Memorandum submitted by the UK GRAD Programme
The UK GRAD Programme[24]
welcomes the opportunity to submit a response to the House of
Commons Education and Skills Committee inquiry into the Bologna
Process and the implications for the UK Higher Education sector
in advance of the Ministerial meeting in London in May 2007.
The UK GRAD Programme is funded by the UK Research
Councils and is managed and developed by the Careers Research
and Advisory Centre (CRAC). [25]It
operates through a national Centre for Excellence at Cambridge
and eight regional Hubs located in universities, which support
their local universities.
The role of the UK GRAD Programme is to support
the academic sector to embed personal and professional skills
development into research degree programmes (RDP). UK GRAD, together
with our network of universities, is interested in the Third Cycle
of the Bologna Process—doctoral degrees, particularly with
respect to the training and subsequent impact on the employability
of PhD graduates.
The Third Cycle was added to the action lines
of the Bologna Process in Berlin in 2003 and the European Universities
Association (EUA) was charged in Bergen in 2005 with preparing
a report with the Bologna Follow Up Group (BFUG) on the further
development of the basic principles for doctoral programmes to
present to Ministers at the 2007 Summit.
UK GRAD has been working with the other interested
UK stakeholders, such as the Europe Unit[26]
and RCUK[27]
to ensure that the basic principles for the Third Cycle are appropriate
for the UK, through contributing to the development of the UK
position paper and attending the key European Bologna conferences
and workshops. Through consultation with our network of Hubs and
key contacts in UK Universities we are developing a paper to submit
to the BFUG highlighting the aspects of the Third Cycle critical
to sustaining and developing the employability of our doctoral
graduates and our position as an attractive location for international
postgraduate researchers to study.
The Third Cycle or "Doctoral Cycle"
has a unique position in the Bologna Process compared to the First
and Second Cycles. Doctoral researchers are an important link
between the aims of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)
and the European Research Area (ERA). Doctoral researchers are
often described as the "engines of the Lisbon Agenda":
they not only being trained as future researchers, but are also
making an original contribution to knowledge and sustaining our
academic base.
More than in any other European country, UK
RDPs recognise the wider employability of PhD graduates and our
doctoral programmes have developed to meet the needs of researchers
and employers. In many ways the UK is leading the way in the evolution
of RDPs in terms of the diversity of qualifications, assess to
RDPs, development of structured programmes, the inclusion of skills
development and improved supervisory processes. It is critical
that the outcomes of the London Ministerial meeting recognise
and support these developments.
The UK GRAD network generally supports the "Salzburg
Principles"[28],
whose key conclusions are that:
1. The core component of doctoral training
is the advancement of knowledge through original research. At
the same time it is recognised that doctoral training must increasingly
meet the needs of an employment market that is wider than academia.
2. Embedding in institution strategies
and policies: universities need to assume responsibility for ensuring
that the doctoral programmes and research training they offer
are designed to meet new challenges.
3. The importance of diversity: the rich
diversity of doctoral programmes in Europe ... is a strength which
has to be underpinned by quality and sound practice.
4. Doctoral candidates as early stage researchers:
should be recognised as professionals—with commensurate
rights—who make a key contribution to knowledge.
5. The crucial role of supervision and
assessment: in respect of individual doctoral candidates, arrangements
for supervision and assessment should be based on a transparent
contractual framework of shared responsibilities between doctoral
candidates, supervisors and the institution (and where appropriate
including other partners).
6. Achieving critical mass: doctoral programmes
should seek to achieve critical mass and should draw on different
types of innovative practice being introduced in universities
across Europe.
7. Duration: doctoral programmes should
operate within an appropriate time duration (three to four years
full-time as a rule).
8. The promotion of innovative structures:
to meet the challenge of interdisciplinary training and the development
of transferable skills.
9. Increasing mobility: doctoral programmes
should seek to offer geographical as well as interdisciplinary
and intersectoral mobility and international collaboration within
an integrated framework of co-operation between universities and
other partners.
10. Ensuring appropriate funding: the development
of quality doctoral programmes and the successful completion by
doctoral candidates requires appropriate and sustainable funding.
We are also keen to see more recognition of
the diversity of researchers and RDPs through the acknowledgement
of Second Cycle (masters), being the main—but not only route
in the Third Cycle. This should also include the principle of
accreditation of prior experience and learning (APEL). There is
a strong message from the HE sector across Europe, supported by
the UK, that the Third Cycle should focus on learning outcomes
and not be credit-rated.
UK GRAD continues to work with the Europe Unit
and the EUA to ensure that the principles of the Doctoral Cycle
are beneficial to the UK. We would welcome the opportunity to
provide additional information about the work UK GRAD and the
HE sector is doing to support the Third Cycle of the Bologna Process.
December 2006
24 www.grad.org.uk Back
25
www.crac.org.uk Back
26
www.europeunit.ac.uk Back
27
www.rcuk.ac.uk Back
28
http://www.eua.be/eua/jsp/en/upload/Salzburg-Conclusions.1108990538850.pdf Back
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