The Status of Published Work in Submissions for Doctoral Degrees in European Universities
This report relates to the regulations governing the freedom of candidates registered for a doctoral degree of a European university to incorporate into their thesis published works based upon the results of the approved research programme.
The report summarises the findings of a questionnaire survey conducted by the Council in collaboration with the European Association of Deans of Science of the regulations relating to the nature of a candidate’s thesis submitted for examination for the award of a doctoral degree by a European University. It compares the findings with the regulations governing the award of the degree of PhD in UK universities. The report is presented as a discussion paper to complement the report The Award of the Degree of PhD on the Basis of Published Work in the UK published by the Council in 1996.
The nature of the British PhD has been under review in recent years noticeably, as a result of the White Paper Realising our Potential: A Strategy for Science, Engineering and Technology published by the British Government in 1993. The White Paper expressed employers’ concern about the nature of training for PhD candidates and in particular emphasised the need for candidates to possess good personal and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to communicate the results of research to both expert and layman.p.8