1. Recruiting doctoral candidates

• Recruitment is a process designed to attract the most promising candidates. It takes place through doctoral programs, graduate schools and/or by at least two members of a research group or research area.
  • „In many countries, the admission has become a collective responsibility and a regulated 6 aspect of the doctoral programs. The days of the individual professor who decides about the acceptance of a candidate have come to an end” (Sonneveld 2016: 4).

• PhD and assistant positions are advertised as internationally as possible (on the usual platforms of the respective discipline as well as on the internal job platform of UZH). The following points are clearly formulated in the announcement text: 1) thematic focus of the dissertation project, 2) employment situation, 3) doctoral studies (curricular part), 4) teaching activities, 5) selection criteria, 6) prerequisites for an application. It is useful to request a sample of the applicant’s writing, e.g. a short summary of initial ideas for the planned project.

• The selection procedure is structured, competitive and transparent and is based on clearly defined criteria. The principle of equal opportunity is to be taken into account in the announcement of doctoral positions and in the application procedure in order to promote applications from underrepresented groups. Those involved in the selection of doctoral candidates are familiar with interviewing methods..
  • “To ensure quality of PhD programmes, PhD candidates should be selected on the basis of a competitive and transparent process“ (ORPHEUS & AMSE 2016: 10).
  • “(...) recruitment policies could take into account criteria such as international recruitment, gender equality, social background or different age groups” (EUA 2010: 5).

An overview of the used literature can be found here.