Doctoral supervision is considered one of the key factors in doctoral education performance. High-quality supervision does not merely predict the success of dissertation completion, but also plays a major role in academic community integration and identity development of doctoral students. Publications exploring problems of supervision tend to be based on surveys into mentors’ functions and advisory styles. Currently, research that aims at evaluating supervision efficiency is scarce. In the present article, we derive quantification of advisors’ activity and performance from non-reactive data on academic staff appointed to supervise doctoral students at two research-intensive multidisciplinary universities. The empirical base for the study comprises the data on research supervisors (N=515) and their doctoral students (N=1597). The paper addresses two main questions: (1) how does the number of doctoral students assigned influence a supervisor’s performance; (2) is there a correlation between a level of performance of guided students and their supervisor’s position, academic degree, academic rank and citation metrics and publication productivity. The findings imply that there is a great disparity in distribution of supervisors by number of students and by performance level (number of dissertation defenses), which is found to conform to Pareto – Zipf law. The highest performers prove to be those staff members who supervise from two to five students. That share of staff members scores higher on citation metrics and demonstrates better publication activity. A large portion of this group consists of staff holding academic positions and lecturers who do not attain a Doctor of sciences degree or academic rank. Performance indicators proposed in the article along methods of data collection, processing and analysis could have practical implications for monitoring supervisors’ activity in universities. The results obtained form basis for a number of managerial propositions to enhance supervision performance level.

Modern Russian postgraduate school is institutionally oriented towards the reproduction of the personnel potential for science and higher education. Since the career trajectories of a significant part of PhD graduates go beyond the academic labor market, the scientific and pedagogical community is discussing the prospects for the development of the so-called professional postgraduate studies in Russia, which should provide targeted training of highly qualified personnel for knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy and the sphere of intellectual services. The discourse on professional postgraduate studies is focused on the possibility of adapting the effective practices of foreign universities, and, unfortunately, is currently not supported by quantitative data on the demand for such a format of postgraduate training in Russia. The purpose of this study is an empirical analysis of the demand for professional postgraduate studies in the field of technical sciences. Using data on PhD graduates who successfully defended dissertations in technical sciences in 2019 as an example, for the first time a quantitative assessment was made of the prevalence of practice-oriented dissertations, the authors of which are employees of organizations in the knowledge-intensive sectors of the economy. The empirical basis of the study was the publicly available data on the defense of dissertations for the degree of candidate of technical sciences in Russia in 2019 (N=1663). For a detailed analysis, dissertation materials were selected, which contained information about postgraduate studies and the place of employment of dissertators (N=715). As a result of the study, parameters were determined that characterize the degree of prevalence in Russia of practice-oriented dissertations on various disciplinary groups of technical sciences, including: the proportion of PhD graduates employed outside the academic sphere; the proportion of dissertations thematically related to the professional activities of their authors; prevalence of preparation of dissertations on the basis of enterprises of the real sector of the economy; differences in socio-demographic characteristics and publication activity of PhD graduates working on dissertations at universities and in science-intensive business organizations. On the basis of the analysis, a conclusion is made about the expediency of developing professional postgraduate programs in the field of engineering and technology aimed at staffing the innovation sphere, as well as legitimizing the special requirements for these programs and practice-oriented dissertations prepared during their implementation.

The article presents an analysis of the main trends in the development of doctoral educationin the framework of the Bologna process. Practical experience of modernizing the system for academic staff training in the postgraduate school of Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod is summarized.

Currently, enhancement of doctoral education performance is becoming one of the central tasks for state policy in the field of science and education. In 2013 – 2015 Russian doctoral education experienced radical transformations aimed to increase the performance of doctoral programs and enhance the quality of dissertations. First, doctoral education moved towards the structured (educational) model. Second, norms and rules of the work of dissertation boards changed significantly. The purpose of this study is to explore how these reforms affected the performance of doctoral education. The empirical base for the study comprises the data on dissertations defense of graduates of 2018 at 12 Russian universities (N=1022), which were collected by the authors using the web scraping technique. The main findings obtained from the analysis of these data are threefold. First, time-to-degree has increased with most of the dissertations now being defended only after the completion of the programs. Second, in social sciences, this delay of defense has intensified abnormally (80% of dissertation in this field are defended after the program completion). Third, the actual performance, i.e., one that takes into account dissertations defended after the program completion, has decreased significantly in social sciences and humanities. These results show that the traditional practice to evaluate performance based on the proportion of graduates who defend their dissertations during the normative period of time does not reflect the reality. To made adequate managerial decisions regarding doctoral education, it is necessary to arrange the monitoring of dynamics of dissertations that are defended after the program completion both on institution and state levels.

