This is what the PhD students think
As part of quality assurance work, Mid Sweden University has conducted a survey with PhD students. The survey regarded information and support in different parts of the PhD education which shows that the University Library is highly valued.
The quality of the PhD courses is perceived to have been consistently satisfactory and overall the students are satisfied with the supervision given but lacks the opportunity to meet and discuss their research with other PhD students.
During the month of February, a survey to PhD students was conducted on behalf of the Research Council (Forskningsrådet). A total of 91 PhD students responded, which corresponds to just over 54 percent. The survey concerned ten areas; background, recruitment and admission, the content of doctoral education, supervision and supervisors, research environment, work and study environment, ability to influence, individual study plans, service and infrastructure and final questions.
The PhD students are fairly satisfied with the pre-information and with information regarding the objectives of the PhD education, but the information regarding what is expected upon admission is not as clear. Overall the students are very satisfied with the information and service provided by the University Library.
Heavy workload
The majority believe that the quality of PhD training courses has consistently been satisfactory and they are satisfied with their ability to present their research. The PhD students are also generally satisfied with the supervision provided in terms of support, the amount of supervision, shown interest, ability to motivate and the competence of the supervisor. The PhD students experience the least support from their supervisors in terms of future and possible career paths. It is mainly through conversation/dialogue with the teacher/course manager/programme manager/supervisor that the PhD students experience that they affect the education and study situation.
The workload is experienced high and many have indicated that they have worked/study despite being ill and more than half feel that sometimes or often they have such a heavy workload that they do not have time to eat lunch, take breaks, work late and/or bring the work home.
Overall, the PhD students are satisfied with the working and study environment including the support from research colleagues and they feel that they are an accepted member of the research group. However, they are not as satisfied with the opportunity to meet and discuss their research with other PhD students.
Equal conditions for men and women
The majority feel that women and men have the same conditions to conduct research studies at Mid Sweden University. 44 percent feel that national PhD students have better conditions than international PhD students, but if the result is broken on origin, 48 percent of PhD students who come from elsewhere than Sweden have replied that national and international students have the same conditions. It therefore seems that there is a certain difference in the experience among national and international PhD students.
Regarding the individual study plan, the PhD students feel that they are involved in the work and satisfied with the follow-up but that the plan does not support to a large extent in terms of planning and reflection. Many have their own documents alongside them.
Continuation of work
The PhD education councils (RUF and FUR) have the task of continuing to analyze their respective results. Identified areas of improvement and proposals for activities are compiled and raised to the Research Council and addressed in future operational planning.
The result as a whole
The results as a whole can be found under Reports and questionnaires on the web. Comparisons are made with “Doktorandspegeln” that Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) carried out in 2016 and “Doktorandbarometern” which the University of Borås conducted in 2021.