On Developing Young and Early-Stage Researchers at Germany's Universities
Kalle Hauss © October 2006 (last update july 2012)

1. History of the doctorate (Promotion)

1.1 Doctorates in the Middle Ages

Today, the production of a doctoral dissertation is seen as an indispensable prerequisite for a career in science and research. A glance at the historical origins of doctorates (from Mediaeval Latin = doctoratus) clearly shows that when the first European universities were established in Italy and France in the 12th century, the doctorate had a completely different status compared to today. Up to the end of the 12th century, the doctorate was a professional title for school directors and teachers, regardless of whether they were teaching at a university, a school or simply as a scholar without any formal certificate. In Germany, the process of gaining a doctorate is called Promotion (from Latin promovere = to move forwards). In the Middle Ages, the Promotion was already completed with an examination and a dissertation (Latin dissertare = argue, debate, from which is derived spoken or written discourse on a subject and from there an extended scholarly essay submitted for a degree or academic qualification).

However, scientific qualification was not the primary purpose of a doctorate in the Middle Ages. Rather, bearers of a doctorate enjoyed numerous privileges, honours and dignities that symbolised social status, respect and power. This is why the award of a doctorate rarely involved the production of a scientific thesis of the kind that we know today. The Promotion process essentially consisted of one or more disputations, debates and moots which were often celebrated over days at the cost of the candidate. The high costs meant that only a relatively small proportion of around 10% to 20% of the so-called bachelors gained a doctorate (Bengeser 1965). At the time, the baccalaureate (bachelor) was the lowest academic degree and entitled holders to continue and gain a doctorate (Wollgast 2001).

Up into the 18th century, the Promotion developed into a ritualised process in which the candidate's scientific knowledge hardly played any role at all. Nor were the candidates the authors of the dissertation they had submitted. The doctoral candidates were often poorly educated, only spoke broken Latin (at the time, disputations were held in Latin) and were frequently the subject of public ridicule (Wollgast 2001).

1.2 Developments up into the 20th century

Only in the 19th century did a process of "scientification" took place to the extent that the universities not only taught, but also saw the role of independent research become much more important. Teachers were increasingly expected to enrich their lectures with reports on their own research findings. The status of the Promotion also changed: the dissertation had to be made available to the scientific community in print form and the so-called Promotion in absentia, a process in which the doctorate was conferred without disputation or viva voce (Rigorosum), was abolished. As a consequence, the status and reputation of the Promotion increased in the public eye as well as its importance for the qualification of young researchers.

2. The Doctorate Today: Between Tradition and Change. Competing Paradigms for Promoting Young and Early-Stage Researchers?

Up to the start of the 1990s, the traditional model of a Promotion predominated at Germany's universities in line with what had existed since the 19th century. Often also described as the "Master-Student" relationship, this traditional model largely sees the dissertation as a piece of independent research written in agreement with the doctoral supervisor (Doktorvater or Doktormutter). From the mid 1980s, around one decade before the Bologna Process appeared in 1999, the need to restructure graduate training emerged. This reform was shaped by the aim to promote systematic supervision and group work during and after the Promotion phase (Wissenschaftsrat 1986). The doctoral programmes offered in the United State provided the grounds for these demands. US programmes were cited as successful models that could be used in German higher education as well.

Today, a system of various co-existing forms of Promotion can be seen to be developing in Germany. The traditional Promotion still represents the most common form of graduate training (Gerhardt et al. 2005). In practice, however, traditional and structured paths to a doctorate (Promotion) represent alternatives that do not necessarily rule each other out. Rather, hybrid forms are developing through "associated memberships" of Research Training Groups and Graduate Schools as well as visiting student statuses. These appear to make it impossible to clearly differentiate between purely traditional and structured Promotion processes.

Nevertheless, the growing number of structured doctoral programmes indicates a  growing focus towards the Anglo-American form of doctoral studies. The nationwide establishment of such studies at Germany's universities has not least been called for by the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat – 2002) and the German Rectors' Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz – 2003) to improve Germany's competitiveness as a centre of science and research (Berning and Falk 2005).

