Code of Practice for Quality Assurance
Research Programmes
Title: Doctor in Philosophy
Programme: The Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology (DCGC), an Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate
1.1Type of Programme
The Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology (DCGC) is a structured PhD programme offered by SSPSSR at the University of Kent jointly with the Eötvös Lorand University (ELTE, Budapest, Hungary), the University of Hamburg (Germany), and Utrecht University (Netherlands).
The programme was selected for funding under the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral scheme (EMJD) in July 2011 (Erasmus Mundus phase 3, 2009-2013, Action 1: joint programmes). The EU will finance 5 consecutive editions of the programme from 2012 until 2016. Kent will act as the coordinating institution throughout these five years. Academic representatives from the four consortium universities have developed the programme together at several international meetings from 2009 to 2011, with a quadrilateral co-tutelle partnership concluded in March 2011, the basis for Erasmus Mundus funding. All elements of the following programme specifications have been approved by the partners.
The programme must meet certain requirements to be eligible for Erasmus Mundus funding. Among these are a mandatory mobility period and a common language policy (the programme will be conducted in English and candidates will have to demonstrate spoken and written competence in English).
A website for the programme has been set up at
1.2Award and Title
Award: the final degree will be a joint or dual (double) degree awarded by two of the four consortium partners (for further details see 1.13, ‘Final Examination’).
Title: Doctor in Philosophy
Programme: ‘The Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology (DCGC)’. An Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate.
1.3Length and Mode of Registration
36 months; full-time only
Extensions to this period will only be given in exceptional circumstances and must be agreed with the DCGC Coordinator/Chair of the Academic Board of Studies.
Candidates may take a period of intermission from their doctoral research in accordance with the regulations of the partner institutions (e.g. due to sickness, maternity/paternity leave and so on). Each university will advise the other of any changes to the registration status of candidates in a timely manner.
1.4Entry Requirements
Note: A large number of candidates on the programme will be from overseas because the majority of Fellowships will be Category A , which will be restricted to candidates who have lived, worked and/or studied for no more than 12 months out of the past five years in the EU (see annex 1 for the precise eligibility criteria regarding Fellowships. These criteria have been set by the European Commission).
Applicants will normally be expected to hold a 2nd cycle degree and to have been awarded the best or second best grade available in their national system in social sciences, law or related subjects. Following Erasmus Mundus policy the consortium is also committed to considering applicants on the basis of non-formal education and experience. If applicants to the programme do not possess the required formal education they will be expected to demonstrate their abilities by submitting a dossier detailing relevant experiences and other attainments.
Language requirements: non-native speakers of English must demonstrate, through the acquisition of a recognized qualification, proficiency in English at CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) level C1 (‘proficient user’), for instance through an IELTS level 7.0 qualification or a score of 100 (including a minimum 22 in both writing and reading) in the internet-based TOEFL (the paper-based TOEFL is not acceptable).
Applicants to the programme will be selected on the basis of high academic achievement, the fit of their research project with the DCGC research themes, and an assessment of their potential and commitment to complete high quality research. Candidates will need to demonstrate their eligibility and academic achievement through the submission of relevant documentation, including:
- detailed transcripts with grades and degree classification
- a current CV
- a certificate of language ability
- a statement of purpose/motivation
- a research proposal including justification of the proposed mobility pathway
- the names of two referees who will attest to the applicant's academic standing and potential
All candidates will also be expected to indicate that they have understood, and are committed to, the integrated mobility requirement of the programme.
1.5Anticipated Total Doctoral Candidate Registrations
For five consecutive years (2012 to 2016) the programme will receive funding from the EACEA (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency) under the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctoral scheme. The EU will annually specify the number of fellowships available for each edition of the programme. In 2012, it is expected that 8 - 9 fellowships will be awarded, and a similar number is expected in subsequent years. The minimum registrations p.a. should therefore be 8, and an attempt will be made to recruit an additional 50% of that number through other means (e.g. other scholarships and grants, etc). Thus the total number of doctoral candidates registering per year will be between 8 and 12/13, while the total capacity of the programme (fellowships plus externally-funded) has been set at 16 candidates per annum.
1.6Programme Management
At Kent, 9 members of staff from SSPSSR are currently participating in the programme. All are members of the Faculty of Social Sciences and six currently meet the requirements for supervisory chairs. Given that the Kent supervisory team will consist of a senior and junior academic, this provides a good balance.
