The major objective of this report was to gain more insight into curriculum reform developments at the level of five selected study areas – so far under‐researched – to evaluate progress made and to try to discover »what works«. The five study areas were medicine, law, engineering, teacher training and history.

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The general objective was translated into four research questions: What is the general national picture regarding curricular reform, notably with respect to the five study areas and what evidence is available on their impact? What is the state of the art of reform in the five study areas at the level of the higher education institutions? What are – according to respondents at the level of the programmes in the five study areas – the impacts of the reforms? What are references of good performance in terms of the impacts? To answer these questions, the research team used three interrelated tools. First, national reports were written by (national) correspondents to paint a picture of curriculum reform in the five study areas within their national contexts. Second, a questionnaire was developed and sent around to deans and directors of studies in the five areas of study to gather their views and perceptions of the reform. Third, for each of the five areas of study – based on the available information – a case of a good or interesting practice was selected.

In Romania, a PhD can expect to earn 15% more than her fellows without this kind of qualification if she decides to work in a public sector institution. This and more can be learned in Mircea Miclea’s presentation. He gives a short overview of doctoral training in the new EU member state. To this end, he explains the legal and social conditions of PhDs in Romania. Moreover, he briefly sketches the admission procedures usually employed.

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Inter- and multidisciplinarity is a key feature of postgraduate training at the Imperial College in London. In addition, the importance of regular and intensive skills training has been accentuated since the decision to establish a Graduate School at Imperial College in 1992. In this presentation, Bernie Morley gives an overview of the School’s mission, its governance principles as well as its recruitment and quality assurance mechanisms. Moreover, he introduces the team of lecturers that is responsible for the students’ education.

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Whatever you would like to know about the doctoral education at the The International Max Planck Research School, Erwin Neher and Steffen Burkhardt will be able to tell you. At the HRK conference on doctoral training in Europe and North America they presented the School’s twin PhD programmes in molecular biology and neurosciences. Not only do they present the School’s mission goals, governance structures and its network of collaboration institutions; also, they explain the curricula of the PhD programmes and list a number of funding opportunities for students. An interesting add-on are the statistics they provide about student applications, application-admission ratios as well as career pathways of former students.

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HRK conference: Form Follows Function - Comparing Doctoral Training in Europe and North America

The expectations graduate schools have to lift up to are high. In order to be successful in the long run, they have to combine basic units’ entrepreneurship with the promotion of excellence in research and continuous quality control at the same time. In this presentation, Louis Maheu introduces into the world of Canadian graduate schools. To this end, he gives a short overview of Canadian PhD Education and explains the principles, governance arrangements as well as the challenges faced by Canadian graduate schools.

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What is it like to study at the Ruhr-University Research School? In the context of the Conference »Form Follows Function - Comparing Forms of Doctoral Training in Europe and North America« Roland Fischer and Thomas Koch gave an answer to that question. They presented succinctly the vision and key competences of their university as well as the cornerstones and curricula of the programmes the latter offers.

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