Professionalising doctoral education

Leadership in changing doctoral education

“…In general, the schools at the University of Vienna would not perform as they do now without administrative professionals. As outlined in Zinner and Kovačević (2021), professionals have taken on important tasks in doctoral education already. As Rhoades states “[i] ncreasingly , [managerial professionals] participate in institutions' basic academic work, and, like faculty, they have important expertise about the academy to contribute in shared governance ” (Rhoades, 2005, p. 42).…”

“…The establishment of this group, unsurprisingly, coincided with the development of numerous doctoral schools in Europe, all of which established professional support staff in addition to academic leadership, who were fundamental in promoting the development of the doctorate in their respective universities. Indeed, the group of professionals, often with academic credentials, but non-academic contracts, is still growing and receives more and more tasks and roles (Zinner & Kovačević, 2021).…”

“…With respect to doctoral education the establishment of so‐called Doctoral Schools, sometimes also called Graduate Schools or Doctoral Centres, was seen as a suitable concept to professionally facilitate this change in doctoral education (Zinner & Kovačević, 2021). This has contributed to organisational structures that secure an ecosystem in which young researchers can prepare themselves for a career in and outside the university through research, while at the same time contributing to their own scientific output and that of their university.…”

Emergence of current European thinking and policies on doctoral education

“…It was the EUA that, together with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, organised the first European conference dedicated to doctoral education, in Salzburg in 2005. The Salzburg Principles (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung & EUA, 2005), defining 10 basic recommendations for doctoral education, have become a cornerstone for numerous further discussions on all aspects of doctoral education such as the organisation of doctoral studies (doctoral schools), recruitment and admission, supervision, transferable skills training, collaboration with other sectors, funding, outcomes, dissertations, public defences, and the professionalisation of doctoral education (Zinner & Kovačević, 2021). Although there has been a general consensus that the conditio sine qua non of doctoral education is original research, all other principles needed much debating, as the understanding of doctoral education varied considerably among different countries and among different academic and disciplinary traditions.…”