2006:30 R
The legal rights of doctoral students at higher education institutions that lack entitlement to award postgraduate qualifications in the relevant disciplines
Introduction
In the course of its supervisory activities the National Agency for Higher Education has encountered a number of cases involving PhD students who have been enrolled to postgraduate programmes at one higher education institution and appointed to doctoral studentships at another which lacks entitlement to award postgraduate qualifications in the relevant discipline. These students have felt in different ways that they have “fallen between two stools". The Agency has also received indications that the division of responsibilities between the higher education institutions involved is felt to be unclear, particularly by the institutions employing the doctoral students. At the same time cooperation between higher education institutions which are entitled to award postgraduate qualifications and those which are not has a number of positive effects, among them greater mobility for PhD students and greater chances of acquiring postgraduate qualifications for students at the institutions that are not entitled to take award them.
The National Agency has therefore decided to inquire into what the causes of the problems may be, elucidate the regulations that apply and indicate any lack of clarity or changes needed in the regulations. In some cases it has also been the Agency´s ambition to draw attention to examples of good practice in cooperation between higher education institutions and to lay stress on what can be done to enable cooperation and at the same improve the legal status of doctoral students.
Enrolment and appointment to a doctoral studentship
Faculty boards are responsible for postgraduate programmes and exist only at those higher education institutions that are entitled to award postgraduate qualifications. However, a higher education institution without this entitlement may still appoint doctoral students. It is only the faculty boards, or the body within the higher education institutions to which the faculty board has delegated this power, that may decide on the subject of a postgraduate programme, enrolment of doctoral students, general and individual curricula, the appointment of supervisors and on the examination. This responsibility cannot be transferred by negotiation or assigned to a higher education institution without entitlement to award postgraduate qualifications.
The National Agency considers that a contract may be drawn up between the higher education institutions in connection with enrolment if so desired. Even if this contract is signed by departments, they are acting on behalf of the higher education institution and it is the institution itself that is bound by the agreement.
These contracts affect not only the higher education institutions but also to a very high degree the doctoral students. The National Agency is of the opinion that the students must always be informed of the contents of the agreements.
The National Agency considers that the higher education institutions involved should cooperate so that enrolment and appointment procedures take place at the same time. Doctoral students should never be enrolled unless their funding has been ascertained and no appointments made to doctoral studentships unless the enrolling higher education institution confirms that enrolment will take place simultaneously.
Individual curricula
Only the faculty board, or some individual or body to whom the faculty board has delegated the responsibility, may decide on the individual curricula. This responsibility cannot be transferred by negotiation and this applies both to drawing up and monitoring the curriculum. It is not enough to submit an individual curriculum to the faculty board as information but it must be adopted by the board or the body at the enrolling higher education institution to which this power has been delegated.
One important component of an individual curriculum is the description of the undertakings of the doctoral student and of the faculty board. The enrolling higher education institution is required to define its undertakings in a way that will provide the student with a reasonable chance of completing the programme within the allotted time. For this reason as well, it is important for the higher education institution offering an appointment to undertake in agreement with the enrolling institution to comply with the individual curriculum. It may be advisable for consultation between the higher education institutions to have taken place before the individual curriculum is adopted.
The Agency´s inquiry reveals that inadequate monitoring of the curricula may give rise to problems and that the faculty boards at the enrolling higher education institutions do not always shoulder their responsibility for this follow-up. The National Agency considers that regular checks should be carried out jointly when several higher education institutions are involved.
The National Agency assumes that any individual curricula that may have been adopted by the higher education institution making the appointment will be cancelled.
Funding
The National Agency considers that the proposal of the inquiry into postgraduate education that the higher education institutions should be responsible for students´ funding during the whole of their postgraduate studies should also improve the legal status of PhD students appointed to doctoral studentships at higher education institutions that are not entitled to award postgraduate qualifications as well as those with appointments in industry. The Agency would therefore again like to assert its previous opinion that the Government should adopt measures as soon as possible to implement the proposal.
When an appointment to a doctoral studentship is renewed, it may be necessary to make some assessment of the students´ results. If a student has an appointment at a higher education institution that lacks entitlement to award postgraduate qualifications, consultation should therefore take place with the enrolling institution when any decision about the renewal of a postgraduate studentship is to be made.
Among the examples provided by the higher education institutions there are agreements in which the institution making the appointment assumes commitments as the employer that only terminate when the faculty board determines that a doctoral student has failed to comply with the undertakings laid down in the individual curriculum to a substantial degree. Contracts of this kind can enhance the legal rights of the doctoral students and make it easier for the higher education institutions to deal with issues of this kind. Until the proposals of the postgraduate education inquiry are implemented, this kind of contract will fulfil an important function.
Supervision
Higher education institutions that lack entitlement to award postgraduate qualifications have no power to appoint a supervisor or decide on the replacement of a supervisor. On the other hand, cooperation is appropriate when supervisors are appointed or replaced. If cooperation of this kind results in the appointment by the enrolling institution of a local supervisor on the staff of the institution at which the student is employed, the faculty board continues to be responsible for monitoring the student´s progress.
