaches in the Context of Global Changes

The first part of the article provides an overview of the changing policy contexts in Europe and North America in which doctoral education and training are embedded and points out the similarities and differences of the ongoing debates and concerns about doctoral education in the two world regions. The second part provides some insight into the differentiation of motives and purposes of doctoral education which has led to a differentiation of the models for doctoral education based on a clearer distinction between a research and a professional doctorate. In the third part, a number of networks, projects and initiatives concerned with reforming doctoral education are introduced to serve as an illustration of the direction current changes are taking. The last part draws some conclusions, emphasising in particular the fact that knowledge production has become a strategic resource in the emerging knowledge economies and thus an object of policy-making and institutional management. This development tends to lead to a concentration of research and research training in fewer institutions.     

The Experience of Doctoral Studies in the UK and France: differences in epistemology,research objects and training

This article investigates how doctoral students perceive their research education in different disciplines in two higher education systems, the UK and France. It explores what underlies the diversity of doctoral students' experiences. Three theoretical positions are identified: the epistemological position, conceptualisation of research objects and organisational structures of research training. A questionnaire on the experiences of research training was distributed to doctoral students in Economics & Management (representative of social sciences) and Chemistry (representative of natural sciences) in France and was compared to a survey carried out earlier in Education (representative of social sciences) and Chemistry (representative of natural sciences) in the UK. Strikingly, similar disciplinary patterns were found in the doctoral research experiences in the two countries. The findings were used to review the three theoretical positions on the experiences of doctoral studies.     

关于当前博士研究生培养改革的思考

当前,为了更好地促进博士研究生创新精神和创新能力的培养,不断提高博士研究生的培养质量,我们需要不断深化教育改革,而正确认识博士研究生培养尤其是课程改革是其前提。对此,我们需要从以下几方面进行反思:第一,博士研究生按一级学科管理与培养是两个不同范畴,不能简单将两者等同化,即以管理思维来化约培养过程中的复杂性与多样性;第二,无论是就历史还是就现实而言,博士研究生教育的关键环节不是课程而是科研训练,为博士研究生教育提供共同的知识基础是本科、硕士阶段教育的责任,博士研究生的培养与课程设计的权力应在基层培养单位而不是行政部门;第三,虽然在不同时期,实质性功用和形式性功用使探究性、个性化的研究生课程教学成为研究生培养过程之一,但当前我国博士研究生培养的问题应在于培养目标的厘清,而非课程建设。为此,哥伦比亚大学教师学院的相关做法或许值得我们借鉴。     

Diversity,Doctoral Education and Policy

This paper argues the importance of diversity for research and doctoral education and the key role of policy in encouraging it. It considers the impact of higher education policy on diversity in doctoral education through the three prevailing themes of cost, concentration and relevance, illustrating in each instance both positive and negative influences. It is a time of dynamic change where the role and purposes of doctoral study and the role and production of knowledge in society are changing. Policy plays an important part in leading and shaping this development.     

Accountability, Assessment and Doctoral Education: recommendations for moving forward

This article opens with an overview of the pressures that have led to heightened calls for accountability in higher education, both in the US and Europe. Noting that doctoral programmes have, to date, drawn minimal attention in the accountability debates, the authors note that these programmes cannot stay forever on the sidelines. Drawing on their knowledge of the American context in particular, the authors go on to outline current efforts to assess the quality of doctoral programmes in the US with attention to how these efforts respond to accountability demands. They urge the higher education community to re-shape the accountability discussion, shifting its centre from government to higher education and the institutions training doctoral students who will become faculty. Crucially, they argue that graduate programmes should train doctoral students to undertake and use discipline-appropriate assessment measurement and scholarship as part of their future work as college and university instructors. If doctoral students emerge as faculty with an understanding of how to conduct assessments for the purpose of improving student learning, they will advance not only their fields, but higher education more generally.     

