UNIVERSITY OF TURKU GRADUATE SCHOOL UTUGS International Staff Week for Mobility Officers 9.6.2015, Turku School of Economics Coordinator Elise Pinta, PhD University of Turku Graduate School
2 DOCTORAL TRAINING IN FINLAND GENERAL Doctoral training given in universities (14 research universities) Masters degree (or equivalent) required ca. 18 500 doctoral candidates in Finnish universities (incl. part-time doctoral candidates) national aim to have 1600 new doctorates/year (1860 doctorates in 2014) the share of international doctoral candidates to be increased to 20% (UTU 15,9% in 2014) ca. 0,4 % of the population has a doctoral degree DOCTORAL DEGREE - research plus formal education Thesis: 75% of the doctoral degree is research - compilation dissertation (articles) - monograph Formal education (20-60 ECTS points): ca. 25% of the degree - practical courses, lecture courses, workshops, seminars, symposia - transferable skills aim to complete the degree in four years net time www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/ University of Turku Graduate School 12.6.2015 - UTUGS
THE FINNISH EDUCATION SYSTEM Bologna 3rd cycle Bologna 2nd cycle Bologna 1st cycle Doctoral degree 4 years Master's degree 120 ECTS credits 2 years Bachelor's degree 180 ECTS credits 3 years Universities 3y + 2y + 4 years General Upper Secondary Education 3 years Elementary and Lower Secondary School 9 years Includes entire age group Polytechnics 3y (PolyBSc) + 3 y work experience + 1-1.5 y (PolyMSc) Initial Vocational Education 3 years Secondary level education Tertiary level education
4 NATIONAL REFORM OF DOCTORAL TRAINING STRUCTURES graduate schools consisting of doctoral programmes of specific scientific/thematic fields all disciplines covered each doctoral candidate becomes affiliated in a graduate school (via selection!) equal rights and responsibilities to all one person or one body within a university responsible for doctoral training four years full-time or equivalent UNIVERSITY-LEVEL GRADUATE SCHOOL Policy of operations, Best practices, Quality assurance, Transferable skills training, Feedback mechanisms etc. UTUGS structure University s Doctoral Program (local) Director SUBSTANCE-SPECIFIC TRAINING SCIENTIFIC TRAINING National Doctoral Program Director National Doctoral Program Director International Doctoral Program Director DOCTORAL PROGRAMMES - Local/national/international - Implementation of best practices - Selection of new doctoral candidates - Substance-specific training - Follow-up of progress - Quality of doctoral training - Etc.
GENERAL Established 1st of August, 2011 Consists of 16 doctoral programmes which cover all disciplines and doctoral candidates of the University of Turku - 1800 doctoral candidates in 2014 (incl. part-time doctoral candidates) - 186 doctoral degrees in 2014 Director professor Pirjo Nuutila Rules of procedure of UTUGS (accepted by University Board 2/2014) UTUGS actions developed and the quality of the operations monitored by the UTUGS Steering committee and by the working groups focusing on: - training - quality assurance UNIVERSITY OF TURKU GRADUATE SCHOOL - UTUGS Steering committee and the working groups nominated by the Rector MAIN OBJECTIVES - to promote systematic, efficient and high quality doctoral training and supervision - to support completion of the doctoral degree in four years (net time) - to train highly qualified experts with the skills required for the academic research career and other positions of expertise www.utu.fi/graduate_school/
UTUGS & 16 NEW DOCTORAL PROGRAMMES 1.9.2013 - grouped accoring to the coordinating Faculty DP OPPI (10) Turku School of Economics Faculty of Education KEVEKO (8) TSE (14) DP DP Faculty of Humanities JUNO (15) UTULING (8) UTUGS Faculty of Law LAW (11) Soc& Behav. (15) Faculty of Social Sciences Math & ICT (16) Phys Chem (12) Faculty of Math & Nat Sci Mol. LifeSci (16) BGG (13) TuDMM (18) TKT (23) DRDP (11) Faculty of Medicine FINDOS (5) DPNurs (5)
UTUGS DOCTORAL CANDIDATES Applications submitted to UTUGS Doctoral Programmes one can apply for a) the right to pursue a doctoral degree at UTU (2-4 calls/year) b) UTUGS-funded doctoral training position (1 call/year; next call in the Fall 2015) Which Doctoral Programme to apply to the one(s) that meet the applicant s research profile the best UTUGS Doctoral Programmes at http://www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/doctoralprogrammes/ Application process described in the Doctoral Programme-specific Call for Applications document Evaluation of applications - general criteria applicant s merits, completed studies, grade of the master s thesis/corresponding work, quality and feasibility of the research plan at least one UTU-affiliated person agrees to act as a supervisor and fulfils the qualification requirements for supervisors the research topic of the Doctoral Candidate fits the profile of the doctoral programme and the affiliation department Selection of new UTUGS Doctoral Candidates based on the evaluation, decisions are made by UTU Faculties which issue the doctoral degrees
