Doctoral Programmes in Europe's Universities: Achievements and Challenges
Report prepared for European Universities and Ministers of Higher Education
Doctoral education is a major priority for European universities and for EUA. In the context of the Bologna Process the importance of doctoral education as the third cycle of higher education and the first stage of a young researcher’s career, and thus in linking the European Higher Education and Research Areas, was first highlighted in the 2003 Berlin Communiqué. EUA’s first project “Doctoral Programmes for the European Knowledge Society” (2003 – 2005) then opened a dialogue between universities and policy makers on the reform of doctoral programmes and enabled the adoption, in a Bologna Seminar held in Salzburg in February 2005, of “ten basic principles” for the future development of doctoral programmes.
The subsequent Bergen Communiqué (May 2005) further stressed the importance of enhancing synergies between higher education and research, and gave a mandate to EUA to prepare a report on the further development of the basic principles for doctoral programmes for the 2007 London Conference of Higher Education Ministers.
This report presents the main fi ndings of the project. It summarises the results of several workshops and a Bologna Seminar held in Nice in December 2006 that brought together more than 400 academics from across Europe. It also includes the results of a survey on the funding of doctoral education using data received from national Ministries through the Bologna Follow-Up Group.
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