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This study aims to investigate social sciences PhD scholars’ research experiences through a qualitative lens. Researchers explored the doctoral students’ research conceptions, supervision-related expectations, reasons to join PhD, key learning areas and advantages of PhD in this study. Education sector is rigorously seeking PhD faculty and simultaneously offering a number of research degree programs and scholarships to boom the research culture. The amount of time, energy, finance and dedication involved in it urges researchers to investigate this phenomenon holistically.

Qualitative research approach, phenomenology (semi-structured interviews) is used to conduct this research, and interpretative phenomenological analysis technique is used to analyze the collected data.

Findings have been reported comprehensively through interpretative phenomenological analysis. Respondents had a number of expectations from supervisors and viewed this journey as challenging and at the same time beneficial for their professional and personal life.

This study is unique in nature, as it depicts research conceptions of doctoral students, benefits of PhD, challenges in pursuing PhD and supervision expectations from a developing country perspective. This study’s outcomes have impressions for policymakers, researchers and supervisors. The findings have insights for educators to produce more constructive researchers and scholars.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical examination of factors associated with over-education among PhD graduates in Italy.

The investigation is based on recently released data collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics by means of interviews with a large sample of PhD recipients, carried out a few years after they obtained their PhD degree. The author measured the mismatch between the current job and previous PhD studies using two direct subjective evaluations of over-education, which distinguish between the usefulness of the PhD title to get the current job position and to perform the current work activities. Even if the incidence of over-education varies according to the measurement applied, the author found that it is highly widespread among PhD recipients. The econometric analyses are aimed at identifying factors associated with over-education and are based on the standard probit model and the bivariate probit model with sample selection which allows to control for self selection into employment.

The results show that over-education is significantly correlated with: first, a number of PhD-related variables, such as the scientific field of study, having attended courses or visiting periods abroad; second, some job-related characteristics, such as working in the academia or being mainly involved in research-related activities; third, the channel of access to the job; and fourth, residential location.

This paper contributes to the literature focusing on job-education mismatch by providing, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the first empirical analysis of over-education among PhD recipients in Italy; moreover, it provides some useful insights to evaluate the professional doctoral graduates in Italy.

Developing professional identities as both researchers and teachers is core to doctoral students’ growth. Given the primacy of research for the university career, this study aimed at answering the following questions: how much do doctoral students identify with the teacher compared to the researcher role? Can the teacher role identity be purposely activated?

In an experimental study with 167 psychology PhD students, trait role identification was measured using a questionnaire. Afterward, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions differing in the picture material (research vs teaching pictures vs a mixture of both) provided for creating a collage reflecting their roles. Subsequently, answers to open questions were coded and quantified as indicators of state role identity.

As a trait, doctoral students identified more strongly with their researcher role than with their teacher role. Teacher role identity as a state was successfully activated when doctoral students engaged with teaching pictures compared to the other conditions.

As the researcher role seems to be the default setting for PhD students, activation of the teacher role has the potential to benefit work satisfaction of PhD students and the quality of their teaching.

Taking both long- and short-term identification processes in PhD students into account is a promising new approach. Besides, quantitative data are added to the field of qualitative insights on PhD students’ professional roles.

In the context of falling demand for higher education and, in particular, doctoral studies, it is important to understand how to attract new students. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the decision-making process the PhD students of Baltic universities followed when choosing whether to continue their education at doctoral level and in which institution to do it.

It uses the data gathered in 2014 from all major Baltic universities providing access to higher education at doctoral level.

At macro-level, the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) are rather different in the supply of doctoral programmes and the level and dynamics of the popularity of doctoral-level studies in the population. Besides, strong country-specific effects on the goals students pursued when they enrolled in a doctoral programme and the information about the university or the programme they found useful are observed at micro-level. The main result is related to systematic differences in the perceptions students have about the benefits they will get from a doctoral degree across the current (at doctoral level) and previous (at Bachelor’s and Master’s levels) fields of study, as well as depending on labour-market experience and family and social circle.

These findings suggest that Baltic higher education institutions should employ different marketing communication strategies when attracting new doctoral students, depending on the field of study and the country they operate in.

This is the first comprehensive study on the motivation of enrolment at doctoral level in the Baltic countries. It gives the management of Baltic universities a general picture of the motivation to get a PhD degree and factors affecting the choice of university, which can be readily incorporated into universities’ strategy.

