In May 2005, the European ministers responsible for higher education agreed on the cornerstones of doctoral studies in Europe, such as a minimum duration of three years, the definition of doctoral students as young scientists, ensuring adequate supervision and assessing and teaching generic skills and competencies for an extended job market. At the ministerial conference in London in May 2007, it was pointed out that the status, career prospects and financing of young scientists need to be strengthened, since these are the prerequisites for a strong research area. For these reasons, the importance of embedding doctoral programs in profile building and institutional strategy is emphasized (BMBWF & Austrian Rectors Conference, 2005; European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, 2005).

At many Austrian universities, doctoral programs were and are currently redesigned and structured according to these international recommendations and criteria. The reform efforts of Austrian universities in the field of doctorates are partly reflected in the forms offered, such as the introduction of doctoral colleges or doctoral schools. These structured doctoral studies, which need intensive supervision and appropriate funding, represent a challenging type of doctorate that is new to Austria (Universities Austria, 2007). Until the 1960s, the doctorate was the first academic degree or the only academic degree in Austria. It was not until the study reform of 1966 that a first gradation of academic degrees was introduced in the form of diploma studies. However, the implementation of this new study law took about two decades in the individual disciplines, and due to the generous transition periods, there were people who obtained their doctorate degree according to the "old study regulations", i.e. as a first degree, until recently. At the same time, the differentiation between diploma studies and doctorates was not a very marked gradation, neither “downwards” nor “upwards”. In terms of demands, content and teaching culture, the diploma course was in no way comparable to the undergraduate course in the Anglo-Saxon area.

Conversely, the conventional doctoral program was (or is) not research training in the narrower sense (which is explicitly designed as preparation for a research career). Until the end of the 1990s, the minimum duration for a doctorate in Austria was two years. Only with the Universities Act 2002 (UG 2002) was the possibility of longer doctoral programs granted (§ 54, paragraph 4): “The workload for doctoral studies must amount to at least 120 ECTS credit points.  If the workload amounts to at least 240 ECTS credit points, (...) the academic degree PhD may be awarded." In 2006, the UG 2002 was amended, which reduced the minimum number of ECTS credit points for PhD programs to 180, with reference to the Bergen communique.

Against this background, an intensive discussion about a reform of doctoral studies in Austria takes place. One speaks of the "new doctorate" or of a switch to PhD studies. While there has been a wealth of experience with structured doctoral programs in Germany since the 1980s thanks to the DFG-funded graduate schools, the Austrian universities are largely breaking new ground.

In this context, we ask: If and how has the perception of doctoral candidates changed in accordance with the higher education reforms? Is there a difference between those who have earned their PhD between 2004 and 2016, between 2017 and 2021 and those who were still doing their PhD at the time of the survey collection in terms of their career prospects?

The data of this study is based on ‘The Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society (APIKS)’ project. APIKS is an international comparative project that includes research teams from more than 30 countries (including Brazil, China, Germany, Finland, Japan, Norway, Portugal, South Korea and the Canada). The project explores working conditions in academia and attitudes of scientific and artistic staff at universities and colleges in the areas of research, teaching, knowledge and technology transfer, governance and management, professional situation, qualification and career. The aim of the project is to contribute to improving working conditions at universities and to support the development of the university system. Due to the international integration, the results can also be evaluated in an international comparison. The APIKS Austria study was conducted in all four sectors of higher education in Austria, public and private universities, universities of applied sciences, and university colleges for teacher education. The survey distribution took place in the first half of 2021. We draw on survey data from N= 2.195 persons who have already earned a degree between 1955 and 2021 of whom N = 892 did so between 2004 and 2016 and N = 478 between 2017 and 2021. In addition, N = 1.029 survey participants stated that they were in their PhD phase during data collection. To answer the research questions, we draw on descriptive findings and cross tabulations. In addition, we include a logistic regression model. The APIKS survey included 13 variables on the perception of the PhD-phase. All survey participants who stated that they have already earned a doctorate degree and all PhD students were asked to state whether the following statements apply/applied or do/did not apply to their PhD study (examples): “You are/were required to take a prescribed set of courses.”, “You receive(d) an employment contract during your studies (for teaching or research).” or “Your doctoral thesis consist(ed) (partly or completely) of book chapters and/or journal articles.”. In addition to the perception of the PhD phase, we asked participants about their future careers: In five year‘s time, where would you like to be and where do you expect to be? (Scientist at a HEI, Scientist outside academia, No scientific activity). These variables were also controlled by gender (almost even gender distribution) and field of study.

Analyses revealed differences: Persons who have already finished their PhD studies between 2017 and 2021 are more likely to have received a scholarship or fellowship or were employed outside universities. Current PhD students are, on the other hand more likely to be enrolled in a joint doctoral program, which is consistent with the emergence of these programmes during the last couple of years. Persons who have already finished their PhD within the 10 years before survey collection rather want to stay in academia and also expect to do so, while more than 60%of current PhD students want to stay in academia (only 41% expect that they will have the opportunity to stay). In addition, there are differences between PhD-students by field of study. Respondents in Medicine and Health Sciences show more confidence that they will reach what they aspire than respondents in other discipline. Especially in Engineering and Technology the percentage of persons who expect to end up outside of academia is quite high (48%, while 23% aspire this). In terms of gender, there are no differences in their career perspectives, even when looking at the three groups of respondents. Those who think that they will not remain at a Higher Education Institution rather belong to the group of current PhD students. Our results indicate that there is a strong wish to stay in academia, but the expectations are low. The current PhD-students are more likely to be employed inside academia at the time of their studies, but have no job security and there seams to be a mismatch between job offers during PhD studies and options after finishing their studies. Therefore our results indicate that PhD study programs should offer education processes to increase employability outside of academia, which should be discussed for PhD programmes across Europe as well.

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