The SHE PhD programme

• Objectives of the PhD programme
• The PhD thesis at SHE
• Types of PhD candidates
• Team of supervisors
• Duration of the PhD programme
• Size of the PhD programme

Objectives of the PhD programme 

The main objective of the PhD programme is to enable participants to perform educational research (typically a series of empirical studies), resulting in a PhD thesis. The aim of writing a PhD thesis is to learn to independently conduct high-quality educational research. 

Below, the final achievement standards for a doctorate within SHE are described. These are adopted from the VSNU (Association of Universities in the Netherlands) Position Paper ‘Hora est!’ (2004) and from the NFU guidelines (Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers).  

• The successful candidate has made an original contribution to academic research of a quality which stands up to peer review at the level common within and outside of the Netherlands;
• The successful candidate has demonstrated their ability to apply the academic methods used in the discipline concerned for developing, interpreting and putting into practice new knowledge;
• The successful candidate has acquired and worked with a substantial body of knowledge, which, at the very least, embraces the principles and methods of international academic practice and of theorization, methodology and study in the discipline concerned;
• The successful candidate possesses the ability to design and implement a substantial project for the purpose of developing new knowledge;
• The successful candidate is able to communicate knowledge and methods pertaining to their discipline or specialism in an effective way;
• The successful candidate communicates their research and its results through publications in internationally recognized, peer reviewed journals.
• The successful candidate is able to exercise social responsibility in conducting, applying and making use of their own research.

The PhD thesis at SHE 

A PhD thesis at SHE consists of, in principle, four scientific articles published in or submitted to peer-reviewed journals reporting on the research work that was conducted. Check the SHE publication policy for details about acceptable journals for publication. Next to the chapters based on peer-reviewed articles, the PhD thesis includes an introductory chapter, a conclusion/discussion chapter, an impact section, a summary in English and Dutch, and a short CV. Further details about these required elements can be found in the SHE Checklist for the final phase of the PhD process.

The scientific articles included in the PhD thesis must have sufficient cohesion (i.e., in the introduction and discussion chapters the candidate explains how the articles relate to the scientific treatise as a whole). Typically, the majority of the scientific articles report empirical studies (original research articles). Review articles or conceptual articles can be part of the thesis as well. Other publications (e.g., commentary, letter to the editor, non-peer-reviewed book chapter) can be added as well, but only as additional chapter or appendix, and only if they relate to the scientific treatise. The decision on the final composition of the PhD thesis is made by the entire PhD team, i.e., the supervisors and candidate.

PhD supervisory teams strongly encourage candidates to have at least two articles from the thesis published or accepted in peer-reviewed journals prior to thesis approval. The final decision about the acceptability of the PhD thesis is taken by the assessment committee.

The scientific articles included in the PhD thesis may be written by multiple persons. In principle, the candidate is first author of these articles. For maximally one of the articles the candidate can be a co-author rather than first author. 

Types of PhD candidates 

Four types of PhD candidates are distinguished within SHE: 

1. full time internal PhD candidates;
2. part time internal PhD candidates;
3. external PhD candidates outside the Netherlands;
4. external PhD candidates within the Netherlands. 

All types will defend their PhD thesis at Maastricht University. Table 1 provides more details about the differences between the types of PhD candidates.

*An exception in this category are certain scholarship students, e.g. CSC scholarship students. They are not on the payroll of SHE, yet in practice they are regarded as full time internal PhD candidates.

Team of supervisors 

Minimally two and maximally three supervisors are involved in the PhD team. Commonly, one ‘promotor’ (full or associate professor with an appointment at SHE) and one ‘co-promotor’ (daily supervisor) are assigned to each PhD project. In the case of external PhD candidates, we advise to include an external supervisor from the candidate’s institution or context (holding a PhD degree is a requirement). Together, the supervisors are responsible for monitoring and stimulating the progress and quality of the project. When a supervisory team for specific reasons wishes to include more than three members, approval from the Dean needs to be obtained. In the individual empirical studies that make up the PhD project, additional collaborators and co-authors can be involved without approval from the Dean. 

Duration of the PhD programme

How much time it takes to write the thesis varies considerably. A full time PhD candidate on average needs four years to finish the PhD thesis (extension is possible in case of delay for reasons outside of the research such as pregnancy, maternal/paternal leave). Completion duration of part time and external PhDs greatly depends on the time available to spend on their PhD thesis, as well as prior research experience. On average it takes 5-6 years. It is very important that at the start of each PhD project the start and end date are carefully considered and determined, taking into consideration prior research experience and time available to spend on the PhD thesis.

Size of the PhD programme 

On average, there are about 130 active PhD candidates in the SHE PhD programme. They are supervised by a group of internal and external supervisors comprising about 165 different people. For the past years, some 15 SHE PhD candidates finish their thesis each calendar year.