| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 327-338 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Higher Education in Europe |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (VoR) - Oct 2006 |
Funding
In order to raise Germany’s competitiveness and ability to recruit both national and international doctoral researchers and to respond to the increased labour market demand for researchers with doctorates, the German Research Foundation (DFG) introduced Research Training Groups (RTGs) in 1990. The RTGs offer doctoral candidates the opportunity to carry out their research and prepare their thesis in a more structured manner in organised programmes. More recently, similar graduate and research schools have sprung up across Germany. The Max Planck Research Schools are perhaps the best known example. Others include Lower Saxony’s Graduate Schools and the German Academic Exchange Service’s (DAAD) International Postgraduate Programme (IPP) which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and includes fifty programmes at thirty-seven universities. While the number of doctoral candidates in structured programmes is increasing (Tiefel, 2006), as the chart below indicates, the majority of doctoral researchers hold staff positions in teaching and research within universities or research institutes.