Practical-oriented postgraduate programs aimed at developing graduates’ professional career outside the academic labor market have become widespread in leading foreign universities. There is a statutory unified format of postgraduate studies in Russia, aimed at training of personnel for science and higher education. At the same time, the need of adaptation of postgraduate training programs to the demands of the real economy sector is becoming more evident. The purpose of this review is to analyze scientific publications and case studies of foreign universities implementing practical-oriented postgraduate programs with professional degrees, which are equivalent to PhD in social status. Drawing on the analysis of international experience, the prospects of the establishment and development of such programs in Russian postgraduate studies are discussed. The study identified the most common characteristics of practical-oriented programs and their differences from academic postgraduate programs: 1) students’ involvement in applied research, which is relevant for the real economy sector; 2) an individual approach for postgraduate education considering professional interests of the students and employers’ demands; 3) a clearly structured system of education and scientific management, based on cooperation of universities and enterprises; 4) using innovative forms of final academic assessment. Based on the analysis of Russian experience it is concluded that practical-oriented training for postgraduate students is in demand and in fact already exists, but is not provided with necessary statutory regulation. It is pointed out that, owing to a lack of data, the extent of this arrangement and key barriers on the way to a degree among Russian practical-oriented postgraduate students have not been studied. The main directions of empirical research, which are necessary for making adequate management decisions on institutionalizing practical-oriented postgraduate programs in Russia, have been formulated. The article is of interest to researchers of higher education, scientific, pedagogical and administrative employees of higher education institutions, as well as for the state authorities responsible for implementing the policy of education and certification of highly trained personnel.

The diversification of forms and types of doctoral programs is currently a global trend. Universities across the globe offer programs that differ in the modes of training, characteristics of the target audience, and possible labor markets after graduation. In Russia, doctoral education exists in a unified format, focusing primarily on the academic labor market. Recently, there have been discussions about the need to expand the range of programs and the types of academic degrees in Russia. In this article, we present the analysis of professional doctoral programs: in response to what challenges and needs they appeared, how they are implemented, in what forms they exist. In addition, we consider the Russian experience of implementing professional doctoral programs; analyze the existing opportunities and barriers for their development. Based on the analysis, we came to a conclusion about the relevance of the professional doctoral programs’ development in Russia, the expediency of simplifying the conditions for their implementation and legitimizing special requirements for the design of dissertations with an applied orientation.

Increasing the effectiveness of postgraduate programs is now becoming one of the most important issues in ensuring the economic development of the state. As a rule, Russian postgraduate students, who are aimed at getting an academic degree, fail to defend their theses during their postgraduate studies, and they need additional time to complete their work. The purpose of this research article is to identify and analyze the key problems faced by Russian postgraduates seeking to submit their dissertations for defense. Our investigation comes to be original in two aspects. First, in contrast to other empirical studies of postgraduate school, the authors’ attention is focused on the barriers to attaining a degree, which arise not in the course of study, but after graduation. Second, the analysis is based on interviewing those graduates who have successfully overcome these barriers and defended their PhD theses. The empirical base of the study is online questionnaire surveys of Russian PhDs (Candidates of Science) who have recently completed their postgraduate studies, as well as administrative and managerial workers responsible for postgraduate students’ training and certification. The quantitative data obtained indicate that the presence or absence of a dissertation council in an organization wherein postgraduate students are trained is one of the key factors determining the pace and effectiveness of the postgraduates’ proceeding to an academic degree. In general, the results of the study make it possible to conclude that the difficulties at the final stage of preparing a dissertation are largely due to the imperfection of the mechanism for pairing the systems of state scientific certification and scientific and pedagogical personnel postgraduate training. Thus, we discuss possible organizational and managerial decisions of how to bring these systems closer and improve the performance of postgraduate studies. This paper might be of interest for higher education researchers, as well as for scientific, pedagogical and administrative workers involved in the management of personnel training and higher scientific qualifications certification.