As early as in the mid 1980s, foundations in Germany (Robert Bosch Foundation, Volkswagen Foundation and Fritz Thyssen Foundation) began to establish structured doctoral programmes in the form of Graduate or Research Schools, and so pre-empted the agreement reached between federal government and the federal states to promote Graduate Schools and Research Training Groups: the so-called "Bund-Länder-Vereinbarung zur Förderung von Graduiertenkollegs". This was adopted in 1989 on the basis of another recommendation made by the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat 1989). The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – DFG) was commissioned with the running this funding programme.

2.1 DFG Research Training Groups

Since the start of their funding in 1990, the Research Training Groups (Graduiertenkollegs) funded by the DFG have developed into an integral component of structured doctoral training at Germany's universities. Doctoral candidates write their dissertations as part of a curricular study programme that attaches importance to an interdisciplinary and international focus. The DFG funded 226 national and 61 international Research Training Groups throughout Germany. (cf. http://www.dfg.de/service/presse/pressemitteilungen/2009/pressemitteilung_nr_63/index.html). Between April 2003 and March 2004, a total of 6,263 doctoral students (excluding medicine) were taken up by the Research Training Groups, equal to a 7% or so share of all doctoral candidates in Germany (DFG 2004). Besides the doctoral candidates, a Research Training Group generally includes postdoctoral students who head the group and also teach. Further teaching is provided by professors and visiting professors. Research Training Groups also have a number of technical support staff (assistants).

2.2 Structured Doctoral Programmes at Germany's Universities

Following the pattern of DFG Research Training Groups, a number of doctoral programmes have meanwhile been established with the goal of (re)structuring doctoral training. Even though the programmes differ both in the type of financing and in terms of the extent of their curricular focus, they do generally closely follow the reform ideas proposed by the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat – 2002) and the German Rectors' Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz – 1997, 2002). The core objectives pursued by these programmes can be summarized

• to reduce the time to doctorate,
• to promote particularly-qualified graduates, and
• to deliver additional, cross-disciplinary key skills and competencies.

Besides the many structured doctoral programmes offered at universities, some institutions outside the university sector also run structured programmes with formal studies. The more well-known programmes include:

• International Postgraduate Programmes IPP (DFG and DAAD)
• International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS)
• Hans Buckler-Foundation Doctoral Programmes
• Graduate Schools and Colleges of various federal states (Länder):
  • North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW Graduate Schools)
  • Bavaria (Elite Network of Bavaria)
  • Bremen (Graduate School of Social Sciences)
  • Lower Saxony (Graduate Schools Lower Saxony)

3. The Doctoral Degree Trend in Germany

Now that the conditions for gaining a doctorate at Germany's universities have changed, it is time to ask how this structural change is impacting the appeal of the doctorate. In particular, these changes should have begun to become visible from the mid 1990s onwards. This is based on the assumption that the introduction of structured doctoral studies increased their appeal and that the subject areas are experiencing a greater inclination among graduates to enrol in a doctoral programme.

Based on figures produced by the Federal Statistical Office, the following reviews the development in doctoral numbers since the 1970s, differentiated by subject groups. The following analyses concentrate on developments in the absolute number of doctorates completed and the inclination to take a doctorates plus the relative chances of women gaining a doctorate.

Fig. 1 reflects the total number of doctorates completed in Germany since the beginning of the 1970s, broken down by subject groups. A clear increase in the number of doctorates awarded in the field of medicine can be seen towards the end of the 1970s. By 2000, their number had almost doubled. The number of doctorates awarded in Mathematics and Natural Sciences also saw an increase set in at the beginning of the 1980s, which continued until 2000. Their number tripled, but has been falling slightly since 2000. Minor increases have been experienced since the 1970s in the subject groups Language and Cultural Studies, Law, Economics and Social Sciences and in Engineering, even though, here too, the number of doctorates has more or less doubled, albeit starting from a lower level. 2008 shows a little increase in the number of doctorates compared to 2007 (without Veterinary Medicine).

However, the impression of increasing numbers of doctorates is qualified as soon as the proportion of doctorates awarded is depicted as a percentage of a graduation cohort (Fig. 2). The calculated Doctoral Degree Trend tends to show a constant level over the years within each subject. With the exception of the Doctoral Degree Trend in medical subjects, where the doctorate already has particular significance on account of the very short time to doctorate, the figures indicate a consistent level within the subject groups in terms of the recruitment of young and early-stage researchers over time. However, there is a decreasing tendency of taking up doctoral training in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

Fig. 3 illustrates the Doctoral Degree Trend in the subject groups Mathematics/Natural Sciences/Engineering differentiated by sex. In engineering, the Doctoral Degree Trend for women has increased slightly over time, although they nevertheless remain below the trend for men.

