Students in Jena city

Attracting talented doctoral candidates

Goals and measures
Students in Jena city
Image: Christoph Worsch (University of Jena)

Recruiting suitable candidates for a doctorate at the University of Jena is a key challenge. This is due to the special requirements of the doctoral phase and the general conditions for a university that is established outside the major cities, but the challenge varies according to the culture of the individual discipline.

In subjects with a shortage of young researchers, raising the university's national and international recognition plays a major role. However, it is just as important to inspire talented local students to pursue a doctorate as an alternative to tempting offers from industry and other areas of society. In subjects with a larger number of interested students, it is especially important to determine how appropriate a doctorate is to an individual's life plan and address the chances of having a career in academia. In all cases, subject-specific professional and personal suitability are essential prerequisites.

Shape the transition from study degrees to doctorate

Talented graduates of study programmes form an important reservoir of doctoral candidates. Therefore, the goal is to ensure that they start taking an interest in a doctorate during their studies, test themselves and develop their skills. At the latest after completing their initial studies, they should be qualified for a doctorate and be able to make an informed and considered decision to embark on doctoral research at the University of Jena.

  • Research-oriented teaching, talent promotion by teaching staff and university programmes

    The best publicity for a doctorate takes place during earlier university studies. Research-oriented teaching gives students insight into the professional profile of an academic employee. Lecturers have the opportunity to identify suitable students and individually foster their talent at an early stage. In addition, central talent development programmes offered by the university (e.g., Honours Programme) provide intellectual and financial support.

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  • Research-oriented international Master's programmes, Integrated Master's-doctoral programmes

    International Master's programmes are an excellent tool for attracting international students and preparing them for a doctorate. The research-oriented design of the curricula provides varied, in-depth insight into the academic world, which facilitates the transition to a doctorate. This transition is already part of the structure of integrated Master's-doctoral programmes (e.g., Max Planck School of PhotonicsExternal link). If the success of such integrated models is confirmed, they should be expanded.

Recruit nationally and internationally

Doctoral training takes place in an international context. It is therefore crucially important to reach national and international students interested in a doctorate and to recruit them for doctoral research in Jena. To this end, the potential of Jena's research landscape, the university's research profile and its varied activities to ensure good conditions for doing a doctorate need to become better known. The involvement of many researchers in their national and international academic communities is already making a great contribution. However, the university and its location as a whole must become even more distinctive as a place of top-quality research with excellent conditions for young researchers.

Once interested students have decided to do their doctorate at the University of Jena, they should feel welcome from the start and be able to begin their research work without bureaucratic hurdles.

  • Attracting students interested in a doctorate

    This package of measures will use all media channels (print, website, social media, film) to provide comprehensive information for people interested in doing a doctorate, and will continually update and expand this information. In addition, individual counselling is offered for German and international students interested in a doctorate. The university participates effectively in international academic associations and forums (e.g., Coimbra GroupExternal link, EUA-CDEExternal link), and uses international fairs for targeted recruitment (e.g., MIT Career FairExternal link, PhD Workshop ChinaExternal link). Particularly in graduate schools and research associations, potential doctoral candidates are attracted through structured recruitment, usually in several stages. Activities to enhance the university's visibility are to be even better coordinated and linked to the location, in collaboration with the registered association JenaVerseExternal link.

  • Welcoming doctoral candidates

    Bundling services for doctoral candidates in a one-stop agency has proven successful and should be continued and expanded as needed (Welcome and Service Desk of the Graduate Academy with intudoc Tutoring Service). A uniform IT-supported framework should be provided for recruitment and welcoming processes, which all graduate programmes and faculties can access.

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