Many universities international activities have increased enormously in volume, scope, and complexity in recent years (Altbach & Knight, 2007; Altbach, 2015) with education providers seeking more innovative ways to provide education across boundaries. Joint doctoral degrees are one example of such an initiative, focusing on international collaboration between institutions. Joint doctorates can provide richer and more rewarding learning experiences for PhD students, supervisors and collaborating institutions. However, all the parties involved also need to be aware of the potential challenges and considerations that underpin effective outcomes, as well as the key differences between joint degree doctorates and doctorates with more traditional approaches. It has been pointed out that the literature on joint degree programmes is ‘thin’ providing limited information for institutional leaders (and other parties involved in their setting up and conduct) who may be contemplating joint degree initiatives (Michael & Balraj, 2003). This chapter draws on a unique case study of a joint doctoral programme that operates across continents and academic cultures to illustrate the challenges and considerations that should be borne in mind prior to entering into joint doctoral arrangements. Various ways in which the associated challenges may be overcome are also suggested in order to support effective outcomes for all the parties involved.

Much of the extant research, practice and policy in engineering education has focused on the limited persistence, waning interest and lack of preparation among Black students to continue beyond the post-secondary engineering pipeline. However, this research suggests that many Black PhD students persist and succeed in engineering, fueled by various motivational strengths. To better understand the motivations of Black students in engineering doctoral programs, this study aims to explore the factors that influence their decision to enroll in either an engineering or a computing doctoral program.

This paper uses an intrinsic and extrinsic motivational framework to investigate the inspiration of 44 Black engineering doctoral students in PhD engineering programs in 11 engineering schools across the country.

Results show that the participants’ motivation to pursue a PhD in engineering comes from several distinct factors, including the following: an unyielding passion for their particular discipline, a sense of responsibility to serve marginalized peoples and society, a path toward autonomy, pre-PhD mentorship and research opportunities and family and prior work experience.

Based on this study’s findings, a reconceptualization of graduate engineering education that incorporates the importance of “being Black” and its relationships with motivating and, potentially, retaining Black science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students is also offered.

This paper seeks to expose particular constructs and behaviors surrounding Black students’ motivation to learn and achieve in engineering at the highest academic levels, offering a more nuanced perspective than currently is found in traditional engineering education literature.

This paper contributes to the empirical analysis of PhD holders' transition into the non-academic labor market (i.e. their intersectoral mobility). The research focuses on doctoral graduates specialized in a field of study supposed to have notable non-academic applications, namely Industrial and Information Engineering. We inspect whether these doctoral graduates experience lower satisfaction with PhD knowledge use on the job when they work outside universities and non-public research centers.

We use cross-sectional survey data collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics in 2014. Ordinary least squares and ordered logit analyses provide baseline results; furthermore, we apply a multinomial endogenous treatment model to control for potential bias arising from self-selection into employment sectors.

We find evidence that for PhD holders Industrial and Information Engineering being employed in the industrial and services sector implies lower satisfaction with the use of doctoral knowledge than that reported by their counterparts working in universities or public research centers.

These results complement and extend previous evidence about PhD holders' career outcomes by focusing on the intersectoral mobility issue and on a specific group of doctoral graduates whose intersectoral mobility potential is expected to be high. Our findings call for policies that might trigger a better alignment between doctoral education and non-academic jobs.

Research readings groups represent a recent innovation in accounting doctoral education that appears to be spreading at research-oriented universities. In this chapter, the authors describe how accounting research readings groups can serve as a mechanism to engage doctoral students in the consumption and discussion of research throughout all phases of the doctoral program. An accounting research readings group supplements the breadth of knowledge gained in doctoral seminars by adding depth of knowledge in a focal research area. The authors offer insights from the educational psychology literature to justify research readings groups as a form of team-based learning and then offer suggestions on the formation and operation of these groups. The authors enumerate the many benefits that these groups afford to both doctoral students and faculty members. The authors also distribute a survey to faculty organizers of the existing accounting research readings groups and share the results of this survey to supplement their advice with firsthand experiences, the authors also share the results of a survey distributed to faculty organizers of existing accounting research readings groups. The authors’ goal is to encourage the use of accounting research readings groups to inspire, foster, and enhance the research culture within accounting departments and doctoral programs.

The Wellcome Trust has reviewed the provision of PhD training from the viewpoint of the students and supervisors it funds; this paper presents evidence from these reviews. A number of factors affect the “success” of the PhD training experience; what is considered good (i.e. fit for purpose) PhD research training may be different for the student and the supervisor. Compares and contrasts the views of PhD students and PhD supervisors on a number of issues including reasons for doing a PhD, the purpose of PhD training and perceptions of the quality of PhD research training. Suggests that to support the different needs of students, supervisors and the science base, a flexible yet quality assured approach to PhD research training is required.

This chapter proposes authentic leadership as a generic competence and an integral part of doctoral education regardless of field of study. The authors explore its potential to enhance the development of doctoral candidates and academics and search for answers to the questions: Can and should authentic leadership be developed as a generic competence in doctoral education? How can it be designed and implemented in a doctoral training module? What would its learning outcomes be? The authors address these questions in the context of doctoral education. They assert that authentic leadership training should be mandatory for all doctoral candidates, and that supervisors should be actively engaged in the development of this underappreciated transferrable skill.