Data obtained in interviews with doctoral students and their academic supervisors as well as in doctoral student surveys conducted across six Russian universities is used to explore the motives for embarking on and pursuing a PhD, and evaluate their incidence. Drawing from Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, three basic types of motivation are identified — intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation — and described in the context of doctoral education. Even though academic labor has been losing its prestige in Russia, intrinsic motivation associated with interest for research, science and education remains the most popular motive for embarking on doctoral study. At the same time, a significant percentage of doctoral students are driven by external non-academic motives, such as specific social benefits or desire to use PhD as an asset in a non-academic career.

The concentration of state resources in the leading universities poses the problem of reproduction of the scientific and pedagogical personnel in regional universities that do not participate in state-funded academic excellence programs. Based on the data from three focus group interviews with heads of doctoral studies offices at regional universities, the article analyzes problems arising in the implementation of the current model of training and certification of doctoral students. Four following groups of problems are identified: 1) the rigidity of requirements for the structure and content of the educational programs, 2) the imperfection of the system of attestation, gaps between attestation activities, 3) the problem of “retention” of doctoral students after the completion of the educational program, 4) the problems of conjugation of the processes of preparing a dissertation and its defense. The authors discuss possible ways to overcome the identified problems through providing universities with greater autonomy in designing the structure and content of the educational programs; synchronization of the procedures of the final state attestation and dissertation defense; creation of mechanisms for supporting successful doctoral graduates at the final stage of their preparation for the defense of a dissertation; development of network forms for implementation of doctoral programs with leading universities and research institutes.

The diversification of professional trajectories of academic degree holders is now becoming a global trend, and it prompts us to take a fresh look at the problem of evaluating the effectiveness of existing institutions for the training of academic and research personnel – the systems of doctoral education in Russia and abroad – in terms of the training of academic researchers and higher education teaching staff. Our two articles which share the scope of problems and have a single general concept, consecutively address the following issues: the collection and analysis of empirical data on training in doctoral programs; the dynamics of dissertation defense by graduates after the completion of doctoral programs; the actual timeframe of doctoral students’ advancement to their degree; the proportion of graduates who continue their scientific career after graduating from the doctoral program. The first article analyzes the organizational and methodological aspects of information and analytical support of institutions responsible for doctoral education in the countries of the European Union, the United States and Russia. It provides information about the organization of the systems for monitoring doctoral education and doctoral program graduates’ professional careers in foreign countries. The authors note the insufficient information support for the programs aiming to develop doctoral education in Russia, as well as the lack of empirical data necessary to assess the effectiveness of Russian doctoral education in the reproduction of human resources for the research and education sector. The results of the authors’ scientometric research concerning doctoral program graduates’ retention in the field of research and higher education are announced. The second article will present the details of the method and the results of these studies.

The article discusses the system for developing and assessing teaching competencies of PhD program graduates. The experience of Russian universities in conducting the final state examination in postgraduate schools is considered. The authors analyze the options for the distribution of the competencies being assessed between the two parts of the final state certification of postgraduate students: the state examination and the defense of their research report. The system developed and implemented at Lobachevsky University for postgraduate students’ step-by-step training for a teaching career at a higher education institution is discussed in detail, including: 1) theoretical training in the framework of the discipline “Psychology and Pedagogy of Higher Education”, 2) teaching practice, 3) preparation of a study manual based on the results of the postgraduate student’s dissertation research, and its defense at the final state examination. Assessments of the practice-oriented format of the state examination by postgraduate students are presented.

