Doctoral Education and Labor Market: Policy Questions and Data Needs

Abstract

In this chapter the larger policy framework that influences the relationships between doctoral education and labor market policy in Europe is described. In the first section, the traditions of doctoral education prevalent in continental Europe are contrasted to the US model of graduate education and a brief account is provided about the international (OECD) debate about the future of doctoral education. This is followed by an analysis of the implications of higher education expansion for doctoral education and training as numbers increased and the production of doctorates no longer exclusively served for the reproduction of academic staff. A third part develops a typology of destinations of doctoral degree holders followed by an analysis of the increasing diversification of the types of doctoral degrees of which altogether nine different ones were found. A major implication of this diversification is the distinction between research doctorates and professional doctorates, the latter being geared towards the transition into non-academic labor markets. A further part discusses the extended policy field in which a doctoral education is no longer an exclusively academic affair but is increasingly managed at the institutional level, embedded in national regulations and performance incentives as well as targeted by policies of supra-national actors, e.g. the European Commission, OECD or UNESCO. Doctoral degree holders have currently become a valuable resource in knowledge societies and economies. In addition, future policy and data needs are identified. The conclusions point out that although recruitment patterns and career progress for early career researchers in academia have become more standardised, they continue to be influenced by a number of other factors which contribute to the considerable complexity of the relationships between a doctoral education and academic as well as non-academic labor markets.