On the first Advent We wished for a better housing allowance. Now on the second Advent we wish...
That the University Chancellor's Office be tasked with conducting a survey of how higher education institutions work with individual study plans, ISP.
The snow has settled in our country, we have a new prime minister. The holiday is approaching with time for reflection and contemplation. SFS has thought and found what we want: a survey of doctoral students' individual study plans (ISP) with suggestions on how the universities' use of ISP can be improved. But first.
What is ISP?
Because the content of doctoral programs varies so much from person to person, all doctoral students receive individual study plans that describe what the doctoral student will do to achieve the degree goals. The plan includes things like which courses are taken, how supervision is organized, and what other commitments are made. The ISP is a formal agreement between the doctoral student, the supervisors, and the university. In this way, it can both set requirements and protect the doctoral student's rights.
Problem
A well-functioning ISP is important for ensuring legal certainty and the quality of doctoral studies. It is also important for doctoral students as individuals, since it governs such large parts of one's life. But how well does it all work in practice?
In 2015, the Swedish University of Applied Sciences (UKÄ) reviewed over 900 individual study plans. Most doctoral students had an individual study plan, but UKÄ also found several shortcomings in the content of these. The most frequent was a lack of regular follow-up, which was found in approximately 41 percent of the study plans reviewed. UKÄ also found shortcomings in every fourth study plan with regard to the university's commitments.
In the latest version of the survey “How are doctoral students doing” (2021) supported by the ST and SFS Trade Unions, 40 percent of doctoral students responded that they experience some kind of problem related to the ISP: One in three did not think it was meaningful and one in ten stated that it contributed to stress.
There are major differences in how ISPs are handled for different doctoral students. The handling differs between different universities and sometimes even between different faculties, departments and departments within the university. This is not necessarily a problem in itself, but it does mean that it is difficult to get an overview of what improvements can be made to the ISP to increase security and provide support for the individual doctoral student, and how one can achieve a good balance between the ISP as a legal document and as a project management tool.
Our wish
The fact that so many study plans have shortcomings, and that so many doctoral students describe problems related to them, makes it urgent to take a holistic approach to the system. We request that UKÄ produce an updated problem description, and come up with suggestions for how to address the problems. The most prioritized questions to answer should be:
- What requirements exist regarding the ISP's content,
- How ISPs are followed up during the course of the training,
- To what extent is ISP used to specify which resources doctoral students should have access to during their education, and
- How can the usability of ISPs be increased for doctoral students?
Written by: Linn Svärd, SFS chairperson, and Pil Maria Saugmann, SFS-DK chairperson.