Third-cycle education comprises two integrated parts, research and education. The Vice-Chancellor recently decided upon university-wide rules and regulations for third-cycle education that are primarily concerned with regulating how we manage aspects of education. Together with the admission rules decided by the University Board in June 2022, it represents a great step towards a more standardised third-cycle education.
A lot of things work well and every year we assess many brilliant doctors who are celebrated at the annual doctoral degree conferment ceremony. However, we also know there are many doctoral students who experience stress and anxiety. With these rules and regulations, we hope to create better preconditions and greater fairness whilst not creating more bureacracy or a cumbersome system.
In producing the rules and regulations, the Research Programmes Board (FUN) has invested a lot of time and effort into doctoral students’ individual study plans (ISP) and what they should contain. The ISP can be thought of as a “contract” between the doctoral student and the University. It is primarily intended to be a way of planning work and documenting progress that supports the doctoral student in achieving their doctoral degree. The Research Programmes Board has taken a major step and agreed that the University is to strive to use ONE system for all ISP management. The main contender is the system developed within the LADOK consortium and we will now investigate how well this meets our requirements and aspirations.
A new feature in the rules and regulations is that the supervisor may not serve as chair during the public defence of the doctoral thesis, a rule already found in several faculties. In most cases the chairship is not problematic, but if things get heated or it is a controversial subject, the chair should be able to lead the public defence proceedings without being subject to accusations of “protecting” their doctoral student.
The relationship between supervisor and doctoral student has many facets and can be problematic since they often work closely together for several years. Where does the boundary between having a personal and a professional relationship lie? These are not straightforward questions, and as in any relationship it is necessary to adjust ways of working and interacting according to the circumstances.
During the last period, FN’s vice chair Professor Maria Stanfors has studied the role of supervisor and delivered a popular series of seminars for supervisors which became a good meeting place for an exchange of experiences. FUN will continue with this work and develop courses to support both new and experienced supervisors in their task.
I have also had a new area of responsibility added to my Pro Vice-Chancellor’s portfolio: external engagement. I am now Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research Infrastructure, PhD-education, IT and External Engagement.
/Viktor Öwall
Read more
- University-wide regulations for doctoral education at Lund University
- Admission rules for doctoral education 2024 (PDF, 606kb, new window)
- Viktor Öwall, pro vice-chancellor– role description
