Doctoral education shapes the academy – what shapes doctoral education?
Författare
Summary, in English
For universities all over the world, the strategic importance of doctoral education has increased over the last decades. Both locally and internationally we can observe growing activity in three interrelated areas of doctoral education: policy, knowledge
formation and practice. Doctoral education is moving and has become a concern for the field of educational development.
In a recent Swedish report on quality and leadership in doctoral education1 we elaborate on the many different ways in which doctoral education is essential for the regeneration, legitimacy and development of the academy and all its practices.
We also describe how doctoral education to a large extent is built upon and integrated with other academic practices; primarily research but also undergraduate education and public outreach, and as a consequence is highly dependent on the organisation, infrastructure and quality enhancing processes of these.
This reciprocal relationship and interdependence between the academy and doctoral education is under-studied and recent and future changes to doctoral education, at the policy as well as at the practice level, could mean considerable and unpredictable consequence for the academy. In our report we identify an on-going shift in power over Swedish doctoral education – away from the academy and towards the political arenas and funding bodies. This shift has reshaped both content and form of doctoral education. There is a marked risk that such changes could undermine the academy’s capacity to fulfil its mission.
In this paper we will discuss conditions and recent developments that is currently shaping doctoral education in Sweden and describe the mechanisms at work. We will end by addressing a few areas of particular concern for educational development
1Elmgren, M., Forsberg, E., Lindberg-Sand, Å. & Sonesson, A. (2014). Ledning för kvalitet i forskarutbildningen. Sweden, The Association of Swedish Higher Education, www.suhf.se
formation and practice. Doctoral education is moving and has become a concern for the field of educational development.
In a recent Swedish report on quality and leadership in doctoral education1 we elaborate on the many different ways in which doctoral education is essential for the regeneration, legitimacy and development of the academy and all its practices.
We also describe how doctoral education to a large extent is built upon and integrated with other academic practices; primarily research but also undergraduate education and public outreach, and as a consequence is highly dependent on the organisation, infrastructure and quality enhancing processes of these.
This reciprocal relationship and interdependence between the academy and doctoral education is under-studied and recent and future changes to doctoral education, at the policy as well as at the practice level, could mean considerable and unpredictable consequence for the academy. In our report we identify an on-going shift in power over Swedish doctoral education – away from the academy and towards the political arenas and funding bodies. This shift has reshaped both content and form of doctoral education. There is a marked risk that such changes could undermine the academy’s capacity to fulfil its mission.
In this paper we will discuss conditions and recent developments that is currently shaping doctoral education in Sweden and describe the mechanisms at work. We will end by addressing a few areas of particular concern for educational development
1Elmgren, M., Forsberg, E., Lindberg-Sand, Å. & Sonesson, A. (2014). Ledning för kvalitet i forskarutbildningen. Sweden, The Association of Swedish Higher Education, www.suhf.se
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2014
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
274-274
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
ICED 2014. Educational Developments in a Changing World: Abstracts
Länkar
Dokumenttyp
Konferensbidrag: abstract
Ämne
- Educational Sciences
Conference name
Conference of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED), 2014
Conference date
2014-06-16 - 2014-06-18
Conference place
Stockholm, Sweden
Status
Published