On the first Advent we wanted a better housing allowance. Now on the second of Advent we wish ..
That the University Chancellor's Office is commissioned to carry out a survey of how the higher education institutions work with an individual study plan, ISP.
The snow has settled in our country, a prime minister we have got. The holiday is approaching with time for reflection and reflection. SFS has considered and found what we want: a survey of the doctoral students 'individual study plans (ISP) with suggestions on how the higher education institutions' use of ISP can be improved. But first.
What is an ISP?
Because the content of doctoral studies differs so much from person to person, all doctoral students receive individual study plans that describe what the doctoral student must do to achieve the degree objectives. The plan contains things such as which courses you read, how the supervision is organized and what commitments you make in general. ISP is a formal agreement between the doctoral student, the supervisors and the university. In this way, it can both make demands 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 also becomes important for doctoral students as individuals, because it controls such large parts of one's existence. But how well does everything work in practice?
In 2015, the University Chancellor's Office, UKÄ, reviewed more than 900 individual study plans. For most of the doctoral students, there was an individual study plan, but at the same time UKÄ also found several shortcomings in the content of these. The most frequent was a lack of regular follow-up, which was found in about 41 percent of the reviewed study plans. Also with regard to the university's commitments, UKÄ found shortcomings in every fourth study plan.
In the latest version of the survey “How is the doctoral student” (2021) which the Trade Union ST and SFS are behind, 40 percent of the doctoral students answered that they experience some form of problem connected to the ISP: Every third did not think it was meaningful and every tenth stated that it contributed to stress.
There are major differences in how ISPs are handled for different doctoral students. The management differs at different higher education institutions and sometimes also between different faculties, departments and departments within the higher education institution. 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 for the ISP to increase security and bring support to the individual doctoral student, and how to achieve a good balance between ISP as a legal document and as a project management tool.
Our wish
That so many study plans have shortcomings, and that so many doctoral students describe problems connected to them, we think makes it important to take a holistic approach to the system. We request that UKÄ produces an updated problem description, and come up with suggestions for how to fix the problems. The most prioritized questions to answer should be:
- What are the requirements regarding the content of the ISP,
- How ISPs are followed up during the training,
- To what extent is the ISP used to specify what resources the doctoral students should have access to during the education, and
- How can ISPs' usefulness increase for doctoral students?
Written by: Linn Svärd, SFS chairman, and Pil Maria Saugmann, SFS-DK's chairman.