The CODOC Project: Three Trends in

Doctoral Education

Dr Thomas Ekman Jørgensen

IAU 14th General Conferenc

Higher Education and the Global Agenda:

Alternative Paths to the Future

30 November 2012

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EUA Council for Doctoral Education – a

response to the changes

EUA – European

University Association850 universities and rectors’ conferences in 47 countries

Developing evidence-based policies

Advocating these policies

Promoting development of universities as institutions

Council for Doctoral

Education (CDE)a membership service focused on doctoral education

Development of doctoral schools

Doctorate-specific policy development

215 members in 33 countries (from Faro to Tomsk)

New trends

Technological possibilities

Revolution in gathering and sharing data

Ease of communication (email, Skype, teleconferences)

Ease of physical mobility

Large investment in research and development in emerging economies

China, India and Brazil are prominent

Large increases in doctoral education – Brazil 100 % increase 2000-2009, China 400 % (!) 1998-2008

Beginnings of a more multipolar research landscape?

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The CODOC Project

Funded by Erasmus Mundus (Action 3) 2010-2012

Looking at doctoral education in East Asia, Southern Africa, Latin America and Europe

Promoting collaborations

Capacity building

The Global Research Community

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The CODOC Consortium

European University Association

ASEAN University Network (AUN)

Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA)

Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (OUI)

Observatory on EU-Latin America Relations (OBREAL)

University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF)

Karolinska Institutet

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The CODOC survey

A heuristic tool – not a mapping exercise

Many questions (55 plus sub-questions)

Qualitative input from workshops

Bangkok: Strategic Collaboration

Johannesburg: Leadership and Knowledge Societies/Capacity Building

Sao Paulo: The value of the PhD

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Survey sample

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Outcomes

The final report

Three major points of convergence:

Discourse

Growth

Collaboration

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Convergence I - Discourse

The language of the knowledge society has become global

Challenges are to be met with new knowledge and innovation

CODOC survey responses:

“[Doctoral education] is key. It is the basis of innovative and research interventions in society’s problems” (South Africa)

“Doctoral education is very important since it is the driving force towards societal and economic development. Additionally, societal and economic development require knowledge societies that are based on high skilled human resources” (Malaysia)

”Extremely important in the current world of global knowledge society, where the complexities of world and local problems require people with high level education to solve them” (Tanzania)

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Discourse II

Compare to language of policy makers:

”Smart growth means strengthening knowledge and innovation as drivers of our future growth” (Europe 2020)

“establishing ... a society that is innovative and forward-looking, one that is ... a contributor to the scientific and technological civilisation of the future” (Malaysia Vision 2020)

Ambitious goals

• Zimbabwe: Every lecturer should have a PhD by 2015

• Malaysia: 60,000 PhD holders by 2023

• EU – 1 mio. New research jobs by 2020…10…

Convergence II - Growth

We have seen remarkable growth over the last decade

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90

100

110

120

130

140

150

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Growth in doctorates awarded in the EU, USA and Latin America 2004=100

European Union (27 countries)

United States

Latin America

Growth III: The big story – upgrading staff:

% of research and teaching staff with a PhD

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Source: CODOC

Survey

28 42 2833 49 3141 62 400

10

20

30

40

50

60

Africa Asia Latin America

average %

5 years ago Currently in 3 years time

Growth IV: Do the numbers add up?

No

Already now, 1 in 4 has problems (more in Africa and Latin America)

Completion rates do not rise as fast as the intake

Growth emphasises the need for capacity

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Yes

76%

No

24%

Do you manage to recruit and retain sufficient doctorate holders for your own

institution?

Convergence III - Collaborations

Collaborations were emphasised in the regional reports, in the survey and in the workshops

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Africa Asia Latin America

How important is doctoral education in relation to

internationalisation at your institution?

Very important

Rather important

Rather unimportant

Collaborations II

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Many institutions gave high priority to global partners

2

5

18

53

4

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Not important

Rather unimportant

Rather important

Very important

Do not know

Global partners

n=82

Collaborations III

A few distinct models are used:

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Collaborations IV

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Different motivations from different institutions

Common prestige amplified through joint programmes

Strategic presence

Capacity building

Pooling of resources

Access to natural laboratories (seismic activity, specific populations)

Summary

There are clear areas of global convergence in doctoral education

Retention problems are persistent, and could be worse

Collaborations with capacity-building agenda is part of the solution

Requiring institutional strategic vision and coherent support

Convergence could be a step towards a richer, multipolar research community!

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Thank you very much for your attention!

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