The diversification of professional trajectories of academic degree holders is now becoming a global trend, and it prompts us to take a fresh look at the problem of evaluating the effectiveness of existing institutions for the training of academic and research personnel – the systems of doctoral education in Russia and abroad – in terms of the training of academic researchers and higher education teaching staff. Our two articles which share the scope of problems and have a single general concept, consecutively address the following issues: the collection and analysis of empirical data on training in doctoral programs; the dynamics of dissertation defense by graduates after the completion of doctoral programs; the actual timeframe of doctoral students’ advancement to their degree; the proportion of graduates who continue their scientific career after graduating from the doctoral program. The first article analyzes the organizational and methodological aspects of information and analytical support of institutions responsible for doctoral education in the countries of the European Union, the United States and Russia. It provides information about the organization of the systems for monitoring doctoral education and doctoral program graduates’ professional careers in foreign countries. The authors note the insufficient information support for the programs aiming to develop doctoral education in Russia, as well as the lack of empirical data necessary to assess the effectiveness of Russian doctoral education in the reproduction of human resources for the research and education sector. The results of the authors’ scientometric research concerning doctoral program graduates’ retention in the field of research and higher education are announced. The second article will present the details of the method and the results of these studies.

The article is based on the materials of the report presented at the plenary session of the Professors’ Forum 2019 “Science. Education. Regions” of the All-Russian Public Organization “Russian Professorial Assembly” (Moscow, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, February 6, 2019). In the context of the problems that were discussed at the Forum, three points have been formulated, which, according to the authors, determine the priority areas in the development of modern Russian doctoral education: 1. Doctoral education and dissertation. Since the institution of doctoral education is the main resource for training professional researchers and university teachers, postgraduate programs should be aimed at the defense of PhD (Candidate of Sciences) theses. 2. The educational component of postgraduate programs. Doctoral education should be developed as a research program that includes an educational component, rather than as an educational program that includes a research component. 3. Training of research personnel for the regions. In the context when budgetary resources for supporting doctoral education are concentrated in the country’s leading universities, the problem of reproducing highly qualified personnel at regional universities, which do not have such a status, is of particular relevance. The article proposes some specific measures to improve the national system for training of highly qualified personnel in postgraduate schools.

On November 16, 2018, as a part of its Advanced Training Program, the National Research Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (UNN) hosted a round table organized by the UNN Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies jointly with the editorial board of the journal “Higher Education in Russia”. The topic of the round table discussion was “A New Model of Russian Doctoral Education: Problems and Prospects for Development”. The Program is being implemented in accordance with the UNN’s “Roadmap” for 2018 within the framework of the Russian Academic Excellence Project (the “5-100” Project). The event was attended by 48 administrative, managerial and academic staff members from 24 cities, representing 37 universities and research organizations of the Russian Federation (including NUST MISIS, National Research University Higher School of Economics, UNN, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Samara National Research University, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Belgorod National Research University, Ogarev Mordovia State University, Tyumen National Research University, etc.).Moderators of the round table: Director of the UNN Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Prof. B.I. Bednyi and the Сhief Editor of the journal «Higher Education in Russia» Prof. M.B. Sapunov.

Change management in the field of training and certification of academic personnel implies a reliable information support in the form of statistical and sociological data that enable the monitoring of the effectiveness of the institution of doctoral education. The current system for monitoring the activities of doctoral schools does not fully meet these requirements, thus making it difficult to assess objectively the implementation of doctoral education’s main function – the training of researchers and faculty for higher education. The article attempts to fill this information lacuna by presenting an analysis of the database created by the authors which contains information about the defense of dissertations and research results of PhD students who graduated in 2013 from nine Russian universities over the five-year period after their graduation (N = 1178). Information on the results of each graduate’s research activities was obtained from open sources: the portal of the Higher Attestation Commission, the electronic catalog of the Russian State Library, Scopus and eLibrary.ru databases, as well as the database of the Industrial Property Institute. As a result of our research, it was established that the actual timeframe of doctoral students’ advancement to their academic degree is determined by discipline-related factors. In the sample as a whole, the share of persons who defended their dissertations was 45% of the total number of graduates, which is 1.7 times higher than the share of graduates who defended their dissertations in the course of their studies at the doctoral school. Approximately 90% of graduates defend their dissertations no later than two years after graduation from the doctoral school. The quantitative data of doctoral school graduates’ retention in the academic field are given, with the breakdown by discipline. On average, more than 60% of Candidate of Sciences degree holders continue their careers in academic positions. The obtained data on Russian doctoral school graduates are in good agreement with the results of monitoring doctoral programs’ graduates in Europe and the USA. The results of this work make it possible to take a fresh look at the methodology for diagnosing the effectiveness of university doctoral schools.

