PhD students increasingly satisfied with the University

PhD students in Groningen are increasingly satisfied with the conditions during their research period. This can be concluded from the outcomes of the PhD survey 2011, a university wide survey that was filled out by 42% of the PhD students.

In 2011 the second PhD survey was administered. This is two years after the start of the Groningen Graduate School system. PhD students were questioned about their satisfaction with several aspects concerning their activities like education, supervision, working conditions and career prospects. Compared to the results of 2009 when the first survey took place students were more satisfied about all aspects but one. Apparently the significant increase in number of PhD students at the University of Groningen as well as their employment status (bursary or employee) had no negative effect on PhD student satisfaction.

 

Satisfaction was scored on a scale of 1 to 4

Points of Improvement

Points ofimprovement concern the information provision to PhD students, especially regarding career planning, more educational facilities and the reduction of time allotted to writing the thesis.

The University of Groningen expects the Graduate Schools to play a more significant role in realizing these improvements.

More information

The outcomes of the PHD surveycan be found at www.rug.nl/graduateschools.