INAUGURAL EDAMBA-EIASM CONSORTIUM ON DOCTORAL SUPERVISION & THE NEW GLOBAL RESEARCH SYSTEM Recent Trends and Discussions in Assessing Quality in Doctoral Education in Europe Maj-Britt Hedvall Hanken School of Economics
Doctoral education: State-of-the-art Traditional aim» Doctoral education secures the new generation of university faculty / new members of the academic community Today, additional aims» Doctoral education one of the components securing the competitiveness of the society (especially in Europe), not assumed to serve the academic community only Doctoral education re-organised in many European countries; also part of the university reforms Students enter the doctoral programme of various reasons with various expectations Education expensive, time-consuming and risky for universities compared to other degree programmes
Current trends and discussions EU policy to increase competitiveness: Link between the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA) Massificationof MSc & PhD programs world-wide. Increased competition between universities in Europe and European universities & new players (e.g. in Asia) Bologna Third Cycle & ECTS Structured programs, doctoral schools, development of new doctorates Internationalisation, international mobility, joint programs across borders Transsectoralmobility; transferable skills and competence training part of the doctorate The concept of quality is today the hot topic
The concept of quality Main conclusions from the current debate 1.No consensus of the concept of quality 2.Real challenge to develop quality assurance and quality indicators suited for doctoral education (general and discipline specific) Why? 1.Doctoral education differs from BSc and MSc education since it has a foundation in research Procedures from teaching-based cycles cannot be copied into research-based cycles 2.Doctoral education differs from research since it is basically training of future researchers Procedures from assessing research cannot be copied into doctoral education
Fundamentals of a high-quality programme» Prepares the students for a successful career in the academic community, corporate world or public sector» Is based cutting edge research and delivered by a faculty with excellent research competencies participating in the activities of the international academic community» Attracts students world-wide» The output (=the contribution of the thesis) makes an impact
What do we talk about when we talk about quality?» Procedural quality ( educational part )» Admission procedures, codes of conducts for supervisors, structured course programmes, examination procedures...» Academic quality ( research part )» Research environment & critical mass, research performance of the supervisors, international reputation (both home institution and institution for mobility)...» Thesis quality» The doctoral student s scholarly contribution
What to assess and measure? Doctoral education according to EUA-CDE Training inand throughresearch = Eachstudent conducts research aiming at a contribution to new knowledgein a unique way What to assess and measure?» Doctoral students progress and work during the studies?» Procedures of the doctoral programme / doctoral school?» Research / supervisor competencies of the faculty?» Research environment?» The thesis?» Placement of graduates?
Directors in charge of Doctoral education: Accountable to whom?» Prospective and current students?» Home institution and faculty?» Funding bodies?» Quality assurance bodies?» Accreditation and ranking bodies?» Employers including the academic community?
University internal QA» Regulations and agreements, codes of conduct» Standardisation of recruitment and selection» Professionalization of supervision, rules and regulations, monitoring of supervisors» Regular monitoring of students (time to degree, completion rates )» Regulations for thesis defence» Placement of students, monitoring of research & professional careers over time
QA bodies: State & regional & ENQA» EU member states and countries within Bologna: QA of higher education institutions (HEI) decentralized» ENQA: European Association for Quality Assurance of Higher Education» www.enqa.eu» Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, 3rd ed., 2009 (www.enqa.eu/pubs_esg.lasso)»european standards and guidelines for internalquality assurance within HEI»European standards and guidelines for external quality assurance of HEI»European standards and guidelines for externalquality assurance agencies»peer review system for quality assurance agencies
External quality procedures used by QA agencies» Evaluations of projects, programmes, institutions, themes» Audits at subject level, programme level, institutional level and thematic level» Accreditation of subjects, programmes and institutions» Benchmarking of subjects, programmes and institutions» Combined approaches of the above
QA in doctoral education: ENQA conclusions (1) Report Quality Assurance in Postgraduate Education, ENQA Workshop Report nr. 12, 2010 http://www.enqa.eu/files/enqa%20workshop%20report%2012.pdf Conclusions 1. Quality standards should be linked to and in accordance with the traditions of the discipline and the university s mission and function & the strategy on doctoral education 2. Standards used at Bachelor and Master level cannot automatically be applied to doctoral education 3. The quality of the Master level influence the quality of the doctoral level (introduction of new forms of Masters without a research component)
QA in doctoral education: ENQA conclusions (2) 4. Internal and external evaluations of doctoral programmes challenging and complex since the programmes vary in terms of demand, structure, organisation and funding 5. Evaluations include the quality of training and the qaulity of research. The latter demanding for QA agencies. 6. ECTS is not an appropriate tool for doctoral education. Quality is not guaranteed through ECTS 7. Eligibility criteria for supervisors crucial 8. Application of ethical standards on student s research work 9. Main challenge for QA agencies: How to measure, evaluate and guarantee the quality of the student-supervisor relationship (is it possible / how to measure a human relationship?)
