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This paper aims to examine graduate student learning experiences and perceptions of quality and the extent to which these learners were living the intended experiences that academic programs are seeking to foster.

Using a multiple case-study design, a three-stage interview protocol used with six PhD candidates across three faculties as well as 25 institutional, provincial and national documents served as principal sources of data. A within-case analysis was performed for each case and compared via a cross-case analysis.

The four principal factors that characterized the PhD candidate learning experience emerged as the significance of intentional individualized guidance; the importance of social interactions and community; becoming an independent scholar; and the transformative nature of learning. Gaps were identified between institutional intent and the learner experience. Recommendations are made regarding the adoption of indicators of quality that focus on student learning and notions of transformation.

This investigation attempts to tell distinct and shared stories of the highly contextualized and complex phenomenon of quality in PhD student learning. With limited information regarding how programmatic development is lived by students, this study’s comparison of institutional characterizations and student perceptions of quality sheds light on existing strengths to leverage, and gaps to invest in, at the institutional and program levels.

This chapter examines the experiences of Ghanaian PhD graduates from various universities across the globe. A qualitative research model was therefore designed and used to explore factors that motivated the PhD graduates to pursue their programs, challenges they faced in the course of their study, effects of these challenges on them, and how they dealt with the challenges. Purposive and convenience sampling techniques were employed to select 20 participants for the study. The theoretical focus of the study was on human capital theory. The data were analyzed using a thematic approach. It emerged from the study that job placement and security, the academic environment, family aspiration and expectation, personal desire to stand out to be visible, and availability of scholarships were factors that motivated Ghanaian PhD graduates to pursue their programs. The findings also revealed that Ghanaian PhD graduates lost most of their acquaintances deliberately, missed their families and social life, and had difficulty managing supervisor/student relationship, battling with theories, data management, and analysis. It became obvious that as part of PhD students’ orientation, they should be made to understand that uncertainty, doubt, and disappointments are parts of the PhD experience and they should not be derailed by those conditions. Universities running PhD programs should provide counseling centers and programs that are tailored toward reduction in stress factors accompanying PhD programs.

The purpose of this paper is to study the research experience of PhD students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and factors influencing this experience.

The information was gathered through a questionnaire which has been developed based on PREQ questionnaire. The statistical populations of this study consist of those PhD students whose research proposal had been approved by the educational council of their faculty or had defended their dissertation. By using random sampling method, 118 questionnaires were collected.

The findings showed that there is a significant relationship between all of the research experience factors and significant differences between overall satisfactions of the students on their research experience. Variables such as sex and different stages of research have positive and significant impact on the research experience of the respondents.

The outcomes of this study suggest that among the PhD students of Ferdowsi University, there is a relative satisfaction with factors making up the research experience.

This study aims to examine how PhD students with diverse profiles, intentions and expectations manage to navigate their doctoral paths within the same academic context under similar institutional conditions. Drawing on Giddens’ theory of structuration, this study explores how their primary reasons, motives and motivations for engaging in doctoral studies influence what they perceive as facilitating or constraining to progress, their strategies to face the challenges they encounter and their expectations regarding supervision.

Using a qualitative design, the analysis was conducted on a data subset from an instrumental case study (Stake, 2013) about PhD students’ persistence and progression. The focus is placed on semi-structured interviews carried out with 36 PhD students from six faculties in humanities and social sciences fields at a large Canadian university.

The analysis reveals three distinct scenarios regarding how these PhD students navigate their doctoral paths: the quest for the self; the intellectual quest; and the professional quest. Depending on their quest type, the nature and intensity of PhD students’ concerns and challenges, as well as their strategies and the support they expected, differed.

This study contributes to the discussion about PhD students’ challenges and persistence by offering a unique portrait of how diverse students’ profiles, intentions and expectations can concretely shape a doctoral experience.

This study aims to explore different themes related to impostor phenomenon, as experienced by graduate students and postdocs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Open-ended survey responses from 120 US-based participants from 40 states and Washington, D.C., describing an occasion when they felt like an impostor, were analyzed thematically.

Following content analysis, three themes emerged: occurrence, attribution and identity. While impostor-like feelings were experienced as early as high school or college, the majority experienced it during PhD application, on being admitted to a PhD program and throughout PhD training. The people experiencing impostor phenomenon attributed their achievements and success to others (other’s name, prestige, or connections, other’s mistake, other’s lies or misrepresentation, or other’s kindness) or self (self-inadequacy, pretense, luck or self-doubt) rather than their own hard work or ability. Gender-based and race/ethnicity-based identity also shaped the experiences of the impostor phenomenon.

Open-ended survey responses varied in length and level of detail. Responses provided a one-time snapshot of a memory related to impostor-feelings that stood out, not indicating if the feeling persisted or evolved with time. The findings are not generalizable over a larger population.

This study identified multiple themes related to the impostor phenomenon not investigated before, enriching existing research while also providing methodological rigor for the development of follow-up studies.

Increasing interest in PhD processes calls for valid and reliable survey instruments that cover key aspects of the PhD experience. Based on recent research, existing questionnaires and interviews with PhD students, the Quality in PhD Processes Questionnaire (QPPQ) was developed to cover a range of influential factors such as perceptions of the research environment and psychological well-being. This paper aims at validating the QPPQ for measuring quality in PhD processes.