- Professor Chris Hale
- Professor Jock Young
- Professor Roger Matthews
- Professor Larry Ray
- Professor Alex Stevens
- Professor Keith Hayward
- Dr Phil Carney
- Dr Caroline Chatwin
- Dr Johnny Ilan
In the three partner institutions, a further 26 academic staff are participants in the programme:
Hamburg:
- Prof. Klause Eichner
- Prof. Dr. Johannes Feest
- Prof. Dr. Susanne Krasmann
- Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Lautmann
- Prof. Gabriele Löschper
- Dr. Bettina Paul
- Prof. Dr. Dr. Fritz Sack
- Prof. Dr. Sebastian Scheerer
- PD Dr. Jan Wehrheim
- Dr. Nils Zurawski
Utrecht:
- Dr. Tim Boekhout van Solinge
- Prof. dr. Miranda Boone
- Prof. dr. Frank Bovenkerk
- Prof. dr. Chrisje Brants
- Prof. dr. François Kristen
- Prof. dr. Frans Koenraadt
- Prof. dr. Hector Olásolo
- Dr. Brenda Oude Breuil
- Prof. dr. Dina Siegel
- Prof. dr. John Vervaele
- Prof. dr. Ido Weijers
- Dr. Damián Zaitch
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE):
- Dr. habil Zoltán Fleck
- Dr. Peter Hack
- Dr. habil Klára Kerezsi
- Prof. dr. Miklos Lévay
The programme will be managed by the Academic Board of Studies, described below under 1.16 ‘Governance’.
1.7Proposed Start Date
September 2012.
1.8Opportunity and Need
The nature and complexity of crime requires a committed, coherent interdisciplinary approach harnessing the most advanced international, cultural and critical insights of social sciences and law in a new doctoral training programme. The Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology (DCGC) will develop a politically engaged, international understanding and approach to crime and its control, and prepare high-level doctoral candidates to work in the widest range of employment arenas concerned with understanding, preventing and responding to crime in a way which takes account of the global and cultural context. Through the integration of over 30 associated partners (see annexe 2) it responds to both the impact and the employability agenda in current UK debates in the HE sector. Addressing the urgent need for a new kind of high level expert, the doctoral programme will have a global perspective. Doctoral candidates will conduct research which is relevant, international, transnational and intercultural and which has identified impact. Their doctoral training will develop the capacity for critically informed policy making and, in doing so, it will bring together in an integrated and structured way the insights of the social sciences and law. The programme will foster intellectual dialogue and mobility between different geographical and cultural areas, between the disciplines of social science and law, and, between the university and organisations involved in social action, criminal justice policy making, and crime control.
At Kent, the programme responds to key elements of the School, Faculty and University Plans, including:
a) an emphasis on internationalisation through the partnership in a joint programme with three top EU research universities
b) an emphasis on the employability prospects of graduates both within and outside the HE sector
c) an increase of the annual PGR overseas intake in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
d) a dedicated focus on interdisciplinarity
e) participation in an EU excellence programme. At the time of submission of these programme specifications (October 2011), Kent is the only UK university to be coordinating EMJD programmes (the TEEME programme [selected by Erasmus Mundus in July 2010, programme approved by PASC in November 2010] and now the DCGC programme [selected by Erasmus Mundus in July 2011]), thus leading the sector in the UK in a key area of future doctoral education.
1.9Aims and Objectives
The programme aims will meet six key needs in criminological doctoral research and training, as follows.
□Understanding and responding to new crimes
The continuing globalisation of economic, political, social, and cultural processes means that crime is constantly evolving. There is a need for new interdisciplinary criminological investigations that are able to engage with this dynamic change on the basis of a global and cultural perspective.
□Developing an international and intercultural outlook on crime and social harm
In Europe and the rest of the world criminology has been relatively parochial and confined to local and national concerns. This limited vision marginalises international and transcultural factors. The 21st century has brought an increasing awareness of the global and cultural dimensions of crime and crime control. An international and inter-cultural perspective recognises the indeterminate borderline between ‘criminal’ and ‘non-criminal’ social harms, which means that equivalent forms of problems like environmental damage or youth transgression may or may not be formally criminalised in different parts of the world. The new problems present challenges to policing and criminal justice agencies, which are becoming aware that their operations can have unforeseen results and implications, causing policy makers to reflect, for example, on the ways in which crime control and security policy may impact on social exclusion and human rights.
The programme will develop a broad, global and cultural understanding of crime, harm and control, bringing into focus the significant variation in cultural understandings, modes of regulation, jurisdictions, national laws, differences in policing discretion and prosecuting policy, community values and political cultures, and reflecting critically on the consequences of criminal law and its enforcement.
□Interdisciplinary criminology
European criminology has been based either within the social sciences or in law. The two fields are separated by departmental structures, educational and research programmes, and different modes of critical analysis, methodological approach and social engagement. If there have been conversations about these matters across a disciplinary divide, so far there has been no attempt to combine their best aspects in structured, inter-disciplinary, and international doctoral training programme. There is a need to research crime and control from a global and cultural perspective, which requires the integration of the most advanced, global, cultural and critical aspects of both social science and law-based criminology.
