The role of the PhD in the smart economy

NUI Maynooth supports the view that we now have an unparalleled opportunity to radically transform graduate education in Ireland, and that doing so will be a pre-requisite to meeting national objectives on the development of a ‘knowledge society’. The universities have argued that the establishment of inter-institutional and national graduate schools is a pre-requisite to producing high quality PhD graduates and, sector-wide, structural changes have been achieved that ensure that high quality training is provided to an increasing PhD cohort.

In line with the overall approach of the university sector NUI Maynooth has now enhanced and revamped its PhD programmes by moving towards four-year structured graduate research education with inter-university and industry linkages where appropriate. NUIM is firmly of the view that properly-resourced and well-executed structured graduate education along these lines is of immense benefit to the student and to the economy.

A research doctorate at NUI Maynooth now involves you engaging in professional skills training; availing of inter-institutional collaboration, individualized programmes in subject specific skills, and the possibility of internships and international mobility.  Conscious of meeting the needs of both a broad labour market and of doctoral students’ education, NUI Maynooth is the first university in the country to provide such supports for all of its new PhD students, from September, 2010. In reality many doctorate graduates are destined for careers outside academia in both research and non-research positions. NUI Maynooth equips students for this by building professional supports into their research programmes.

From the perspective of you, the student, doctoral programmes at NUI Maynooth are:

Research-led 
The doctoral candidate is embedded in a thematically aligned community of researchers, and is given access to the research team’s networks of, and links to, industry, business, public services, NGOs and research fields.

Skills based 
An individual programme of training which involves taking no less than 30 taught credits is developed based on a student’s needs. These are made up of formal accredited specialist modules (involving inter-institutional delivery and world class expert input), generic skills modules (normally faculty-based), professional skills modules (normally department/research institute based, but with tangible involvement with the wider society/public body/industry/business context where possible), transferable skills modules (research/teaching/entrepreneurship and innovation specific to research subject) and placements in industry, business or public/community service (where appropriate) before submitting your final thesis.

Student-centric
Each student’s doctorate is customised and individualised in that the principal supervisor, supervisory panel/advisory team/departmental committee and student agree the research topic and the appropriate suite of modules to enhance the doctoral candidate’s future employability. The choice of specific activities is tailored to suit your experience and to reflect the disciplinary requirements of your broad research field.

Where it is appropriate research is strongly focused on innovation through research and development in order to contribute to advancing a more ‘knowledge-based’ society and economy. Subject specific and themed research-led programmes, wherein specialised knowledge is developed, contextualized and embedded through a variety of linkages and networks into the society and economy where their contribution is targeted.

From your perspective, while undergoing a PhD programme at NUI Maynooth, you can expect:

• A high quality research experience and enhanced arrangements for supervision and mentorship
• Structured arrangements for the development of generic and transferable skills
• Advanced taught courses in your discipline
• Academic transcript which records modules you have taken and your achievements
• Regular monitoring and support of your progress. 


Click here or go to http://graduatestudies.nuim.ie/ for further information.