Abstract:

In 2000, in the Lisbon strategy, the research area and the higher education area were considered the pillars of a developed Society. In Bergen report (2005) four objectives for higher education were proposed: preparation for the labour market; preparation for training active citizens in democratic societies; personal development; development and maintenance of a broad and advanced knowledge base. In this context higher education area and especially doctoral education and is fundamental for the research area, once is essential for the researcher construction and development, being on the borderline between higher education area and research area. If a few years ago a doctorate was someone who would be staying in the academy and would be a professor and a researcher, nowadays a doctorate is someone with a specialized formation at a higher level, who having research skills will be part of a research team integrated in the academy or will work in an industry. This change of purpose brings with it, changes in the doctoral curriculum (doctoral profile competence), which should have repercussions on supervisory practices (role of the supervisor) and in the activities developed by students (competencies developed by students).

To understand how doctoral training and research competence development is seen by doctorates and their supervisors, a research project was carried out at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. A survey was applied, online for two months, to doctoral supervisors and PhD students of this University.

The study data showed that, from the doctoral point of view, the skills necessary for a good integration in the labour market are not always developed. Doctorates perceive in-depth knowledge in their field as a benefit to their profession, the ability to solve problems, ask questions, reflect and seek solutions, as an asset to themselves. However, the fact that they did not develop relational skills such as teamwork (conflict management / working cooperatively and collaboratively) is perceived as a gap in their doctoral preparations. This research also allowed verifying that some supervisors when developing this activity do not always prioritise doctoral student development as a researcher, having other goals. The difference between what is advocated for a doctoral curriculum today, expressed in the “Qualification framework" for the third cycle defined by the European education area”, the supervisory practices and tasks proposed by supervisors during the doctorate period, leads to difficulties in integrating doctorates in the labour market, which are perceived by doctoral students.

Keywords:

Doctoral education, curriculum, supervision practices, doctoral students’ tasks, doctoral competencies.