The Salzburg principles: Salzburg I» European consensus in 2005 on ten basic principles for the organisation of doctoral programs and research training http://www.eua.be/eua/jsp/en/upload/salzburg_conclusions.1108990538850.pdf 1. Core component is original research 2.Programmes designed to meet new challenges 3.The diversity of programmes in Europe is a strength 4. Doctoral students should be recognised as professionals 5. Supervision crucial; supervision and assessment should be transparent 6. Programmes should seek to achieve critical mass 7. Programmes should operate within an appropriate time-frame 8. Innovative structures should be promoted 9.Increased mobility (international mobility, intersectoralmobility, interdisciplinary mobility & international collaboration) 10. Appropriate funding
The Salzburg principles: Salzburg II Salzburg II follow-up in 2010: Salzburg II Recommendations http://www.eua.be/libraries/publications_homepage_list/salzburg_ii_recommen dations.sflb.ashx» The recommendations aim at supporting universities in structuring the DE» The principles are based on the following three underlying principles 1.The doctorate is based on research it cannot be taught 2.The individual student is in focus in DE it is not cohort based education as Bachelor and Master & not aimed at one career option only 3.The university is in charge of DE and responsible for the quality» autonomy must be granted to the university»(on the other hand: it is not a private enterprise of a professor)
Salzburg II Recommendations Main elements 1. Critical mass: Institutions must develop a critical mass of research in order to offer high quality DE 2. Proper recruitment and admission strategiesthat corresponds to the mission and profile of the university 3. Supervisionmust be a collective effort, supervisors must be active researchers 4. The use of a credit system; when is it useful and when not? 5. Quality: QA in DE must be linked to the university s research strategy, assessment of the academic quality of DE must be based on peer review and sensitive to disciplinary differences, universities should develop indicators based on institutional priorities
The Salzburg principles: Salzburg II The elements (cont.) 6. Internationalisation strategies should be tool to increase the quality in DE and to develop institutional research capacity (internationalisation at home, collaborative doctoral programmes, international joint programmes ) 7. The mobilityof students must benefit the student and be coherent with the research project 8. The outcome of DEis a early stage researcher contributing to the society through knowledge, competences and skills learned by undertaking a research project during the studies 9. The outcome of the student s researchis the thesis 10. The universities responsibility is to give career support 11. Sustainable funding for universities and the students crucial
The Salzburg principles: Salzburg II The elements (cont.) 12.Universities need autonomyin order to establish diverse structures with different research strategies and strengths, they must have the freedom to develop their own indicators for quality and for establishing joint and dual degrees
Accreditation bodies in b-school context: Doctoral programmes 1. Institutional accreditations» Doctoral education included if the School offers such (a) programme(s)» EQUIS(http://www.efmd.org/accreditation-main/equis)» AACSB(http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/) 2. Programme accreditations» EPAS Doctoral Accreditation (http://www.efmd.org/accreditationmain/epas) http://www.efmd.org/images/stories/efmd/epas/epas%20process%20manu al%20annexes%20jan%202011.pdf, pages 88-93 more details on DE» AMBAaccreditation for DBA (http://www.mbaworld.com/accreditation/home) AMBA-DBA accreditation criteria: http://www.mbaworld.com/administrator/file_sys/uploaded_files/ 1299684238-DBA%20criteria_web.pdf