The Women's Studies Ph.D. in Europe: An Archive

Abstract

y the context in which new efforts in graduate e ducation in Women’s Stu dies take place in Euro pe. For t hese purposes, we will sketch a genera l picture—tricky territor y given the many differences in higher education in Europe but nevertheless wort h doing for purposes of this artic le. In the last ten to fi fteen years, man y changes in gra duate e ducation in Euro pe have taken place. One im portant chan ge is that graduate students ten d to spen d time in coursewor k, whereas previous ly they spent their time so lely on researc hing an d writing t he dissertation, large ly in isolation. This general trend has been accelerated by the 1999 Bologna Declaration w hich intro duces the Angl o-Saxon structure—wit h bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees—into t he European universit y system, enabling a model of relatively quick, targeted degree training also at the Ph.D. level. In or der to provi de structures wit hin which gra duate stu dents can do coursework rather than isolated work on the dissertation, many new organizations have emerge d. In France, for instance, inter disciplinary doctora l schools (ecoles doctorales) were founded while in the Netherlands national (largely disciplinary ) research schools emerged. These organizations provi de doctora l training an d simultaneous ly often serve, either at t he local or nationa l level, as organizations in w hich both new