Doctoral students thrive in the research environment but demand better support and greater influence
The Doctoral Student Survey 2025 shows that many doctoral students are happy in their research environments, but also that there is a need for better support, clearer information and greater opportunities to influence the study situation.
The survey was conducted in September 2025 and was answered by 85 doctoral students, which corresponds to 40 percent of the respondents (45 percent in the HUV Faculty and 39 percent in the Faculty of Social Sciences).
Many doctoral students thrive in their research environments and feel that supervision is characterised by good scientific support and constructive feedback. At the same time, stress and fatigue are relatively common.
When it comes to service and infrastructure, for example, libraries and IT support receive good reviews, while information about rules and support in case of stress is perceived to receive poorer reviews.
Several doctoral students, especially international ones, are also asking for better information prior to admission. Mid Sweden University's own doctoral courses consistently receive fairly low ratings, and access to courses is also perceived as limited.
The average time spent on doctoral studies is stated to be about 34 hours per week within the HUV faculty and about 40 hours within the NMT faculty. The planned supervision time is often described as limited, sometimes only a few hours per month.
In reality, about a third of doctoral students, have considered changing supervisors, while knowledge of how a supervisor change is low. Doctoral students at the HUV Faculty give slightly more positive assessments in matters relating to support from supervisors, workload and workload.
The results also show that men's and women's conditions are generally perceived as equal and that gender equality is taken into account at Mid Sweden University. Most believe that doctoral education is carried out on equal terms and that discrimination is not a major problem.
At the same time, many feel that international doctoral students have poorer conditions than Swedish doctoral students, especially in the Faculty of Public Sciences, where language and information difficulties are highlighted as important reasons.
The opportunity to influence the content of the education and one's own study situation is generally perceived as limited. The work on individual study plans also receives varying assessments.
What happens now?
The results will be used in the faculties' continued work to develop doctoral education and in the university administration's work to improve support for doctoral students
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