The biomedical doctorate in the contemporary university: education or training and why it matters

The form and function(s) of doctoral education continue to be a subject of much debate by stakeholders internal and external to the university. Notable concerns driving this debate derive from a seemingly discursive array of factors including increasing student numbers, increased understanding of the economic value of doctoral graduates, capitalisation of the academic market and a focus on allocating funding using ostensibly narrow, arbitrary measures of ‘program success’ such as completion rates/time to completion, all framed by a wider debate regarding precisely what constitutes valid knowledge in contemporary society. Within the university, the biomedical sciences are one area of scholarship undergoing rapid change in this respect. One of the salient outcomes of these internal and external dialogues is the apparent transition of biomedical doctoral education towards a ‘training model’ that places increasing emphasis on rapid completion and the generation of ‘industry ready graduates’; a transition that is, potentially, occurring at the expense of the edifying and transformative aspects of biomedical doctoral education. Focusing on the effects of academic capitalisation, this paper draws on data from Australia and Europe to examine the drivers and potential effect(s) of this shift on contemporary doctoral education in the biomedical sciences. This paper acknowledges the potential benefit of contemporary developments whilst simultaneously concluding that by progressing too far towards a quantitatively assessed, industry-driven training model we risk eliminating the intellectual and societal transforming aspects of biomedical doctoral education that make graduates increasingly valuable to our economy and, just as importantly, to our society as a whole.     

The European Higher Education Area: A New Framework for the Development of Higher Education

Hand in hand with European integration, European higher education must also integrate itself so as to better prepare the highly trained workforce that Europe needs if it is to become the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world. The Bologna Process will lead to the required integration of European higher education while preserving the diversity of European cultures and guaranteeing the assurance of quality. The research role of European higher education is also to be preserved and expanded. Higher education, as the author concludes, must be unified at European level while remaining differentiated at world level.     

The Changing Environment for Doctoral Education in Australia: implications for quality management,improvement and innovation

Although there has been considerable institutional attention to quality management and improvement in Australian higher education, concerns about the quality of doctoral education persist. This paper argues that addressing these concerns will require a shift in perspective. The conventional view of doctoral education which assumes an on‐campus, full‐time student experience, with socialisation arising formally and informally through interaction with the supervisor(s) and other academics in a university department, and which prepares the candidate for academic or other full‐time research work, is increasingly recognised as problematic. The rapid growth in candidate numbers is associated with a more diverse doctoral student population, and increasingly flexible patterns of research and study. These trends are likely to continue as they are in response to major changes in the higher education environment and changes in patterns of research activity. The argument presented is that addressing concerns for quality management, improvement and effective innovation demand the development of a research‐based wholistic conceptual framework for doctoral education which integrates all aspects of the doctoral education experience, and a focus on constructing and evaluating doctoral programmes in their particular organisational settings and physical locations.     

Spanning the Academy-Practice Divide with Doctoral Education in Business

The economy has always been a knowledge economy. We accept as a premise of this paper that phenomena such as the explosion of information, information technology, intellectual capital, knowledge workers and firms as knowledge systems are real, while reserving space elsewhere for the critique of such phenomena. To date, doctoral education in business has focused almost exclusively on the needs of future academic staff. One response to the growing demand for a practitioner-oriented doctoral education is the rise of Doctorate of Business and Administration (DBA) programmes. The DBA differs from a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) because of its increased focus on the application of knowledge, in addition to the development of that knowledge. While PhD research needs to make a significant contribution to theory, DBA research is expected to contribute to both theory and practice. This paper provides a brief history of doctoral education in business. We discuss the choices that have been taken in the design and content of the Massey DBA in relation to the academic/practice divide. An interim report of experiences by both academics and students is provided. The implications for doctoral education in areas that span the research/practice divide are then identified.     

Mediating the Economic Pulses: The International Connection in Portuguese Higher Education

Portugal, as a small and increasingly integrated European economy, has been influenced by some of the major trends that defined the agenda of higher education policy in recent decades. Its backwardness – notably in terms of skills, education, and training – has frequently prompted a focus of attention on its international counterparts, particularly those in Europe, in search of affinities, solutions and errors to avoid. The search for guidance has also created an opportunity for the intervention of international organisations. Until Portugal joined the European Union (EU) in 1986, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank were the main agencies playing this role. Henceforth, those institutions lost some influence, and the European dimension gained increasing prominence. This article discusses the role of those international organisations in the definition of priorities for Portuguese higher education policy in recent decades, and provides a general overview of the outside perceptions of the Portuguese situation as understood by these international organisations. In particular, the article focuses on those interventions that promoted the influence of market mechanisms in the Portuguese higher education system by emphasising the need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to strive for increased economic responsiveness.     

