EVENT REVIEW

Mr Jovan Zubovic, director of the Institute of Economic Sciences, gave the opening speech. He stressed the importance of discussions on young researchers, their current position and support they receive and particularly the issue of future employment possibilities of doctoral students once they graduate. Mr Mihajlo Djukic, RRPP coordinator, discussed the RRPP activities within the National Policy Dialogue in Serbia.

Then, the results of research on institutional support and education for young researchers in humanities and social sciences were presented. The research was performed by the Working Group on Young Researchers. The Working group carried out a survey within 356 doctoral students.

The survey results indicate that material conditions are unfavourable for young researchers in humanities and social sciences. The results show that 8% of PhD students have no regular income, while 20% estimate that their income is not sufficient to cover their basic needs. Half of the doctoral students pay the extremely high tuition fees by themselves or with the support of family members. Almost a third of young researchers are still living with their parents.

Young researchers are generally dissatisfied with the support they receive from the research organizations they are engaged with. A particular problem is that institutional support is missing even for the mandatory segments of the doctoral studies, such as for example participation in conferences. Moreover, the access to international journals is limited and the university libraries are not fully equipped with the necessary literature.

When it comes to the assessment of the quality of doctoral studies, the results demonstrate that only 27% of respondents believe that the doctoral programs are internationally relevant. When it comes to hosting international professors and the possibilities for mobility of PhD students there is no sufficiently developed cooperation with foreign institutions.

Similarly, doctoral programs do not provide training in research methodology. Only 11% of respondents believe that they are fully trained to work in programs for data processing. The research shows that the number and variety of elective courses in doctoral studies should be higher. Good sides of doctoral programs are theoretical knowledge that programs provide, and the cooperation with professors and supervisors.

The presentation of the research results was followed by the panel discussion. Discussants included vice-deans, university and the Accreditation and quality assurance commission representatives.

Professor Vesna Dimitrijevic, a chair of the Academic Council of Social and Humanistic Sciences, University of Belgrade, stressed the problem of the work space for PhD students. The lack of work space is particularly problematic for doctoral students who are not engaged with research organizations. She also stressed the importance of the internal mobility. Students should be encouraged to attend courses in different faculties. Although this is formally possible, it still needs to be made more available in the practice.

Professor Mihail Arandarenko, chair of the Commission for Doctoral Programme at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, pointed out that there are three categories of PhD students:

• Those employed at the Faculty where they attend their doctoral programmes;
• Those employed outside of the university;
• Unemployed.

Each of these groups faces particular challenges. Employed students have better financial position but are overloaded with work, while unemployed who could focus on their PhD research are facing financial insecurity.

Dr Sasa Randjelovic, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Economics, also stressed the unfavourable financial position of unemployed doctoral students. He mentioned a good practice of supporting PhD students by engaging them as teaching assistants during their PhD studies. Those students should not pay tuition fees. He also stressed the necessity of the better quality control of the PhD programmes.

Professor Miroslav Savic, a member of the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission, stated that the Commission ensured that all PhD programmes had been adjusted to the best practice in the European Union and situation in this field is better when compared to the peer countries.

Bojana Radovanovic, PhD student and the research assistant at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory pointed out that there is a need for greater support for study visits and studying abroad, and also for the fieldwork within the doctoral research. According to the survey results, only 2% of PhD students have a support of the research organization with which they are engaged for study visits abroad, while when it comes to conducting fieldwork (carrying out surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.) only 3% have the institutional support. She stressed that research organizations should provide greater support for international mobility of young researchers in terms of a paid leave, while small grants for fieldwork within doctoral research should be provided by the Ministry.

Source: RRPP