The new Higher Education in Russia and Beyond is out

Issue 3(9) Fall 2016 – Doctoral Education: Challenges and Prospects

Dear colleagues, We are happy to present the 9th issue of Higher Education in Russia and Beyond, a journal that is aimed at bringing current Russian, Central Asian, Eastern European educational trends to the attention of the international higher education research community. This issue focuses on the challenges of organization and reform of doctoral education. Doctoral education is traditionally perceived as a mechanism of training new generations of academic staff. Still, doctoral education is nowadays aimed at training professionals for sectors other than academic too. PhD holders who choose a career outside the academia are no longer ‘black sheep’, and doctoral programs are designed in a way that takes such career opportunities into account too. How efficient is doctoral education nowadays when it is facing shifting borders between universities and the outside world, especially in the context of new labor market demands? What indicators should be used when evaluating the efficiency of doctoral programs? To what extent do those indicators reflect the goals of modern doctoral education? Efficiency of doctoral programs may also depend on students’ goals and motivation. The present issue sheds light on who doctoral students are and why they choose this path.

The quality of doctoral education, conditions for degree awarding, and alumni employment mechanisms are all directly related to institutional capacity. To what extent does modern doctoral education meet the challenges and goals of building world-class universities? What do experts think about the courses of relevant reforms? What actions are already being taken? You will find the answers to these questions in the current issue. For new issue HERB 3(9) Fall 2016 – Doctoral Education: Challenges and Prospects, please click here. Previous HERB issues are available for you here. For subscription, visit this page.