INTERNATIONALIZATION OF PhD STUDIES
Gonzalez-Martinez, C1., Pastor, Cl1., Chafer, M1. and Pittia, P2.
1Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain), Instituto de Ingeniería de Alimentos para el Desarrollo.
mtchafer@tal.upv.es
2 University of Teramo (Italy), Faculty of Agricolture, Department of Food Science. ppittia@unite.it
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this work was to evaluate the
importance of the establishment of an International
PhD degree/collaboration and the current state of
such programs in Europe.
METHODOLOGY
To this aim, a short survey was developed, which
consist of two sections:
1st part, questions about the implementation of
doctoral joint programs, collaborations between other
universities at doctoral level, International Doctoral
degrees and about PhD courses taught in English in
each institution
2nd part of the survey, the perception of the
importance of this International degree/collaboration
was evaluated, together with the main barriers
encountered to implement it.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A total of 55 responses were collected from the different
partners, which belong to different higher education institutions
from 23 countries (21 European or associated countries, 1 from
Canada and 1 from Israel).
Of the 55 higher institutions who responded to the survey, 24%
have doctoral joint programs. Some of them are:
• Iceland (University of Iceland, Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition),
• Italy (University of Sassari, Dip. Di Scienze degli Alimenti, University of
Milano (UNIMI)),
• Portugal (Portuguese Catholic University, College of Biotechnology
(UCP/ESB), University of Porto, Faculty of Sciences, University of
Algarve, Department de Engenharia Alimentaria),
• Romania (UASVM University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary
Medicine Bucharest, Faculty bof Biotechnology),
• Slovakia(Slovak University of Technology, Faculty of Chemical and Food
Technology),
• The Netherland (Wageningen University) and
• Turkey (Mersin University, Department of Food Engineering).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Of the 55 higher institutions …only 9% have the
International Doctoral degree implemented:
Agricultural University Plovdiv (Bulgaria), National College of Vet Med,
Food Science and Engineering (Nantes, France), University of Iceland,
Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition (Iceland), Wageningen University
(The Netherland) and Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (Spain).
It is remarkable that not to have implemented such
official degrees/programs is not related with the
lack of international relationships: results showed
that 56% of the institutions have already established
collaborations between other foreign universities at
doctoral level.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Of the 55 higher institutions … 43 % of the institution taught
PhD courses in English language, thus contributing to the
internationalization of their studies.
Almost all the respondent (91%) stated that to have this
International degree/collaboration at PhD level was
important. The main reasons were related to
• the possibility of creation of an international scientific
community;
• enhancement of networking opportunities,
• develop joint research,
• adding value, better job opportunities…
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
When asking about the importance of the establishment of
an International degree/collaboration.
The text of responses have let identified the following key
factors shown in the Word-cloud generated by using these
responses (Figure 1)
Figure 1.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
As key factors (Figure 1)
• the enhancement of language skills and other soft skills
(communication, team working, knowledge of different cultures,
etc.) by the students,
• to offer them a multicultural experience and a larger variety of
future work environments
They also pointed out that “the exchange of ideas at international
level is crucial for science development”.
Figure 1.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
It is also remarkable that for some of the respondent
there is not a need for such official
arrangements/programs because “informal
collaborations with universities also occur without the
presence of such structures”.
The importance of developing these programs is probably
related with the number of external/international
collaborations that the institution has already
implemented
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
When asked about the main barriers encountered to implement
such International PhD degree/collaboration, they indicated as the
most important that
• lack of financial resources,
• the presence of bureaucracy constraints (rigidity of the
institution, national legislation, university rules …),
• lack of time and poor knowledge of foreign language
These comments can be observed in the Figure 2, where a wordcloud graph was generated by using the text given by respondents.
CONCLUSIONS
To combat the poor international cooperation
between institutions,
• international links and
• cooperation
should be encouraged through the establishment
of joint doctoral programs and international
doctoral degrees awarded by two or more
institutions from different countries.
Thank you for your atention!
mtchafer@tal.upv.es