EUA Council for Doctoral Education

What we do

By promoting collaboration and exchange of good practices among its members and disseminating the outcomes of its work, EUA-CDE makes an important contribution to the development of doctoral education and research training in Europe. Its members enjoy many opportunities to exchange on issues of common interest and take part in shaping the doctoral education landscape of the future.

Regular EUA-CDE activities include two flagship events, thematic peer groups, the Doctoral Debate online forum, a regular newsletter, information gathering and monitoring, and policy representation. EUA-CDE also partners in European and global projects and is in continuous interaction with a range of other European and international organisations.

Policy topics

EUA-CDE addresses recurring and emerging topics. Recent topics include supervision of doctoral candidates, transversal skills training, career development and tracking, research integrity, careers of postdoctoral researchers, Open Science and the digital transformation, internationalisation of doctoral education, research assessment and doctoral candidates’ mental health and wellbeing.

To learn more about the latest activities and events on these topics, please click here.

 

Projects

  • Modernisation of Institutional Management of Innovation and Research in South Neighbouring Countries (MIMIr)

    2015-2018

    The MIMIr project aimed to develop capacity for innovation and research management in the Arab world, notably by engaging European, Moroccan and Jordanian partner universities in a structured dialogue on the transfer and implementation of European good practices. To learn more about the MIMIr project, click here

  • Framework for the Internationalisation of Doctoral Education (FRINDOC)

    2012-2015

    The FRINDOC project developed tools to facilitate the internationalisation of doctoral education at institutional level, notably providing a framework for universities to define and implement strategies as well as an online tool for self-evaluation. The final publication of the project is available here and the accompanying self-evaluation tool here.

  • Cooperation on Doctoral Education between Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe (CODOC)

    2010-2012

    The CODOC project engaged partners in four different regions of the world, resulting in an initiative that examined the changing global cooperation landscape in higher education and research by highlighting the main areas of convergence across these regions. The final publication of the CODOC project is available here.

  • Development of the Internationalization of PhD Studies in South-Africa (Yebo!)

    2017-2021

    The Yebo! project is focused on developing the internationalisation of doctoral education in South African universities, notably developing a web-based portal and organising thematic conferences and training sessions. The project builds on the framework for international doctoral education developed in the FRINDOC project. To learn more about the Yebo! project, click here.

  • Doctoral Education: The shape of things to come

    2014-2015

    Through a series of structured consultations, EUA-CDE engaged European universities in identifying the most important policy topics for doctoral education in the next decade. These consultations resulted in Taking Salzburg Forward Taking Salzburg Forward, which currently serves as the framework for our work.

  • Accountable Research Environments for Doctoral Education (ARDE)

    2010-2012

    The ARDE project explored how quality assurance for doctoral education has been implemented in European universities, notably describing the developments in this field, outlining recommendations and underlining the differences between quality assurance for doctoral education, and quality assurance for the first and second cycle of higher education. The final publication is available here.

  • EUA Doctoral Programmes Projects

    2004-2007

    Responding to a growing interest in doctoral education and research training in Europe after the turn of the century, EUA launched this project to provide its members with a broad overview of the existing landscape of doctoral programmes in Europe. This project led to the establishment of EUA-CDE in 2008. The final publications of this project are available here and here.

  • Promoting Collaborative Doctoral Education for Enhanced Career Opportunities (DOC-CAREERS II)

    2010-2012

    The DOC-CAREERS II project looked at how universities work with their business and other non-university partners in establishing and taking forward research projects in the framework of doctoral education. DOC-CAREERS II was implemented by the EUA Research & Innovation unit. The final publication of the DOC-CAREERS II project is available here.

  • Collaborative Doctoral Education (DOC-CAREERS)

    2006-2009

    The DOC-CAREERS project examined a range of collaborative doctoral programmes across Europe, which were conducted jointly by universities and industry/business partners. It encouraged discussion on different approaches to collaborative doctoral education and highlighted good practices, common problems and some solutions for solving them. DOC-CAREERS was implemented by the EUA Research & Innovation unit. The final publication of the DOC-CAREERS project is available here.