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EUA publishes recommendations for continued reform of doctoral education

October 28, 2010

EUA has published a series of recommendations for improving doctoral education in Europe, aimed at universities as well as governments and funding agencies. The EUA ‘Salzburg II Recommendations’ are the result of a wide consultation with the 185 members of EUA’s Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE), and were adopted by EUA’ s governing Council at the beginning of its Annual Conference in Palermo.

These recommendations aim to make sure the momentum for doctoral reform, which has been generated by the original Salzburg Principles (published in 2005), continues to gather pace.

The EUA recommendations cement the basis of the doctorate as based on the practice of an original research project and thereby underline clearly that it is separate by its very nature from the first (bachelor) and second (master) cycle.

While strongly supporting universities setting up structured doctoral programmes and doctoral schools, the recommendations emphasise the individual character of the doctorate and the need to use institutional structures to support and give space to the development of the individual researcher and his/her research project.

European Universities have shown their commitment to reform doctoral education and implement the Salzburg Principles. In order to continue developing and improving doctoral education, they need a wide degree of autonomy to set up innovative new structures in an accountable way.

Download the full ‘Salzburg II Recommendations’.