On November 16, 2018, as a part of its Advanced Training Program, the National Research Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (UNN) hosted a round table organized by the UNN Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies jointly with the editorial board of the journal “Higher Education in Russia”. The topic of the round table discussion was “A New Model of Russian Doctoral Education: Problems and Prospects for Development”. The Program is being implemented in accordance with the UNN’s “Roadmap” for 2018 within the framework of the Russian Academic Excellence Project (the “5-100” Project). The event was attended by 48 administrative, managerial and academic staff members from 24 cities, representing 37 universities and research organizations of the Russian Federation (including NUST MISIS, National Research University Higher School of Economics, UNN, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Samara National Research University, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Belgorod National Research University, Ogarev Mordovia State University, Tyumen National Research University, etc.). Moderators of the round table: Director of the UNN Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Prof. B.I. Bednyi and the Сhief Editor of the journal «Higher Education in Russia» Prof. M.B. Sapunov.

The paper is a response to the article Candidate Engineering - Academic Degree Required Now. The author focuses on the urgency of interaction between universities and enterprises in training highly qualified engineering personnel. The paper discusses the possible forms of such cooperation, the principles of organization of applied, industry-oriented targeted postgraduate programs.

The paper is a response to the article "Candidate Engineering - Academic Degree Required Now". The author focuses on the urgency of interaction between universities and enterprises in training highly qualified engineering personnel. The paper discusses the possible forms of such cooperation, the principles of organization of applied, industry-oriented targeted postgraduate programs.

The article focuses on the current state of doctoral education in Russia and treats it as a topical social and pedagogical problem. The authors' conclusions are based on the statistical data concerning the development dynamics of doctoral schools during the last 25 years as well as on the results of a survey of motivations and professional prospects of doctoral students in Russia. This is a context for exploring the problematic situation in educational sciences caused by the varied and even ambiguous treatment in literature of the purpose, structure, contents of doctoral programs, and the financial model for their implementation. From the standpoint of sociology and pedagogy of higher education, the paper analyzes the judgments and assessments of higher education researchers relating to a new model of doctoral student training and the development of the institution of doctoral education as a whole. The authors note that the key issue in today's discussion concerns determination of its purpose and functions. They also analyze the reasons of low efficiency of the Russian system of doctoral education in relation to the realization of its main function, the reproduction of human resources of science and higher education, and discuss feasible measures to increase effectiveness of doctoral programs. The authors come to the conclusion that the model of doctoral education in Russia demonstrates certain features of social dysfunction as the traditional functions of this system have ceased to be adequate to current socio-economic conditions and do not fully meet the interests and needs of social groups interested in reproduction of research and teaching personnel. As a priority, the paper sets the goal of forming a multi-dimensional model of doctoral education based on sociological and pedagogical studies of values, interests and motivations of main actors in educational, scientific, and innovation activities involved in preparation and certification of highly quality academic and research personnel. The authors believe that the formulation of a program for relevant empirical studies requires some conceptual resources of the modern sociology.

This article analyzes and summarizes the opinions and assessments of experts in the field of higher education regarding the new model of training and certification of academic staff in the postgraduate school. Particular attention is given to the target functions of postgraduate school and to the improving its efficiency. We substantiate the approach to implementation of the postgraduate school’s main functions, which is focused on the market of highly intellectual labor, including its academic segment. It is shown that due to the expansion of the range of graduates’ professional trajectories, it is necessary to create dedicated postgraduate programs whose contents should be coordinated with specific employers. While an academic degree is an appropriate evidence of professional qualification for postgraduate students who are planning to pursue a career in the field of science and higher education, for those outside the academic market it is advisable to use a system for assessment of professional competencies and achievements that involves the award of professional degrees (e.g., in the field of public administration, management and business, education). The reasons are considered for the relatively low efficiency of postgraduate education as an institution with regard to reproduction of HR potential of science and higher education, which is its main function. Some measures aimed at improving the efficiency of academic postgraduate programs are also discussed.