Employers are not aware how much the doctorate has changed over the past five to 10 years, according to the main author of a report into good practice in doctoral training at Europe¡¯s research-intensive universities.

David Bogle, head of University College London¡¯s Graduate School and chair of the League of European Research Universities (Leru) Doctoral Studies Community, said that some non-academics who work with the academy have an understanding of the changing nature of a PhD. But, in general, the world of work does not understand the extent to which doctorates have broadened out.

The report, Good Practice Elements in Doctoral Training, published by Leru on 4 February, describes how doctoral training has ¡°changed significantly in recent years¡±. It says that many PhD students now find employment outside academia, and universities have developed structured doctorates to cultivate broad skill sets in preparation for this.

¡°The key point about the doctorate is that it is not just about producing a thesis, it is about producing a person,¡± Professor Bogle told Times Higher Education.

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The report outlines the progress that universities have made in preparing students for work in a range of areas. Examples of initiatives featured include courses on leadership and resilience, psychometric testing, careers awareness fairs and internship programmes.

Professor Bogle said that the UK is ¡°ahead of the game¡± on such innovations but he added that the rest of the Continent was making progress too. There has also been ¡°significant development¡± in formalising processes for doctoral training over the past five years, he added.

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¡°The one [area] that is a little bit behind is our interaction with non-academic partners¡­as a whole we could afford to do more with government, industry and charities,¡± Professor Bogle said.

There is a lot of good practice in this area but the academy needs to get the ¡°message out more strongly¡± and employers need to engage more with universities ¡°on a policy level¡±, he declared.

holly.else@tsleducation.com