Second EUA-CDE Global Strategic Forum on Doctoral Education

Transcription

1 Second EUA-CDE Global Strategic Forum on Doctoral Education The Global Research Community: Changing role of Doctoral Programs Fernando Chaparro Universidad Central, Colombia EUA DIT, Dublin, March 20-22, 2013

2 Topics that will be covered 1. Changing world scene in the Global Research Community: Patterns of global investment in R&D. 2. Evolution of Doctoral training in developing countries and collaboration with developed countries. 3. Important changes in the global context that may be shaping the Global Research Community (GRC): 3.1. Major Changes in Science and their impact on Doctoral Training Trends and changes taking place in the organization of research: Scenarios that identify new actors of the GRC. 4. Challenges in moving towards a Global Doctoral Education System identified in the CODOC Project.

3 1. Changing world scene in the Global Research Community: Patterns of Global Investment in R&D

4 The Global Research Community (GRC) and the role of Doctoral Programs in it Global Research Community has been very active in: Agriculture, Food Security, Nat. Res. Mgt. Health and Health-related issues. This GRC is being strengthened and diversified due to: Internationalization of Universities. Quick expansion of Doctoral training based on alliances. ICT Revolution and new communication facilities. Emergence of a Global Agenda with complex interactions with the National/Local Agendas. Increasing levels of investment in R&D, reflecting growing importance of ST&I as a source of economic growth (Knowledge Economy), and increasing costs. And changing patterns of global investment in R&D.

5 Traditional social actors of the GRC in Agriculture and Food Security 1. International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs). 2. Advanced Agricultural Research Institutes (ARIs). 3. Centres of Excellence in Universities of developed countries. Ph.D. Programs. 4. National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS): a) Large Public Research Institutes. b) Universities in developing countries. Ph.D. Programs. 5. Private Business Sector: a) Multinationals (Syngenta, Dow, Monsanto, etc.). b) Business sector of developing countries (large agroindustry to SMEs). c) Private sector Technological Research Centres.

6 MAJOR CHANGES: Growth in R&D investment as % of GDP by Country: From 2% to 4% Source: Dirk Pilat: Global Trends in R&D Spending,

7 Changing Patterns in Investment in R&D: World Leaders ( ) 7

8 An important part of this investment goes to University Reserch: Support for academic research in the U.S.A Paula Stephan: The Economics of Science; Harvard University Press, 2012 (en prensa).

9 High correlation between Investment in R&D and Economic Growth (GDP x capita) Fuente: CINDA: Educación Superior en Iberoamérica; Santiago, 2007.

10 2. Evolution of Doctoral Training in Developing Countries and collaboration with Developed Countries in building up a GRC

11 In many of the Universities covered by the CODOC Survey a strong correlation among: 1. Development of Doctoral Programs. 2. Building-up a critical mass of high quality researchers, organized in clearly identifiable research groups with stable research lines. 3. High level of scientific publications in international indexed journals (ISI and SCOPUS). 4. Increased capacity to mobilize external sources of funds for the research they carry out. 5. To a much lesser extent: Correlation between Doctoral programs and socio-economic impact, job creation, creation of new enterprises: Issue of relevance and of more diversified career paths for Doctors. 11

12 Doctoral level training in LAC: No. of Ph.D. graduates per year: Brasil México Cuba Chile Argentina Uruguay Colombia Costa Rica T&T Nicaragua Paraguay Honduras Guatemala Bolivia Panamá Barbados El Salvador Fuente: RICYT Indicadores de CT&I Iberoamericanos

13 El indicador para Colombia ha mejorado notablemente. Sin embargo, está aún lejos de los parámetros latinoamericanos NUMERO DE DOCTORES GRADUADOS POR MILLÓN DE HABITANTES, POR AÑO ,4 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,5 1,7 2,2 2, Brasil Mexico Chile Colombia Fuente: CONACYT, RICYT, y Estudio de Doctorados en Colombia

14 Crecimiento Publicaciones Científicas Correlacionado con Doctorados Fuente: CINDA: Educación Superior en Iberoamérica; Santiago, 2007.

15 Evolution scientific publications (SCOPUS) Top 16 Universities Scimago Institutional Ranking (SIR), 2013:

16 Main challenges that are faced in strengthening Ph.D. Programs 1. Building-up the research capacity required to have Ph.D. Programs through a variety of collaborative mechanisms and strategies (sandwich programs, joint degrees, etc.). 2. Funding Strategies for Doctorate Programs. These strategies combine 3 main sources: State support. Industry support. University resources (staff-development). Educational credit: The beneficiary pays. For Doctoral Programs the State plays a key role. 3. Assuring high quality of Doctoral programs. There is nothing more dangerous than poor quality higher education. Accreditation Systems have been established (i.e. CAPES).

17 Funding Strategies in the LAC Region - Two extreme cases: Brazil and Colombia In Brazil there is a very significant level of investment in BOTH support to Doctorate Programs and support to Research in the Universities through Federal and State Funds. We saw this in the presentation of the Brazilian S&T Policy and the investment of public funds this has represented. Similar to the case of the USA. In the case of Colombia there has been a significant increase in the support to Doctorate Programs in the last 5 years ( ), but this has been done at the expense of the support for Research through Federal Funds. This raises serious policy questions.

