Doctorate in Transition
The doctorate is the independent realisation of an academic project, documented by the awarding of a doctoral degree. In Germany, the institutional right to award doctorates is regulated by federal state laws and stipulates that universities, equivalent higher education institutions or correspondingly accredited institutions should be the institutions awarding the title. A doctorate is based on an independent research achievement, the result of which is made public in written form as a dissertation.
The understanding of what a doctorate is and the procedures towards obtaining a doctoral degree are currently undergoing a period of transition. This is evident in recent developments and discussions in higher education policy in Germany, for instance with regard to the doctorate in medicine or to granting the right to award doctorates to universities of applied sciences or to non-university research institutions, and also with regard to the EU-wide standardisations in the context of the Bologna Process, and the adoption of procedural models from other academic traditions. In these debates, it is always important to recall the doctorate’s structural role, both for innovation in the sciences and for the public (society, economy). Current trends and problems must be made explicitly, and they must be taken into consideration within the development of the doctorate. Especially since the public debate on plagiarism scandals, the question concerning adherence to ethical and scientific standards and hence concerning quality assurance has taken centre stage. The doctorate is still the prerequisite for the academic career of a young scientist; its prestige may also be useful elsewhere (professionally), namely in promoting a career outside of academia and research.
This current transition has repercussions not only for the opportunities of individuals, but also for the scientific system as a whole. Not least because of the growing importance of third-party funded research, the number of people with temporary contracts in projects is rising. They are offered the prospect of a further degree following the Master’s degree or a comparable degree. This trend is amplified by the tendency, implicitly promoted by the Bologna Process, for the doctorate to become the third phase in a system of tiered study programmes. Furthermore, one can observe initiatives in certain federal states in Germany, in addition to the already established procedures of the cooperative doctorate, to grant by law certain organisational units of universities of applied sciences with an autonomous right to award doctorates. This means that the implementation and quality control of the procedures would no longer reside solely with (the faculties of) universities. Questions concerning the uniformity of the doctorate and its scientific standard, but also concerning effective means of assuring the quality, are thereby intensified. At issue in general is the status, role and purpose of the doctorate, but especially also its international recognition.