The paper presents the result of a research whose main interest was to analyze doctoral programs and their impacts on the professional trajectory of young researchers. The questions that supported our research were: 1.What are the major changes that French universities have undertaken in their graduate programs since the beginning of the Bologna process? 2.Is there a significant effect on the professional trajectory after finishing a doctoral program? 3.What are the main difficulties and advantages that surround doctoral programs? 4.What are the similarities and variation between doctoral programs from different fields of knowledge? Our theoretical framework was based on the sociology of education with authors such as: Musselin (2001), Galderisi (2007), Beaud (2007), and Jourde (2007) among others. As a general context, we could say that French higher education carried out deep changes in recent years, one of the most important is the integration of its programs, in such a way, that the intermediate levels which provided a diploma between the bachelor’s degree and the masters (1st and 2nd cycles) have gradually disappeared. As a result, students lost some professional options before reaching the doctorate, and this consequently has pushed student population towards higher levels. The aforementioned has introduced new problems to the graduate programs, because more students want to be enrolled in a master or doctorate, even though, institutions do not have appropriate and enough conditions to receive them and to instruct them. Besides, having more graduate students does not mean to have only infrastructure, equipments, specialized literature and enough places, it also implies to hold a staff of researchers and professors who have enough time for guiding students during their formation. This could involve several things such as: the need to hire more doctors, creating new research groups and unities, making promotion processes more flexible and establish a better mobility between the different levels: lecturers, professors and researchers; and so on. Each of these issues brings its own accumulated effects. Another problem is the financial support. Resources have had to increase not only for facing the growth of students’ demand, but also because the graduate formation, especially the doctorate, needs financial support for maintaining the program, paying the salaries and employment benefits of a tenured and highly productive staff, fostering the mobility of doctorate students towards other higher education institutions and sectors , and the sponsorship for preparing the thesis. In short, we can say that the reorganization of the higher education has placed the French system in a stronger and more open position compared to some of its associates from the European Union. But, at the same time, this has caused several problems inside the establishments and the opposition of those participants or groups who have been more affected by these reforms.

We followed a comparative methodology and defined some general axis to guide our analysis, such as: 1. The continuity (dis-continuity) of educational policies in French higher education after the Bologna Process, 2. The impact of educational policies in the development of graduate programs, 3. The growth of graduate programs according to the field of knowledge, 4. The distribution of financial support according to the field of knowledge, and 5. The impact of the programs on the professional trajectories and on the labor market. First, we analyzed university legislation and higher education policies, in order to have a general view of graduate programs. After, we used statistical data from official sources to identify some trends that underlie graduate programs. Finally, we worked with official and non-official statistics to observe the differences in financial support and to discriminate the impact on the trajectories and on the market.

1. There is a great disparity between the financial support given to doctoral programs. It is estimated (CSRT, 2008) that around 4,000 subsidies are given a year. The 86.8% goes to doctoral schools, while 12.5%, to the polytechnics and normal schools, and the 0.75% is for international cooperation projects. 2. The field of knowledge plays an important role in the differences existing in financial support. In 2007, the National Agency of Research invested 825 million Euro for supporting research programs in different fields. In Material and Information Sciences, 145.10 million Euro were spent; 124.70 in Biology and Health Sciences; 115.80 in Sustainable Energy and Environment; 53.90 in Ecosystems and Sustainable Development; and 9.50 in Social Sciences and Humanities. The rest was used in transversal research. It is clear that students from the last field have fewer possibilities than their Pure Sciences’ colleagues for obtaining financial support. 3. The aforementioned is reflected on the possibilities of getting a job. The highest unemployment rate of doctors in 2007 could be found in the fields of Literature and Human Sciences (17%), meanwhile the lowest rate was for the field that includes Mechanics, Electronics, Informatics and Engineering Sciences with 6%.