18 This has been done at the expense of deteriorating the Support for Research: Evolution of the COLCIENCIAS budget

19 Support for Doctorate Programs and Support for Research are complementary Support for research is required to assure high quality Doctorate Programs. They depend not only on the support for Fellowships, but also on the support of their research programs and projects. Providing support to research generates a demand for Ph.D. graduates in Universities and research centers. If this support is not provided, the demand for Ph.D. graduates may be seriously limited. Even if Ph.D. graduates can be absorbed by the University system by replacing Professors that did not have Ph.D. training, this environment will frustrate them if they cannot do research because of lack of support.

20 3. Important changes in the global context that may be shaping the Global Research Community (GRC): 3.1. Major Changes in Science and their impact on Doctoral Training Trends and changes taking place in the organization of research: Foresight analysis New actors and org. structures.

21 3.1. Major changes in Science: MIT/Harvard Team: The three S&T Revolutions Fuente: MIT: The Third Revolution.

22 Third Revolution: Convergence between Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering 22

23 New Scientific Areas are emerging with impact on Doctorate Training New Knowledge Areas are emerging at the interphase of traditional disciplines: Bioinformatics. Computational Biology. Synthetic Biology. Tissue Engineering. Nanobiology. Systems Biology. New type of Doctoral Programs are emerging: a) Princeton Quantitative and Computational Biology Ph.D. Program, Princeton University: A collaboration in multidisciplinary graduate education among faculty in the Institute and the Departments of Chemistry, Computer Science, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Biology, and Physics. b) Graduate School of Convergent Science and Technology (GSCST), Seoul National University, Korea. 23

24 3.2. Research and Innovations Futures The RIF Project: Scenarios The RIF Project focuses on analysing new and emerging ways of doing research in universities, research organisations, companies and civil society. The objectives are to: systematize knowledge on emerging patterns, trends and drivers of change in science, technology development and innovation (STI); provide an outlook on future developments in STI by way of scenarios related to the organization of research; identify and assess key issues against the background of the European Research Area (ERA); and establish a dialogue on strategic options for different stakeholders. Twente University and Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT).

25 The RIF Project has identified 5 Scenarios (Foresight) that may become players of GRC 1. Open Research Platforms (ORPs): Research Platforms with huge data basis that are openly accessible, under cond. 2. The Knowledge Parliament: Stakeholder-led Research Consortia that integrate unconventional sources of knowledge. Community-based research; Social Innovation. 3. Grand Challenges for Real: Research on Grand Challenges is organized around large Knowledge and Innovation Communities (GC-KICs), that are Innovation-oriented. 4. Knowledge Value Chains (KVCs): Research is carried out in KVCs closely related to production and services. 5. Researchers Choice: Autonomous researchers and research groups continue to be at the heart of sc. research.

26 Possible implications of changing environment of Global Research on Doctoral training a) Doctoral training should include some awareness of these trends, tensions and drivers shaping the research world. b) Most Scenarios place great emphasis on utilization of research results and on innovation generated by it. c) This problem-solving emphasis places great value on interdisciplinary approaches. d) Emphasis is placed on importance of Doctoral-level training also for employment in industry and other sectors. e) The ICT revolution is transforming the research environment introducing new possibilities of data mining and of flows of information that may lead to new ways of generating knowledge (i.e. OPRs, KVCs and others).

27 Further information can be obtained From the organizers: Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the University of Twente in The Netherlands. With the support of the 7th FP. Their website: Other projects are also doing Foresight Analysis of trends and new orientations of the Global Research Community but in specific fields, such as Agricultural Research, Food Security and Global Climate Change (GFAR-CGIAR): See website:

28 4. Challenges in moving towards a Global Doctoral Education System identified in the CODOC Project

29 Challenges identified in the CODOC Project a) Internationalization and mobility of professors and students is a must. Great weakness in developing countries, specially in LAC. b) A potential danger to avoid: Lowering too much the quality standards of the Ph.D. Program in the developing countries by seeking to make up with the research capacity and professors of the university in the developed country. c) Develop a sustainable Funding Strategy for Doctorate Programs, without eroding the Support for Research. This trade-off is very dangerous.

30 Challenges identified in the CODOC Project d) Increasing Inter-Regional Collaboration in the South/South dimension (see 3 following slides). e) How to develop Collaborative Accreditation Systems for trans-national Ph.D. programs. In the case of LAC, this is seriously limiting the effectiveness of Reg. Ph.D. Prog. f) There is an increasing interest on diversifying Ph.D. education, in order to prepare graduates both for a job in Academia or in Industry or other occupations. It is important to develop a closer relation between Ph.D. Programs and societal needs and market demands. What could be the implication of this for Doctorate Programs?

31 Inter-Regional collaboration in establishing Doctoral Programs: Latin America EUA: CODOC Final Report; Brussels, 2012.

32 Inter-Regional collaboration in establishing Doctoral Programs: Asia EUA: CODOC Final Report; Brussels, 2012.

33 Inter-Regional collaboration in establishing Doctoral Programs: Africa EUA: CODOC Final Report; Brussels, 2012.

34 Thank you!!