PhD in Dutch research schools takes too long, except at TUs
UTNews
According to the report `Yield and length of PhD programs in Dutch research schools' by Heinze Oost and Hans Sonneveld, students take too long to get their PhD degree. The Network of Dutch PhD-students (PNN) is shocked by the results. Fortunately, technological universities are not as bad off.
Oost and Sonneveld, who examined 21 of 103 research schools in the Netherlands, showed that the average length of a PhD program has been structurally high for the past eight years. Official figures of the association of Dutch universities (VSNU) showed that only five percent of the PhD students graduate within four years, and the situation is only getting worse.
Research schools barely participate in research. That is a warning sign, according to PNN Chairman Olof Wiegert: `They prefer not to have the bad performance of their PhD programs pointed out to them, while research schools in particular should play an important role in improving the quality of PhD degrees in the Netherlands.'
The network of PhD-students blames university and research school policies regarding young researchers for the low performance figures. The deadline for the paper is often vague and requirements tend to be raised during the program. In arts, humanities and social sciences, the preliminary training and the supervision tends to be inadequate.
Nicole Botterhuis, PNN spokesperson for the Eindhoven PhD association PromoVE sees the lengthy PhD programs as mostly a problem of arts, humanities and social sciences. `Yes, students do take too long to get their PhD, but that is not a problem at the technological universities. Their PhD programs are better supervised, with more counselling. Other universities do not stimulate their students as much to get their degree within the appointed time. Once a trend of six years has been set, it is very difficult for individual students to break from that.' That is also the conclusion of Oost and Sonneveld. In 2004, Koen van Turnhout and Dirk-Jan Voorn, both of PromoVE, surveyed the personnel departments of the various faculties themselves to get a clear picture of the performance of the PhD programs at the University of Eindhoven. This survey showed that it takes on average less than five years to get a PhD degree at the University of Eindhoven. The 2003 annual report reports the average length of a PhD program as 4.9 years. Botterhuis: `Of course that's too long, everyone should be able to complete the program in four years, but it's not as worrying as the national figures. The faculty of Architecture stands out with an average of 5.5 years.'
Article derived from Cursor, the newspaper of the University of Eindhoven |
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