1 / 22

Finnish Graduate Schools - Competition and Cooperation in Ph.D. Education

Finnish Graduate Schools - Competition and Cooperation in Ph.D. Education. Poika Isokoski and Kari- Jouko Räihä Graduate School on User Centered Information Technology , Tampere Unit for Computer-Human Interaction , and Department of Computer Sciences University of Tampere, Finland.

Download Presentation

Finnish Graduate Schools - Competition and Cooperation in Ph.D. Education

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Finnish Graduate Schools - Competition and Cooperation in Ph.D. Education PoikaIsokoski and Kari-JoukoRäihä GraduateSchool on UserCenteredInformationTechnology,Tampere Unit for Computer-HumanInteraction,and Department of Computer Sciences University of Tampere, Finland

  2. Contents • The Finnish Graduate School System • UCIT

  3. The Finnish “Graduate Schools” University Doctoraldegree (4 years) GraduateSchool Master’sdegree (2 years) Univ. Of Applied Sciences (highervocationaltraining) Bachelor’sdegree (3 years) 12 years in school Gymnasium

  4. Pre-GraduateSchoolPh.D. Education • Graduatestudentssupervisedbyprofessors • Studentsworked as researchorteachingassistants in universities • Oftenshort-termappointments • Somefive-yearassistantshipswithteachinginclinationavailable in mostdepartments. • Manystudentsworking in companies • Progress in studies and thesisworkoftenslow

  5. Reformneeded? • Therewaspoliticalpressure in the 80’s and 90’s for moreefficientPh.D. ”production”. • Work in committees and ministries led to Graduateschoolsaddedon top of the oldsystem • The oldsystemremainsoperational • The five-yearassistantpositionshavegraduallybeendiscontinued in mostuniversities.

  6. GraduateSchools • A governmentfundingscheme. • Funding for the first 722 positions in 1995. • In 2010 paidpositions for 1600 doctoralstudents in about 110 graduateschools. • Graduateschoolsofferfunding for 4-year full-timedoctoralstudies

  7. Graduate Schools • Organize Ph.D. education for their members. • Are similar to research projects in the university administration. • Receive funding and spend it to achieve their goals. • May emerge or be discontinued according to the wishes of the funding source (Academy of Finland), discontinuation rare. • May involve many departments in many universities. • Do not award degrees – faculties do.

  8. Goals • Shorter duration of Doctoral education • Higher quality of Doctors • Better national and international networks for faculty and graduates • More doctoral degrees

  9. Paid and Unpaidstudents • In addition to studentswithsalaryfundingGraduateSchoolsmayinvolveotherdoctoralstudents • Graduateschoolhas the opportunity to involveallFinnishdoctoralstudents in itsdiscipline. • Unpaidstudentstypicallywork as researchersorresearchassistants in universitiesorotherresearchinstitutes.

  10. Competition • Graduate schools are evaluated every 2 years – the best are funded • Evaluation is done by a panel of experts. • Evaluation based on: • plan for future operation • statistics on past performance • self-evaluation. • Positions in graduate schools are given to the most promising applicants. • A large portion of Ph.D. work remains outside graduate schools.

  11. MoreCompetition • The graduatestudent ”owns” the fundingoncegranted • can shop for the bestsupervisor • canalso shop for the bestdepartment • can shop for the bestuniversity in the graduateschool • In practiceshopping is rare.

  12. Cooperation • Graduateschoolsarecooperationorganizations of universitydepartments • Competition for students and researchfunding. • Cooperation in the graduateschool • Cooperationmakessensebecause the graduateschoolfunding is otherwiseunavailable.

  13. Professor’sView • Plusses: • Money for hiringdoctoralstudents. • Some of the visitor/seminar/courseloadcanbesharedbetweenprofessors. • Graduateschoolsofferpeersupport for professors and students. • Minuses: • Complexity: manyschools and students outside schools • Mustparticipate in the administration of graduateschools.

  14. Student’sView • Plusses: • Fouryears of funding • Fewdistractions - canconcentrate on the Ph.D. work • Peers in one’sownsub-disciplinecanbefound in the graduateschool. • Minuses: • The salary is notcompetitive. • Possible to remaindetachedfrom the realworld -> poorjobprospects.

  15. UCIT – GraduateSchool on UserCenteredInformationTechnology UCIT • University of Helsinki- Dept. of Psychology • Helsinki Institute for InformationTechnology • University of Tampere- Dept. of Computer Sciences (TAUCHI) • Dept. of Social Research • Tampere School of Public Health VTT Nokia Research Center • Aalto University, Helsinki- Helsinki Institute for InformationTechnology • Dept. of Media Technology • Dept. Of Computer Science and Engineering (Stratus) • Center for Knowledge and InnovationResearch • School of Design • Tampere University of Technology- Dept. of Electronics • Dept. of Software Systems (IHTE) • Center for Safety Management and Engineering

  16. Whatdoes UCIT Do? • Courses: • Researchmethods • Scientificwriting • Annual UCIT researchseminar • Funding for researchvisitsbystudents • Funding for student-organizedevents • Summer schools • Visitinglecturers • Jointeventswithdomestic and foreignpeerorganizations.

  17. PracticalChallenges • ”Take the money and run” strategy. • Somepreferstaying in theirofficesinstead of joining the educationalprogram. • The graduateschoolsdonothavemuchpoweroveruniversitiesorindividuals in them. • Recruiting international students. • Paidpositionsavailableonlyperiodically. • Result of an applicationunsure. Long wait for the results and for the nextopportunity.

  18. MorePracticalChallenges • Operatinggraduatesschools is complicated • Network of independentorganizations is difficult to steer. • Sometimesdifficult to fittogether the needs of the multiplefields of science. • Differentpractices in differentdisciplines • E.g. the four-yeardoctoralprogram is notuniversallyideal. • Somedepartmentsmake the studentsworkharderthanothers.

  19. UCIT – What Works Well • HCI is a marginalarea in manydepartments • UCIT brings the otherwisemarginalizedstudents (and teirsupervisors) together. • Ph.D. education in HCI in differentdisciplines is compared in UCIT. • Leads to harmonizedrequirements. • Graduatesknow the keypeople in Finland. • ”Outside” position allowedsignificantinvestment in HCI researchertrainingwithoutpainfulpolitics inside universities.

  20. Results • Shorter duration of doctoral education • Graduation faster in graduate schools. (Is this due to student selection or good work in the schools?) • Higher quality of graduates • Difficult to measure • Better national and international networks for faculty and graduates • Most likely true. • More doctoral degrees • Yes

  21. iSchool/UCIT/Future? • Universities in Finland areunderreform • Someuniversitiesaremerging • Severalcross-universityfaculty/departmentsplits and mergersareunderway. • Ministry of education is encouraging the universities to take the lead in shaping the graduateschools • It is a goodtime to changethings. • Howshouldwe set upourdoctoralprograms? • WhatcanwelearnfromiSchools?

  22. FurtherInformation • UCIT: http://www.cs.uta.fi/ucit • Academy of Finland: http://www.aka.fi

More Related