AFRICA-EU: New virtual network for PhD students

An initiative to create a virtual network connecting doctoral students in Africa and Europe was launched at the World Innovation Summit for Education last week. Coordinated by the Association of Commonwealth Universities, DocLinks will strive to ease the loneliness of doctoral study and encourage sharing of experiences and resources.

Supported by the European Union's Erasmus Mundus programme and also involving six other partners, DocLinks will run for two years and will include a needs analysis of PhD students and development of a website, a virtual platform for interaction and two residential schools.

"The project will start as a virtual network, although we believe that once the flow of information is established there will be huge potential for universities and donors to establish physical links," said Dr John Kirkland, deputy secretary general of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU).

"Our feeling is that, despite the growth of graduate schools, doctoral study is still a very isolated experience for many, and that much can be achieved by sharing experience, information and resources," he told University World News.

"We aim to be the first network to systematically bring together three groups - European doctoral students in Europe, African doctoral students in Africa and African doctoral students in Europe." There are few European PhD students in Africa, but they will also be included.

Among other things, DocLinks will raise awareness of doctoral education, create a publicity channel for resources relevant to PhD study, forge contacts between PhD students and, in the longer term, inform policy-making on and strategic development of doctoral education.

Kirkland said that the initial focus of DocLinks on Europe and Africa reflected its funding from the Erasmus Mundus programme "and the fact that these are the two regions in which our partners have particular strength".

"But the issues are by no means confined to these two areas. Once the network and website are fully established there will be huge potential to expand to other regions. We would love to hear from other potential partners at an early stage in our planning."

Two residential schools will support the DocLinks initiative. The first, Kirkland said, is likely to be held at the University of Botswana in July or August 2012. Up to 40 PhD students are expected to attend, hopefully in roughly equal numbers from Europe and Africa, and there is some provision for bursaries.

"The schools will be a mixture of academic content and more general contact about the organisation and role of PhDs, the barriers that doctoral students face and how these can be overcome. They will also look at the likely future development of doctoral education, in an age where the demand for academics qualified at this level is increasing rapidly.

"I hope they will lead to a frank discussion on key issues such as how the value added by the PhD can be defined, whether quality is being maintained, and how far it is possible to produce increased numbers of doctoral students at the current cost. The schools will also have a role in providing feedback on the materials produced as part of the project."

Kirkland said the partners in the project were selected "both for their potential to help gain access to doctoral students, and past involvement in North-South relations in this area".

The ACU manages support for around 300 doctoral students in Britain, as the secretariat to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. Bussels-based Eurodoc, the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers, is the network for PhD students in Europe.

The French Speaking University Agency, AUF, manages scholarship programmes for Francophone Africa, and the African Academy of Sciences in Kenya will provide access to doctoral students in Africa.

The University of Botswana will provide a base to involve other Southern African universities. Dublin City University in Ireland and the University of Jyvaskylan in Finland have had collaboration with Africa through the Irish African Partnership for Research Capacity Building and the Finnish University Partnership for International Development.

While the partners will perform different functions, they will all work to identify information and good practice, contact doctoral students in their regions, promote the website and nominate candidates for the summer schools.

Kirkland said that the initial project was for two years, but "the synergy with the longer term objectives of the partners gives us good potential for sustainability". The ACU has already committed to maintaining the website and network for at least a third year.

* The full title of the project is DocLinks - Increasing Understanding and Establishing Better Links between African and European Doctoral Education Candidates.