Page 23 - TLÜ aastaaruanne 2014

In 2014, TU participated in the pilot group of the doctoral study internationalisation project FRINDOC (Framework for the Inter- nationalisation of Doctoral Education). The aim of the project is to collect the best practices in the internationalisation of doctoral studies, to develop and implement the internationalisation strategies of doctoral studies and to develop a corresponding internet-based self-assessment tool. More than 20 university representatives from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America participated in the work of the pilot group. The pilot group participants shared their experience and developed the international framework of doctoral studies. The participants tested in their universities the questionnaire developed by the project team and conducted self-assessment on the basis of this. The results show that in order to develop international doctoral studies, TU needs mostly to contribute to setting specific goals and planning the tools and measures for achieving these.
A total of five doctoral theses were submitted in the TU student research papers competition in 2014. These were evaluated in three study fields: natural sciences, humanities and social sciences. In the field of natural sciences, the doctoral thesis of Kert Martma “Study of Biological Membranes and their Components by Capillary Elec- trophoretic and Mass Spectrometric Methods” was recognized as the
best paper. In the field of humanities, the doctoral thesis of Margus Ott “Potency. Individualisation, Complexation and Practice” was rec- ognized as the best paper. In the field of social sciences, the doctoral thesis of Jing Wu “European Older Adults’ Well-Being and Suicide in the Societal and Family Context” was recognized as the best paper.
Feedback questionnaire of doctoral students
In 2014, the Research Administration Office conducted a feedback questionnaire among TU doctoral students. The aim of the question- naire was to collect feedback of the topics related to doctoral studies for better mapping of the best practices as well as problem issues, and based on the results, plan activities for better supporting of doctoral study. Out of 367 doctoral students in the academic year 2013/2014, the questionnaires were submitted by 157 (43% of total).
The doctoral students who answered were generally satisfied with their studies, only a few were dissatisfied. Satisfaction was highest with co-supervision (on average 4.3 on a 5-point scale), the topic of doctoral thesis selected upon admission (on average 4.1) and activity of the doctoral school in the field of specialisation (on average 4.0). A slightly lower evaluation was given to opportunities of independent completion of courses (on average 3.6), movement of information related to study organisation (on average 3.6), organisation of pro- gress review (on average 3.7) and offered mobility opportunities (on average 3.7).
The university has set the internationalisation of doctoral study as a goal and we expect doctoral students to actively use opportu- nities for both short and long-term mobility. The results show that students are more satisfied (65%) than not with the mobility oppor- tunities. At the same time, the awareness of scholarship programmes for doctoral students could be improved – in general students are aware, but their awareness is not very high (55% rated it as being good or very good). It must be stressed that information channels requiring activeness from the part of the doctoral student themselves (homepage of a funder and/or funding programme, a university homepage, research databases) were more rarely mentioned as in- formation sources.
The participants had more serious problems mainly with select- ing open elective courses and elective courses (32% of participants), compilation of an individual study plan (32% of participants) and registration in courses (31% of participants). As almost all partici- pants were working in parallel with doctoral studies, mostly full-time, then many had had problems with matching doctoral studies and work.
In conclusion it can be said that the results show that from the viewpoint of doctoral students, more successful completion of studies
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