In mathematics and the natural sciences, the Doctoral Degree Trends for men and women have been converging ever since the beginning of the 1990s, although not as a result of an increase in the trend among women, but rather due to a decrease among men. Since 2000, the level has been increasing again, both for women and men. In mathematics and the natural sciences too, no significant increase in the Doctoral Degree Trend among women has been recognisable since the 1980s.

Clear differences in the Doctoral Degree Trend for men and women are found in the subject groups Language and Cultural Studies, although these do not change significantly over the course of time (Fig. 4). Since 1982, the level of the Doctoral Degree Trend for women has been at 10% to 15%, about half as pronounced as the Doctoral Degree Trend for men (25% to 30%). Gender-based trend differences in the subject group Law/Economics/Social Sciences also show a generally continual development. The trend for women remains below that for men, although a slight upward trend has been recognisable since the mid 1980s.

The subject group Art and Music has experienced a falling Doctoral Degree Trend since the end of the 1970s, both for women and men. Gender-based trend level differences can be disregarded here.

But what about equal opportunity in respect of promoting young and early-stage researchers? Do men and women have the same chances of completing a doctorate? Fig. 5 presents the relative chance for women to gain a doctorate in comparison with the corresponding chance for men in the subject groups Mathematics/Natural Sciences and Engineering. In both subject groups, a clear increase in the relative chances of gaining a doctorate can be seen to the benefit of women, although it has been falling again in Engineering (since 2001) and in Natural Sciences (since 2002).

However, the chance for women to gain a doctorate more than doubled in both subject groups from the end of the 1970s to 2002.

The relative chances for women to gain a doctorate fluctuate over the course of time from 0.72 in 1982 to a peak of 1.15 in 2004. This means that women working in the field of Art and Music have a higher chance of gaining a doctorate than men. All in all, men and women have had more or less equal chances of gaining a doctorate in Art and Music since the beginning of the 1980s.

In Law, Economics and Social Sciences, by contrast, the doctoral chances for women initially fell to 0.42 in the mid 1980s, after which they more or less constantly rose to a level of 0.68 in 2003. In this subject group, too, doctoral chances have improved to the benefit of women. Since 2003, however, the figures show a little decrease in the chance of woman to gain a doctorate in this subject group.

Conversely, the subject group of Language and Cultural Studies reveals a different picture. Over the course of time, the doctoral chances for women have fluctuated insignificantly, remaining more or less constant at the same level (between 0.4 and 0.5). Here, the chance of women gaining a doctorate is about half as high. Since 2000, a slight upwards trend has been noticeable.

4. Summary

The doctorate (Promotion) is currently going through a period of structural change which is leading to a wide range of doctoral studies developing at Germany's universities in the form of structured doctoral programmes. While at the beginning of the 1990s, the traditional model of a doctorate, the 19th century Promotion, predominated, today structured doctoral studies based on the Anglo-American model have increasingly become a part of graduate training at Germany's universities offered in the form Research Training Groups, Doctoral Programmes, Graduate Schools and Research Schools.

To what extent the new doctoral frameworks will be reflected in the higher education statistics was considered by analysing the absolute number of completed doctorates, the doctoral degree trend, and equal opportunity in the field of graduate training on the basis of data provided by the Federal Statistical Office. This involved the assumption that the introduction of structured doctoral programmes at the beginning of the 1990s increased the appeal of the doctorate and consequently led to a stronger doctoral degree trend, However, the available data was unable to identify any increased doctoral degree trend from the 1990s onwards. Although the trend shows that the number of doctorates is increasing in absolute figures, the doctoral degree trends in all the considered subject groups remain at a relatively-constant, subject-specific level over the course of time.

As far as equal opportunity is concerned, the subject groups Mathematics/Natural Sciences and Engineering allow an upward trend for women to be identified, although this has been falling again slightly since 2001. All in all, the doctoral chances for women in these subject groups more than doubled between 1977 and 2001.

The increasing spread of structured doctoral programmes of various kinds cannot change established and matured subject cultures that have grown over centuries in just a decade. The fact that the majority of doctoral students continue to choose the "traditional Promotion"  clearly shows that young and early-stage researchers will continue, in the future, to proceed in line with established structures.