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Cooperation and Competition in Swiss Doctoral Training: For the Sake of the Knowledge Society?

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Doctoral Education for the Knowledge Society

Part of the book series: Knowledge Studies in Higher Education ((KSHE))

Abstract

This chapter describes the remarkable quantitative and qualitative evolution of Swiss doctoral education during the last 20 years and its contribution to the competitiveness of Swiss higher education and research institutions. In parallel to the increase in doctoral students, several elements of doctoral education such as recruitment and supervision practices have been reformed, although not in a systematic way. Many reform initiatives have been carried out in a cooperative manner among traditional universities. Although knowledge transfer has become an increasingly important issue in Swiss higher education and research policies, it has not been central to the reform of doctoral education. It will probably become more prominent in the next reform step. On one hand, the doctoral graduates’ situation in the nonacademic labour market has become less comfortable, and the pressure to actively promote the use of their knowledge and competencies in society has increased. On the other hand, requests for the creation of practice-oriented PhD programmes in collaboration with the young universities of applied sciences have become stronger.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In order to distinguish the three types of universities, we hereafter call the two federal institutes of technology as well as the ten cantonal universities “traditional universities”, although some of them actually are quite young. However, they all incarnate the traditional university sector to the extent that they share the same basic missions (teaching and basic research) and admission criteria (baccalaureate from a gymnasium, called “Maturität”/“Maturité”).

  2. 2.

    Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (2016); own calculations.

  3. 3.

    Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (2016).

  4. 4.

    Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (2016).

  5. 5.

    Further comparison with four Norwegian case studies has confirmed these tendencies (Baschung 2016).

  6. 6.

    Fieldwork of the underlying study has been carried out between 2006 and 2009.

  7. 7.

    July 2016.

  8. 8.

    All numbers originate from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (www.bfs.admin.ch); partly own calculations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Haute école de gestion Arc; HES-SO, University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Lukas Baschung

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  1. Lukas Baschung
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Correspondence to Lukas Baschung .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Jung Cheol Shin

  2. School of Education, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Barbara M. Kehm

  3. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Glen A. Jones

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Baschung, L. (2018). Cooperation and Competition in Swiss Doctoral Training: For the Sake of the Knowledge Society?. In: Shin, J., Kehm, B., Jones, G. (eds) Doctoral Education for the Knowledge Society. Knowledge Studies in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89713-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89713-4_4

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-89713-4

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