Abstract
Nowadays, there is an increasing need of new skills for PhD students to face the future labour market prospects. PhD graduates must have qualities attractive not only in academia but also outside, in both manufacture and service-oriented enterprises, in small innovative companies, and in the civil services and public administration, among others. To know what the needs of these future employees are, is of great importance to be able to improve their personal and academic formation. The aim of this work was, in the framework of the EC-funded ISEKI_Food 4 network, to evaluate the most desirable specific and soft skills that PhD students should acquire by the end of their doctoral studies. To this aim, several surveys were conducted and sent to the different stakeholders (academia and food industry partners) in order to collect the information needed. Results showed that competences related to research skills and techniques, research management, personal effectiveness and communication skills were considered to be the most valuable skills to be acquired by our PhD students to meet the future needs of the labour market. The importance of these skills was appreciated differently, depending on the stakeholder. To sum up, some recommendations to integrate such valuable skills into the curricula of the PhD student are given.
Highlights
Most European and non-European countries are facing changes in their doctoral programs
Eighty four academia members responded to the survey, coming from faculties related to the Food Science and Technology field, obtained from 38 countries; 22 European and 16 non-European associated partners (Table 1). 45% or the survey respondent reported being mostly senior (45%) full professors (60%), working at the university for more than 14 years (63%)
The results showed that all the competences were scored very highly, indicating the positive perception of both stakeholders regarding these competences. These results put in evidence the extremely high expectations we have for our doctorate holders, as no skills were rated low
Summary
Most European and non-European countries are facing changes in their doctoral programs. In the light of this scenario, the role of the research/doctoral schools is underlined, the importance of innovative structures to meet the future challenges is highlighted and the development of interdisciplinary training and transferable skills are being promoted to meet the needs of the wider employment market. The work was organized by taking into account seven groups of outcomes dealing with research activities (subject-specific) and with transferable or soft skills (generic competences). The aim of this work is, in the framework of the EC-funded ISEKI Food 4 network, to evaluate the most desirable specific and soft skills (linked to employability of doctoral graduates) that PhD students should acquire throughout their doctoral studies, by taking into account both the Academia and the Food employers’ points of view. What is unique about the study discussed is that the particular opinions and impressions of employers and academic programs, represented through faculty, are included as sources of information
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