EXAMPLES OF UTUGS ACTIVITIES 1. FOR DOCTORAL CANDIDATES Examples of UTUGS courses on transferable skills (most courses in English) o Academic Presentation Skills o Academic Writing o Philosophy of Science o Research Ethics o Pedagogics o Copyrights and Industrial Property Rights o Popularization of Science Substance-specific formal training provided by the doctoral programmes In addition, activities such as: o 1st article language checking service o Survey on the current state and central development needs of doctoral training (2012, next 2015) Principles of doctoral training at UTU document (www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/) 2. COLLABORATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL, eg. UTUGS: regular meetings with the representatives of Universities Graduate Schools Doctoral programmes: most of the current doctoral programmes are national networks aim is to retain the current networks and establish also new ones 3. INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES, eg. UTUGS: participation in international networks (eg. Coimbra Group Universities) Doctoral programmes: International doctoral training networks, Recruitment of international doctoral candidates, Mobility of doctoral candidates
IMPORTANCE OF VERSATILE AND HIGH QUALITY TRAINING SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY Requires new knowledge high quality research innovative and new research topics EMPLOYERS Besides substance-specific knowledge require a broad set of general (transferable) skills communication skills social skills management IPR capability to learn new language skills etc. Many requirements for doctoral holders - narrow expertise is not enough!! SOCIETY Requires a dialog between the scientific community exploitation of research results popularization of science www.utu.fi/graduate_school/
KEY AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT doctoral thesis supervision follow up of progress time spent for the doctoral degree aim: 4 years of full-time work Operational quality good practices, harmonization of procedures (Doctoral candidate selection, feedback mechanisms, rights and responsibilities etc.) Versatile and high quality training and career planning Promotion of internationalization activities, mobility, Doctoral candidates Promotion of multidisciplinarity Collaboration, networking Flow of information SCIENTIFIC QUALITY www.utu.fi/graduate_school/
BENEFITS AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL Systematic and structured doctoral training for all doctoral candidates at UTU Operational quality Focus on quality not quantity Promotion of internationalization Promotion of multidiciplinarity Smoother transfer from Master s programmes to doctoral programmes Efficient, no overlapping activities, synergy of operations Communality, collaboration, networking Efficient flow of information etc. NB! Doctoral training is crucial for the universities next generation of researchers, quality of research & research funding www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/ University of Turku Graduate School - UTUGS
INTERNATIONALIZATION GOALS Doctoral training to be included in all international research projects Part of doctoral training and/or post doctoral phase conducted abroad WHY Renewal of science through young researchers o New research topics o New technologies o Personal networks o Building up self confidence o Gaining independence HOW By increasing mobility via systematic, institutional activities, such as o Joint workshops, courses, symposia o Student exchange (short and long visits) o Exchange of researchers & lecturers www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/ University of Turku Graduate School - UTUGS
THANK YOU! FURTHER INFORMATION www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/ and Elise Pinta, PhD, Coordinator, University of Turku Graduate School 20014 University of Turku Email: utugs@utu.fi Phone +358 2 3336391 Mobile +358 40 1612970