More Foreign Doctoral Candidates Thanks to Graduate Schools
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With the share of foreign doctoral candidates in Germany already having grown slightly over the last few years according to the Federal Statistical Office (from 8.7 percent in 2002 to 10 percent in 2003, the latest available value), the organisers of new programmes for postgraduates are now hoping for a further increase. In addition to the Initiative for Excellence of the Federal Government and the Länder in the framework of which the Graduate Schools are being funded as a priority area, a new initiative is also starting in non-university research in 2006: the Helmholtz Graduate Schools. In collaboration with various higher education institutions, the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres (HGF) is running a programme of its own for doctoral candidates that is to be held in English. The aim is to cater for a 40-percent share of foreigners.
"In addition to their scientific training, the students are also offered special training to acquire vocational qualifications and develop their personality," explains Dr. Bärbel Köster of the Helmholtz Association head office. Doctoral theses from the research fields of the HGF such as energy, earth and environment, health, key technologies, the structure of matter or transport and space are to be supported with up to 300,000 euros a year.
"One advantage of the Graduate Schools is multiple supervision," Dr. Bernhard Lippert of German Rectors' Conference stresses. "As a rule, students from abroad feel well supported here because they are largely familiar with the model from at home. For one thing, multiple supervision means bidding farewell to one-to-one support in which the doctoral candidate has to rely entirely on his PhD supervisor. Second, as a rule, the supervisors come from different focal areas, enabling them to provide a wider range of advice. Supervision becomes more interdisciplinary."
The Max Planck Society has also gained good experience with the supervision of doctoral candidates in its International Schools. Here, the share of doctoral candidates from abroad is already at 60 percent.
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