□Intersectoralperspectives andexpertise
There can be no doubt that crime in all its manifestations is of critical, economic, social and political importance, and it is clear that in many spheres the understanding of and response to crime have not been successful. There is an urgent need for government bodies, NGOs, policy makers and criminal justice agencies to access and use high level expertise in developing effective policy responses to crime, which are based on a more profound critical understanding of the international, cultural context and an appreciation of the potential consequences of new, more coordinated responses. Equally there is a need for international criminological research to be informed by the problems and issues faced by civil society and the public sector. Thus the programme will be intimately concerned with the development, execution and results of policy in response to the constantly changing, evolving range of ‘new’ crimes and associated harms. The programme will recognise that criminal justice, governmental and non-governmental bodies all have a vital stake in the field of cultural and global criminology, reflected in the involvement of doctoral candidates with these key organisations.
□Citizenship
So far the development of third-cycle transferable competences in doctoral training has concentrated on skills related to employability but less on those required for citizenship, although the two are intimately linked. The nature of crime and its control, the focus on policy-relevant research, and the need for the outcomes to be useful for actors in civil society, the public sector and criminal justice agencies, requires a recognition that advanced citizenship competences are important for the role that graduates are expected to play in the wider civic, social and political arena. In order to develop active, culturally-sensitive, internationally-knowledgeable citizenship informed by self-reflective ethical and political awareness, the programme will be innovative in its recognition and cultivation of skills in ‘global-critical citizenship’. These skills will be brought to the analysis of policy debate and social action.
□Third country capacity-building
Through its relationships with overseas countries and their doctoral candidates, the programme will develop the capacity for the application of academic criminological research to crime and justice policy on an international scale.
1.10 Programme Outline
The PhD programme is described in detail in annexes 3 and 4.
Registration: To ensure complementarity across the four degree-awarding institutions, all doctoral candidates will be registered from year one for a PhD at two of the four institutions, identified in their chosen pathways.
The programme involves three kinds of structured activity: supervised research, subject-specific training and transferable skills development. Supervised researchis laid out in progressive stages that will enable candidates to develop gradually into competent and fully qualified researchers. Subject-specific training includes core modules in criminological theory and research methods with, in addition, a choice of elective modules. Transferable skills training includes formal workshops at the Graduate School, attendance (in person or virtually) at the Global Skills course, the use of a Personal Development Plan, the presentation of papers at the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology, and the opportunity of a research internship at one of our Associate Members.
The doctoral programme will be a three-year programme culminating in the submission of a doctoral thesis. Candidates will choose one of four main research themes established by the programme and reflecting the complementary strengths of the four partners. In order to establish a sense of programme identity and coherence and to ensure a common basis in the core training, all candidates will start their first semester at Kent. The first semester will consist of an intensive induction programme, core training courses, the establishment of a personal development plan,and the development and formulation of the research project and confirmation of associated mobility in consultation with the supervisory team.
In addition to working together in the first semester, the cohort of candidates will meet again at the Utrecht Summer School and the conferences of the Common Study Programme. These meetings will foster the sense of programme-wide community that binds together research postgraduates and academic staff, and contributes to the research environment.
At the end of their degree, each doctoral candidate will have spent at least one year in two different EU countries, while many will have studied in three EU countries.
The programme will also incorporate a Summer School at Utrecht at the end of the first year. Here candidates will receive training on advanced qualitative and legal methods. In the second and third years candidates will give papers based on their research to an international postgraduate conference, the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology.
1.11 Award of Credits
While the consortium, informed by the Salzburg II recommendations on doctoral programmes, will not award credits for the research thesis, or for the research elements of the programme, it has created an overall ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credit framework, divided into notional (research) and awardable (subject-specific and transferable skills) credits. The total number of notional and awardable ECTS credits, set at 180, follows EMJD precedent and the requirements of DCGC partners. ECTS credits will be awarded for the successful completion of subject-specific and transferable skills elements at each progression stage. The credit framework gives a guide to the relative weightings of the research and taught elements. (for details on the DCGC credit framework, see annexe 4).
Depending on the type of activity and/or nature of the taught elements, credits in the subject-specific and transferable skills training are awarded through certified workshop and seminar attendance, and through the assessment of coursework, presentations, or internship reports. Notional credits are used at each progression stage in the research strand as a means of tracking and recognising research progression. In addition, they are a mechanism for establishing, in concert with training credits, that a candidate is eligible to submit their final research thesis.
For progression rules, see annex 5. Credits will be awarded by the Academic Board of Studies (see 1.16 ‘Governance’).
1.12 Supervision and Progression Arrangements
Each candidate will have at least two supervisors, at least one each from the two chosen places of study. If one of the two degree-awarding institutions is the University of Kent, the Kent supervisor will be either an approved supervisory chair or be part of a team of two Kent supervisors, one of whom will be an approved supervisory chair.
The composition of the supervisory team will be considered at application stage and finalised with each candidate when mobility pathways are confirmed early in semester 1. Supervisors will work closely together and meet with their candidates on a regular basis (either in person or through electronic means) to ensure that they are making satisfactory progress. If neither of their two main supervisors is a Kent staff member, candidates will be allocated a Kent advisor for the duration of semester 1. During the meetings in the first semester initial targets will be agreed with each candidate (satisfying the ‘induction’ review in Kent’s Code of Practice for Research Programmes, Annex K: Progression and Examination).