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2004:20 R

Usefulness of postgraduate studies

In what way does society utilise postgraduate resources? What are the de facto requirements of the labour market? And those successfully defending doctoral theses, what chances do they have of getting a job at a competence level corresponding to their academic qualifications?
These are some of the questions raised in this report, which draws as background on the historical development of postgraduate studies that have gone from encompassing a broad spectrum of different subjects to assuming more and more the character of a specialist post-graduation. The resulting consequences affect both the postgraduate individually and society generally.

The report was authored by Sam Hägglund and Jan-Eric Degerblad. For several years they have been engaged in evaluating Swedish research institutes using evaluation indicators for postgraduate studies. The purpose of this report was to place the Swedish discussion on the strengths and shortcomings of postgraduate studies in an internationally comparable perspective.
The report is part of the endeavour of the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education (NAHE) to draw attention to those matters that touch on the research opportunities for postgraduates/lecturers at Swedish universities and university colleges. The NAHE has previously published the following reports: Academic Freedom – a purely academic matter (NAHE’s report series 2001:2 R); and Survival
of the academic freedom – an inverview paper on the conditions of Swedish postgraduates at the turning point of the Swedish universities and university colleges (NAHE´s report series 2004:1 R).
The Swedish National Agency for Higher Education sincerely hopes that this report will serve as a basis for continued discussions on Swedish postgraduate education.

Swedish National Agency for Higher Education  Visting address: Luntmakargatan 13  Box 7851, 103 99 Stockholm
Phone: 08-563 085 00  Fax: 08-563 085 50  Email: hsv@hsv.se