通向博士的路径:在精英选拔与规模扩张之间

随着知识社会的出现,博士培养越来越成为制度管理、国家和超国家政策的关注对象。结构化的博士培养被提上欧洲高等教育改革议程,并得到了各个层面的政策支持。本文揭示了这一趋势下博士生规模扩张与精英选拔之间的矛盾,并探讨了通过博士培养模式多样化解决这一矛盾的可能性及其后果。     

参与学术创业对工科博士生教育的影响探析

在知识经济时代,越来越多的工科博士生参与大学的学术创业活动,作为科研训练的一种重要方式,学术创业对工科博士教育产生了重要影响。基于对16名工科博士生深度访谈材料的扎根分析,本研究发现,参与学术创业,促进了工科博士生科研能力的提升,非学术技能的习得,广阔的学术观和多元职业观的形成。为回应学术创业对工科博士教育的影响,建议培养单位形成多元培养观,优选和拓展学术创业项目,提升工科博士生的科研能力和学术创业能力。     

Different Types of Doctoral Study Processes

Becoming a doctor can be viewed as a highly personal and unique experience, which is why many factors influence the completion or non-completion of the doctoral degree. The attention in previous research has been on the students' characteristics, and the university faculty role in promoting degree progress. Therefore, more research is needed on the alternative routes that doctoral students take as part of a flexible doctoral education. The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of the different types of doctoral students in industrial engineering and management, and their different study processes. We explore the study processes of 25 doctoral students using a narrative analysis approach. Doctoral students' processes are categorized into three groups according to the strategies that students take in their progress: the Project Manager, the Wanderer, and the Hobbyist. We report clear differences across the different study processes in the students' working methods, use of supervisory and peer support, problems and risks of delay, and degree success. The results indicate clear opportunities of influence for the faculty in the form of offering clear pre-defined research objectives for students, allocating funds for full-time doctoral studies, developing alternative peer-support strategies, and proactive risk management.     

高等教育强国背景下地方高校应用型本科人才培养探析

随着经济社会的发展,以及我国高等教育步入了大众化阶段,社会对人才需求多样化,高等教育的培养方式和培养目标均呈现出多样化趋势。因此,在保证拥有高水平学术研究型创新人才的同时,急需大量高素质的应用型专门人才,而培养应用型人才是地方高校的必然选择。文章分析了地方高校应用型人才培养的动因,并以广西高校应用型本科人才培养的试点为例,提出了应用型本科人才培养的策略。     

改革与变迁：西方博士生教育政策研究探析

20世纪80年代以来。西方博士生教育政策研究的核心是对“改革与变迁”的关注,即博士生教育结构化与多样化的政策议题。文章根据政策研究的三种研究取向,对博士生教育的相关文献进行分析,并梳理政策背景与动因、政策特点与指向、政策实施以及政策评估,最后探讨未来研究的生长点,为中国的博士生教育政策研究提供启示和路径。     

博士生学业成就影响因素分析及其概念模型研究

博士生教育承担着为党和国家培养高层次人才的重要任务,全球化背景下知识经济竞争的加剧使得博士人才培养的重要性日益凸显。随着我国研究生招生规模的扩大,博士生教育面临的教育质量问题愈发严峻。博士生教育质量体现在博士生的学业成就上,而影响学业成就的因素是多方面的,了解影响因素并揭示相互之间的关联无疑可以帮助博士生顺利完成学业,提升高等教育质量。本研究基于契合理论,扩展了博士生环境契合度的理论框架,创建了更为细致的博士生教育契合度多维框架,包括博士生环境契合度、学生职业契合度和博士生文化契合度三个维度。该分析框架呈现了博士生教育契合度与博士生学业成就之间的关联,对于完善博士人才培养、提升教育质量具有重要作用。