The Council of Rectors of Finnish Universities, UNIFI, has published in June 2024 the new recommendations for doctoral training. The recommendations of the report are not limited to the doctoral pilots but apply to Finnish doctoral research training in all universities and fields.The joint recommendations are intended to highlight good practice and suggest nationally unified approaches to doctoral researcher training in Finnish universities.
The main aims are to:
- strengthen the quality and impact of researcher training
- increase the attractiveness of researcher training
- strengthen the relevance of doctoral training to working life
- speed up graduation
Read the UNIFI press release Reforming researcher training: Quality and impact through cooperation
The full report is only available in Finnish but below you can read a summary of the report’s recommendations.
Main recommendations for doctoral training:
- Doctoral degree in 3-4 years
- Doctoral studies min. 30 ECTS
- including Finnish language studies
- Personal career plan
- The dissertation includes at least 2-3 publications, not all of which need to be published
- A maximum of 5% of the doctoral researcher’s working time can be teaching
- Two supervisors and a follow-up group is recommended
- Mobility to industry, abroad and virtually
- Faster pre-examination process
- The dissertation is only published electronically
Accelerated graduation
The dissertation is completed in 3-4 years working full time. In doctoral pilots, a three-year employment contract allows researchers to focus full-time on the dissertation work.
In the pilots, no administrative tasks are allocated to doctoral researchers and teaching can only constitute maximum 5% of working time.
Studies
Doctoral studies should be 30 ECTS and include relevant skills like research ethics and good scientific practice and data management, open science, writing, publishing, presentation and interaction. These are central to doctoral researchers in all fields. In addition, there should be language studies to ensure that as many PhDs as possible have Finnish language skills needed in working life.
General skills such as time management, teamwork, problem solving, and leadership skills are also developed during postgraduate studies.
The competence framework describing the researcher’s competence (ResearchComp competence framework EC 2023) serves as a map when drawing up more specific individual competence goals.
Career plan
All doctoral researchers make a personal career plan. In addition to the university’s centralized services and dissertation supervisor, this can be supported by mentoring. Sparring, group and individual guidance, alumni days, webinars, business incubators and peer mentoring can be organized to support the doctoral researcher’s personal career plan.
Dissertation
The doctoral dissertation consists of at least 2-3 scientific articles, not all of which have to be already published or accepted for publication, but they can also be previously unpublished manuscripts that are subject to scientific peer review or ready for referral to the peer review process.
Dissertation publication
Publishing the dissertation only in electronic format is recommended. This should speed up the pre-examination and publishing process and thus degree completion. Electronic publishing eliminates the delays and costs associated with printing, is easily accessible to stakeholders and is an environmentally friendly solution.
Pre-examination of the dissertation
The pre-examination process should not take more than a couple of months. When the dissertation goes to preliminary examination, the PhD researcher could already move smoothly to the next phase of the academic career or to industry.
Supervision
Each doctoral researcher is assigned at least two committed supervisors and a possible monitoring group. Post doctoral researchers also work actively as supervisors. At the university level, there are clear processes for solving problems and conflict situations in supervision, as well as defined practices for changing supervisor, if needed.
Supervision agreement
By narrowing down the research topic and clarifying career goals, as well as by increasing support, intermediate steps, monitoring and incentives, graduation can be accelerated. In addition, support provided by the research group and peers, the guidance and mentoring of national and international networks and external companies and research organizations are utilized. Mentoring can also strengthen PhD researchers future career plans.
Regular progress monitoring
Monitoring points each six months are set to check and support the progress of the dissertation project. A development discussion should also be held in connection with the monitoring.
Mobility
Mobility should take place between different sectors (academia and industry) and between different countries and international partner universities and companies. Mobility can also be carried out virtually.
Cooperation with industry
Cooperation may include joint research projects, working life placements, cooperation modules, internships, expert lectures and mentoring.
Well-being
The university aims to provide tools to help maintain the doctoral researcher’s well-being, such as stress management and time management training.