"We shouldn't forget research and innovation and within that doctoral education" (S. Berghmans, EUA)

"We should not forget research and innovation, and within that doctoral education, we are not going to have competitiveness without R&I", says Stéphane Berghmans, Director of Research and Innovation at the EUA, in an interview with News Tank on 17/07/2024. He speaks after the EUA-CDE annual meeting, held in Barcelona (Spain) from 26 to 28/06, with the theme "The role of data in shaping doctoral education".

While discussing the main challenges in doctoral education in Europe, Stephane Berghmans mentions the relationship between doctoral schools and private and public sectors, a severed relationship, according to him: "We can see how competitiveness, AI and industrialisation are the big topics, so there are calls for more industrial doctorates [...] we can bring more skills, but we should never forget what a doctorate is about: preparing people to become independent researchers."

"There are different doctorate completion rates across Europe and doctoral schools", states Simon Marti, newly appointed Head of the EUA-CDE (EUA Council for Doctoral Education), who also says that "diversity…