Europe is emerging as a global leader in reforming doctoral education. The European reforms of doctoral education have been one of the most dynamic parts of both the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area. They are vital for the sustainable development of Europe and essential for the global research community.
The basis of the reform of doctoral education has been the Salzburg Principles from 2005. The implementation of the principles has been the work of Europe's universities, which have attained a great expertise and experience through this process.
The new recommendations build on the original Salzburg Principles. They do not replace them, but affirm their validity and intend to give them additional, concrete content.
The recommendations are the outcome of intensive consultations with the members of the EUA Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE), the largest and most comprehensive organisation concerning doctoral education in Europe. The outcomes of the consultations were discussed by the more than 220 participants at the Annual Meeting of the EUA-CDE at the Free University of Berlin in June 2010, representing 165 institutions from 36 countries.
There is now an opportunity to provide any comments, thoughts, feedback or ideas on the Salzburg II statement. Vitae and the UK Council for Graduate Education will be providing a short joint response.