Short summary of answers from SLU PhD students in the national survey Doktorandspegeln performed by UKÄ
Council for research education (FUR)/ 22 August 2017
Short summary of answers from SLU PhD students in the national survey Doktorandspegeln performed by UKÄ
Response rate: 59 %
-more than 80 % consider that their education is good or very good; they are satisfied with the course quality and consider the courses to have a high relevance for their thesis work
-77 % answers that their supervisor shows a high or very high interest for their education
-33 % answers that that they consider that they to a high or a very high degree have been hindered in their research due to shortcomings in the supervision
-A few percentages but sometimes up to 12 % answered that they have experienced negative treatment (särbehandling) of some kind
-Sexual harassment occurs but to a very limited extent
-58 % consider the introduction to the education to be unsatisfactory
-63 % consider that they, to low or a very low degree, was informed about their rights and obligations
-22 % believes that they soon will get a job that requires a PhD. 21 % do not think so.
A higher proportion of women (15%) than men (5%) have been on sick leave more than 14 days during the 14/15 academic year. A higher proportion (50%) of women than men (37%) has children under the age of 18 who live at home.
Generally, women less than men have chosen the option “high/very high”when answering questions related to positive aspects of the education. The difference between how men and women answered is significant, that is, around 20% when answering questions related tothe extent to which the supervisor has
-given constructive criticism,
-discussed the choice of literature and
-discussed the usefulness of the PhD education
64 % of the women compared with 38 % of the men consider that they to a high or a very high degree haveexperienced negative pressures/stress.
About half of all respondents indicated their own topic of interest as the main reason for their PhD education. Of the rest, there was a much larger proportion of men than women, answering that the career as teacher/researcher in the university was the main motivation for them choosing the PhD education. A larger proportion of men than women indicated that they want to continue in the higher education sector after graduation.
For the whole report from UKÄ (only in Swedish) please see:
An excel file (only in Swedish) presenting how the SLU PhD students answered all questions in the survey is available at:
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