ProFile Addressees

ProFile addresses doctoral candidates and doctorate holders, universities and other (funding) institutions as well as scientific and political actors.

For doctoral candidates and doctorate holders, ProFile provides

• the opportunity to give feedback to their universities and other (funding) institutions,
• general information on doctoral education and postdoctoral careers in Germany.

A prerequisite is the participation in ProFile.

For universities and other (funding) institutions, ProFile provides

continuous reports on the effects and quality of doctoral training as well as postdoctoral careers relying on an extensive database. The reports offer:

• a general overview of the institutions' doctoral education in practice,
• anonymised comparisons to other universities and (funding) institutions,
• an extensive database supporting the improvement of doctoral education,
• an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses as well as the chances and risks of different modes of doctoral education.

A prerequisite is the participation in ProFile.

For scientific and political actors as well as the interested public, ProFile

• is a competent partner for questions concerning doctoral education and postdoctoral careers,
• provides analyses regarding indicators of doctoral education, the situation of doctoral candidates as well as postdoctoral careers,
• will provide data for secondary analyses in the form of a scientific use file in the medium term.

How does ProFile work?

During the doctoral phase, ProFile surveys the opinions, experiences and assessments of doctoral candidates concerning different aspects of their situation. Additionally, information on postdoctoral careers and vocational success are collected. The surveys are carried out at regular intervals by means of an online questionnaire (see study design). Besides the initial survey in the beginning of the doctoral phase, further surveys are sought to be carried out after graduation as well as four years after conferral of the doctorate. Reduced surveys on the status of doctoral candidates take place intermediately.