1. The CODOC Project: Three Trends in
Doctoral Education
Dr Thomas Ekman Jørgensen
IAU 14th General Conferenc
Higher Education and the Global Agenda:
Alternative Paths to the Future
30 November 2012

2. EUA Council for Doctoral Education – a
response to the changes
EUA – European Council for Doctoral
University Association Education (CDE)
850 universities and a membership service
rectors’ conferences in focused on doctoral
47 countries education
Developing evidence- Development of doctoral
based policies schools
Advocating these Doctorate-specific policy
policies development
Promoting development 215 members in 33
of universities as countries (from Faro to
institutions Tomsk)
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3. New trends
Technological possibilities
 Revolution in gathering and sharing data
 Ease of communication (email, Skype, teleconferences)
 Ease of physical mobility
Large investment in research and development in
emerging economies
 China, India and Brazil are prominent
 Large increases in doctoral education – Brazil 100 %
increase 2000-2009, China 400 % (!) 1998-2008
Beginnings of a more multipolar research
landscape?
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4. The CODOC Project
Funded by Erasmus Mundus (Action 3) 2010-
2012
Looking at doctoral education in East Asia,
Southern Africa, Latin America and Europe
Promoting collaborations
Capacity building
The Global Research Community
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5. The CODOC Consortium
European University Association
ASEAN University Network (AUN)
Southern African Regional Universities
Association (SARUA)
Inter-American Organization for Higher
Education (OUI)
Observatory on EU-Latin America Relations
(OBREAL)
University of Bonn, Center for Development
Research (ZEF)
Karolinska Institutet
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6. The CODOC survey
A heuristic tool – not a mapping exercise
Many questions (55 plus sub-questions)
Qualitative input from workshops
 Bangkok: Strategic Collaboration
 Johannesburg: Leadership and Knowledge
Societies/Capacity Building
 Sao Paulo: The value of the PhD
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7. Survey sample
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8. Outcomes
The final report
Three major points of
convergence:
 Discourse
 Growth
 Collaboration
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9. Convergence I - Discourse
The language of the knowledge society has
become global
 Challenges are to be met with new knowledge and
innovation
 CODOC survey responses:
 “[Doctoral education] is key. It is the basis of innovative and
research interventions in society’s problems” (South Africa)
 “Doctoral education is very important since it is the driving
force towards societal and economic development.
Additionally, societal and economic development require
knowledge societies that are based on high skilled human
resources” (Malaysia)
 ”Extremely important in the current world of global knowledge
society, where the complexities of world and local problems
require people with high level education to solve them”
(Tanzania) …9…

10. Discourse II
Compare to language of policy makers:
 ”Smart growth means strengthening knowledge
and innovation as drivers of our future growth”
(Europe 2020)
 “establishing ... a society that is innovative and
forward-looking, one that is ... a contributor to the
scientific and technological civilisation of the
future” (Malaysia Vision 2020)
 Ambitious goals
• Zimbabwe: Every lecturer should have a PhD by
2015
• Malaysia: 60,000 PhD holders by 2023
• EU – 1 mio. New research jobs by 2020
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11. Convergence II - Growth
We have seen remarkable growth over the last
decade
Growth in doctorates awarded in the EU, USA and
Latin America 2004=100
150
140
130 European Union (27
countries)
120 United States
110
Latin America
100
90
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
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12. Growth III: The big story – upgrading staff:
% of research and teaching staff with a PhD
average %
60
50
40
30
20
10
28 33 41 42 49 62 28 31 40
0
Africa Asia Latin America
Source: CODOC 5 years ago Currently in 3 years time
Survey
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13. Growth IV: Do the numbers add up?
No Do you manage to recruit and retain
sufficient doctorate holders for your own
Already now, 1 in 4 institution?
has problems (more
No
in Africa and Latin 24%
America)
Completion rates do
not rise as fast as Yes
76%
the intake
Growth emphasises
the need for
capacity
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14. Convergence III - Collaborations
Collaborations were emphasised in the regional reports, in
the survey and in the workshops
How important is doctoral education in relation to
internationalisation at your institution?
100%
90%
80%
70% Very important
60%
Rather important
50%
40% Rather unimportant
30%
20%
10%
0%
Africa Asia Latin America
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15. Collaborations II
Many institutions gave high priority to global
partners
Global partners
Do not know 4
Very important 53
Rather important 18
Rather unimportant 5
Not important 2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
n=82
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16. Collaborations III
A few distinct models are used:
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17. Collaborations IV
Different motivations from different institutions
 Common prestige amplified through joint
programmes
 Strategic presence
 Capacity building
 Pooling of resources
 Access to natural laboratories (seismic
activity, specific populations)
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18. Summary
There are clear areas of global convergence in
doctoral education
Retention problems are persistent, and could be
worse
Collaborations with capacity-building agenda is
part of the solution
 Requiring institutional strategic vision and coherent
support
Convergence could be a step towards a
richer, multipolar research community!
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19. Thank you very much for your attention!
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