Organization of doctoral schools: issues, analysis and perspectives from the FRENCH experience

Event Description

According to the data and analysis provided by the European University Association, an increasing implementation of reforms of doctoral education across Europe based on the Salzburg Recommendations is observed. Key reforms included changes in the organisation of doctoral education through structured programmes and DOCTORAL SCHOOLS, the introduction of transferable skills training, transparent admissions processes and increased focus on supervision. Trends V report demonstrated that 29% of European universities (respondents in the survey) had some form of a DOCTORAL SCHOOL, while Trends 2010 showed 65%, the ARDE survey 82% and the ERA survey 85% (EUA 2019).

The country analysis in Armenia, conducted within the ARMDOCT project affirms, that the models of organizing doctoral education in Armenia is outdated and does not meet the emerging needs for innovation through collaborative networks (consortia), clusters and interdisciplinary, intersectoral, inter-institutional, national and international doctoral schools, which might contribute to the improvement of the quality of doctoral education.

The “RA National Policy on the Reform of the Third Cycle of Higher Education” developed within the ARMDOCT project and ratified by the RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (16.11․2021, 44-Լ) reserves the right of defining the institutional structures for organizing third-cycle education programme to the third-cycle education providers, enabling the establishment of doctoral schools (including national, international, sectoral, cross-sectoral ones, with the possibility of providing cluster collaboration) or other institutional units, if need be. Based on the new national vision, the legal mechanisms for organizing joint, collaborative postgraduate (doctoral) education will be developed.

To observe the experience of EU counterparts, the ERASMUS+ ARMDOCT and MODEST projects have teamed up and initiated a collaborative series of webinars to tackle the structures of partner institutions for organizing doctoral education (doctoral schools in particular).

During the first webinar, which will take place on 19th January at 12:00 (AM time) the case of France will be presented by Guillaume Rousset, Senior Lecturer in Law, Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University. For participation, please register at the following link by 17 January: https://bit.ly/3HzfDYj