The number of doctoral candidates at TU Delft reporting that they are behind schedule is higher than before the launch of the Graduate School. A survey shows that, despite this, the ratings for the doctoral climate are better than they were three years ago.
A total of 667 doctoral candidates took part in a satisfaction survey, following from a baseline survey carried out in 2011, just before the launch of the Graduate School. In that year, 32% of respondents stated that they were behind schedule. The figure for the latest survey is 43 percent. The most frequently cited reasons were: too difficult (41%) or too busy (21%), research and supervision issues (17%).
This is strange, because the reason the Graduate School was set up in 2011 was to improve the quality and the speed of the doctoral programme. Coordinator Stella van der Meulen thinks that awareness among candidates is increasing as to how long they have to complete their PhD. “People are now realising at the beginning of their PhD research that they have to complete it within four years. Before the Graduate School there wasn’t such a sense of urgency. Most students assumed that it would take five years or longer.”
Van der Meulen suspects that, in fact, more doctoral candidates than in the past are on schedule. “I think the length of time taken to obtain doctorates is decreasing, but we don’t yet have the figures to back this up. Information on how long the first group of doctoral candidates took to complete their programme will be available from 2016.”
Seventy-three percent of candidates expect to be able to complete their PhD with the allotted time. In 2011 the figure was 69%.
Between 30 – 40% of doctoral candidates at each faculty are dissatisfied with the number of experts available in their working environment to help them with problems. This has not improved in recent years. Almost one in three respondents state that they do not receive sufficient support with the collection of data. This figure is higher than in 2011.
By contrast, all aspects of actual supervision were given higher ratings than in 2011. In this context, it is notable that not all doctoral candidates know who their promotor is, despite the fact that, in principle, every candidate is assigned a provisional promotor who usually becomes the formal promotor after the Go/No-Go review.
Van der Meulen: “Perhaps this is not sufficiently clear, and candidates do not not realise that their provisional promotor is their formal promotor”.
One in ten doctoral candidates does not have a daily supervisor or does not know that he/she has one. This figure varies from faculty to faculty, however. Thirty-one percent of respondents were less than satisfied with the help they received from their promotor or daily supervisor with regard to building a professional network. A doctoral debate will be held on 28 November at Lijm & Cultuur. At this event, Van der Meulen hopes to find out more about the expectations of doctoral candidates in this regard.
Respondents were more positive than in 2011 about the range of programmes on offer. The range, and therefore the satisfaction ratings, varies from faculty to faculty. Thirty-nine percent of respondents felt that the start-up training – which is designed to provide information about TU Delft, doctoral education and academic integrity – did not make a difference in terms of getting off to a better start with their project. As of January 2015, this programme will be reduced from three days to two.
Doctoral candidates are very satisfied with other aspects of their work environment and facilities, and the scores for these were higher than in 2011. Only half of the doctoral candidates are aware that the University has a Careers Centre. One in six has consulted the psychologist for doctoral candidates at some time. The experiences of this vary among the faculties, but 85 percent found the consultation helpful.
Van der Meulen would like to know more about the differences between certain groups of doctoral candidates. Male respondents were more positive than female respondents, and doctoral candidates from the Netherlands were more positive than their international counterparts about the doctoral climate, which was given a slightly higher overall score: 7.34.
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