The aim of working life-oriented doctoral education is to increase the quantity and quality of doctoral degrees as well as their societal impact by streamlining collaboration between Jyväskylä’s higher education institutions. This reform aims to strengthen the region’s competence base and increase the impact of research by connecting doctoral education more closely with the needs of working life.
The collaboration between the University of Jyväskylä and Jamk University of Applied Sciences strengthens working life-oriented doctoral education by combining the institutions’ expertise in supervision, course provision and connections with businesses. Joint supervision brings a broader range of perspectives and supervisory expertise to dissertation work, while a shared study offering strengthens general workplace skills and expertise in innovation and commercialisation. Additionally, a career plan pilot helps to consider different career paths and improves the employment prospects of doctoral students. The primary supervision of the dissertation takes place at the university where the degrees are also awarded.
The new model will not change the existing student admission to doctoral studies through the regular application process, nor the dissertation requirements.
Three paths to a doctoral degree
The new model presents three paths to doctoral degrees: doctoral education through project and corporate funding, doctoral training for JYU and Jamk staff, and a doctoral path for Jamk Master School students.
Doctoral education funded by project and corporate funding utilises projects conducted at JYU and Jamk and the data they generate. Doctoral students work under an employment contract and/or a scholarship at JYU or Jamk, and their dissertation research is funded through publicly funded domestic and international projects, co-funding from companies or other organisations, scholarships, or a combination of these. This path provides doctoral students with access to real-world research topics and the opportunity to benefit from the guidance expertise of companies and other organisations. In turn, these organisations gain access to the latest research and related expertise.
The staff training path is intended for JYU or Jamk employees who pursue doctoral studies on a part-time basis alongside their work. The aim is to establish a clear model in which the employer supports doctoral studies that are relevant to the employee’s duties, career path, and needs of the unit.
In the doctoral path for Jamk Master School students, methodological studies at JYU are incorporated in the degree structure of a master’s degree at Jamk through an agreement on cross-institutional studies or shared methodological studies. This streamlines access to
doctoral studies for students with a Jamk Master School background and improves their readiness, so that they can start doctoral studies without first completing supplementary studies. In addition, studies related to the business world offered by Jamk are also available to the students of JYU doctoral programmes.
Pilots for all three models will be started as part of group development in autumn 2006. The functionality of the models will be assessed based on the experiences and feedback, after which further decisions will be made.