This study assesses the validity of the QPPQ’s scales with special attention to factorial, convergent and discriminatory validity. Six scales were developed based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses applied to 23 items in a sample of 1,670 PhD students representing various academic disciplines.

Results were promising concerning the scales’ psychometric properties and indicators of validity.

The QPPQ offers itself as a theoretically grounded and thoroughly tested instrument for the purposes of evaluating and developing PhD programs at a local level or for researching PhD processes in general.

The purpose of this paper is to give insight on the important preparation task needed to be considered by prospective PhD candidates prior to the start of their study. As pursuing and obtaining a higher degree qualification is becoming more eminent for those who want to advance their academic career, crucial preparation is needed before embarking on the doctoral quest.

A small-scale study of the PhD experience was carried out in a public university in Malaysia using semi-structured in-depth interviews with eight successful doctoral students representing three different faculties to assess respondents’ experiences concerning the preparation aspect, challenges faced and strategies used to overcome the problem.

From the interview data, three overarching themes emerged: motives, task and financial and health as important dominators that could influence a successful venture of a PhD journey.

As the present research respondents were few, further research with bigger number of respondents may shed better light in identifying other important aspect in preparation for PhD. The authors are unable, in the space of this paper, to fully explore the implications of the data, and the work of others that it builds on, for the future of professional doctorates or other types of PhD awards. As professional doctorates are fully concentrated on their professional endeavour, i.e. nursing and education, the preparation needed may include different groundwork. In addition, this study was carried out in Malaysia, where the system may not necessarily share the same characteristics to other doctoral systems in other countries. Cultural differences, the impact of age, gender and race, were other variables that could be weighed by future research in the same area.

The university’s graduate office should line-up courses to inform future doctoral candidates on the aspect of preparation at personal level that the students need to carry out.

The study provides new views where potential doctoral students should be helped and guided to become more consciously aware of their decision in pursuing a higher degree. This paper provides suggestions on the guidelines of the initial preparation needed before embarking on a PhD journey and managing their own learning.

The paper establishes the important aspect of the preparation phase needed to be considered by future doctoral students before pursuing their doctoral quest.

High turnover rates, delay and dissatisfaction among PhD students about the high efforts and low rewards are common problems in doctoral education. Research shows that many different factors are associated with the mental health crisis in graduate education, but these diverse aspects have not often been studied in relation to talent management and human resource management (HRM) strategies. Based on questionnaires and in-depth interviews, this chapter critically assesses the factors that influence doctoral students’ well-being, using as theoretical framework the self-determination theory, concerned with the social and other conditions that facilitate or hinder human well-being and flourishing, and the job demands–resources model, an occupational stress model that suggests strain is a response to imbalance between demands on the individual and the resources he or she has to deal with those demands. These theoretical frameworks help to explore the perceived job demands and resources, and motivations of a sample of 25 PhD students in the Netherlands, in order to recommend adequate talent management strategies to improve PhD work conditions at universities and reduce the increasing levels of ill-being. The study proposes a collegial model, focussing on the enjoyment of work, instead of the current managerial model, which focusses on strengthening knowledge and skills, and stimulating performance-oriented behaviour. A differentiated approach is needed, offering customized talent development for each PhD student in order to respond to his or her specific qualities, improving general well-being. This radical shift in talent management is needed to counter the mental health crisis in doctoral studies.

The Higher Degree Research (HDR) journey is known for its difficulties, complexities and challenges (Lees-Deutsch, 2020), with many students experiencing multi-faceted issues and concerns (Skopek et al., 2020). Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the relationships that exist between variables, vulnerability factors and doctorial capital of candidates (n = 532) studying at Australian universities (2019).

A quantitative cross-sectional correlational research design and Bronfenbrenner's socio – ecological framework (personal, home, university, community) was utilised to collect participants' (n = 532) descriptive statistics. Bourdieu's social reproduction theory was used as a lens to examine how experiences, across the PhD candidature, are influenced by several psychosocial factors and doctoral capital.

From such a dual methodological approach, the findings from this study suggests that (1) age, (2) gender, (3) nationality, (4) financial/work status, (5) years of PhD and (6) attending postgraduate (PG) student events, go to significantly (p < 0.001) impact (positively and negatively) on students' experiences and correspondingly, impacts on their self-confidence, motivation and mental health and well-being status.

Research limitations are related to the recruitment of more doctoral students across more Australian universities. Further research is required from HDR supervisors, so as to “balance” the experiences of the PhD journey in higher education.

In order to succeed in academia and HDR programs, students need to identify with and develop the “right kind of capital” to successfully navigate fields of social and scholarly play. Investigating how the participants perceive their social and scholarly habitus is seen as crucial in helping students to develop positive dispositions relevant to being a doctoral student.

The concept of doctoral capital and well-being, amongst Australian PhD students, is under researched and requires further investigation as a precursor to developing more specific policy designs aimed at providing heightened positive learning environments/HDR programs tailored to support doctoral students.

Whilst reforms to improve PhD experiences are well established across the international literature (Geven et al., 2018; Skopek et al., 2020), evidence for Australia is largely missing. It is envisaged, that findings from this research will further assist in the development of quality policies that would go to provide effective services and support for doctoral students within Australian universities.