Data collection in doctoral education: positive outcome but a "need to develop indicators" (EUA-CDE)

"A positive outcome of data collection in doctoral education in Germany was that it started discussions on the situation of PhDs, but it was (too) focused on numbers, and it compared different subjects and forgot about the specific needs and situation", declares Kolja Briedis, from DZHW (Germany), while discussing the subject at the EUA-CDE annual meeting in Barcelona (Spain) on 27/06/2024.

"The prospect of this survey was the need to develop indicators to understand what the data really tell us", he adds, while presenting how data collection in doctoral education works in Germany.

Also discussing data collection in doctoral education in their respective countries are Janet Rutledge, from the University of Maryland (U.S.), and Mossadek Talby, from the University of Aix-Marseille (France).

The participants agree on the importance of data collection for students, universities, companies and policymakers, but also for the general public, to update the "perception of the functions of a doctorate, its importance for research and for society, and the condition under which it is obtained"…