The tasks of both the supervisor at the enrolling institution and the “local" supervisor and how these are divided between them should be stated clearly in the individual curriculum. The contract between the institutions should include the undertaking of the employing institution to ensure that the local supervisor discharges the obligations laid down in the individual curriculum. The enrolling institution should then monitor to see that this takes place. If the local supervisor fails to fulfil her or his obligations, the employing institution can make use of its powers as the supervisor´s employer and the enrolling institution can withdraw the supervision assignment.
As long as the faculty board assumes responsibility for the quality of the supervision, the National Agency can see no formal obstacle to the appointment of a main supervisor who is on the staff of the institution at which the doctoral student is employed.
The faculty board is responsible for ensuring that supervision at the other institution can be carried out according to the principles and to the extent stipulated in the individual curriculum, and should therefore make sure that the necessary agreements are made. Another way in which the enrolling institution can ensure that the doctoral student receives supervision to the stipulated extent at the other institution is to decide on the extent of the supervision and adopt the individual curriculum in consultation with it.
Higher education institutions that lack entitlement to award postgraduate qualifications do not have the right to arrange training for supervisors themselves but this can be arranged with advantage in collaboration with institutions entitled to award postgraduate degrees in the relevant disciplines.
Examination
The enrolling institution must ensure that the courses and examinations taken by doctoral students and the seminars in which they participate comply with the general and individual curricula laid down at the institution. A contract between the enrolling and the employing institutions must be based on the current curricula and intended to ensure that the employing institution complies with them.
Industrial studentships
Doctoral students who have appointments at a company or an employer outside higher education are often referred to as “industrial students". However this concept is not referred to in the Higher Education Ordinance.
Contracts between a higher education institution and the employers of these students can be more effective than contracts between higher education institutions, particularly when they are concluded between an institution and a non-governmental funding body, as disputes may be resolved in a court of law.
If the enrolling institution appoints a supervisor employed by the company, it is the responsibility of the institution to ensure that the supervisor is aware of the statutory regulations pertaining to higher education and has the qualifications required to supervise the student.
A contract should be drawn up between the higher education institution and the employer to guarantee funding for the student and compliance with the individual curriculum. In such cases, the contracts must be based on the individual curricula. Any other points that may be included in the contract and have any importance for the student´s postgraduate studies should also included in the individual curriculum.
Graduate schools
The concept of “graduate schools" is not included in the Higher Education Ordinance.
Even though doctoral students are considered to be “enrolled" at a specific graduate school, responsibility for their postgraduate studies still rests with the faculty board at the higher education institutions at which they are officially enrolled.
To avoid twofold or even threefold demands on postgraduate students, individual curricula should be adopted and monitored in collaboration with the graduate schools.
Student influence
The enrolling institution must ensure that the doctoral students it admits have the possibility of being represented on all the decision-making and review bodies at the institution. This also applies to students with appointments at another institution. As the enrolling institution is responsible for the postgraduate programme and makes most of the decisions of importance for the programme and the situation of the students, the possibility of representation at the enrolling institution is most important and this is where the students have to belong to the student union.
The institution employing the postgraduate student and where the programme is arranged may also make decisions that have an important impact on the student´s situation, for instance where funding is concerned. For this reason, students may feel that it is unsatisfactory that the current regulations do not guarantee adequate student influence at this institution as well.
However, both the Higher Education Ordinance and the Ordinance on Student Unions provide scope for solutions that will offer postgraduate students influence at both institutions.
Concluding observations
Cooperation between institutions that are entitled to award postgraduate qualifications and those that are not offers students at the latter greater possibilities of acquiring a PhD.
One of the problems is that the wording of the regulations on postgraduate programmes in the Higher Education Ordinance, which are intended to provide postgraduate students with an acceptable level of legal security, have taken no account of students appointed to studentships at institutions without entitlement to award postgraduate qualifications. At the same time this inquiry has shown that cooperation between institutions helps postgraduate students and in many cases it also prevents them from falling between two stools or being forgotten. However, cooperation does not take place to an adequate extent.
The National Agency has considered whether there is any need for more detailed regulations for the group of postgraduate students dealt with in this report. The inquiry reveals, however, that the current regulations post no obstacles to cooperation between the enrolling institution and the one at which a student is employed. In most cases the legal rights of the postgraduate students are prejudiced by the failure of the enrolling institution to shoulder its responsibilities, while the institution that is not entitled to award postgraduate qualifications oversteps its powers.
In this context, the National Agency does not consider at the moment that there are adequate grounds for proposing central regulations for the group of postgraduate students dealt with in this report. The Agency is basing this conclusion on the fact that there are a number of proposed legislative amendments that the Agency has endorsed which, if they are implemented, can enhance the legal rights of all postgraduate students, and in particular for the group dealt with here.
In clarifying the role of the faculty boards and providing a number of examples of how responsibilities can be shared by the enrolling and the employing institutions, the National Agency hopes to be able to provide some guidance that will assist in resolving some of the problems and improving the legal rights of postgraduate students. The National Agency would also like to encourage the higher education institutions to draw up agreements that clarify the allocation of responsibilities and the situation of the postgraduate students within the framework of the current regulations. The National Agency also intends to monitor these issues in the course of its supervisory activities.
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