Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Professionalization of doctoral supervision

At the URV thesis supervision is being progressively enriched and improved a project set up in 2013 and aimed at professionalising doctoral supervision.

The aim of the project is to promote an open, honest and professional relationship between the doctoral student and the thesis supervisor. This relationship is reflected in the satisfaction of both the student and the supervisor and, especially, in an improvement in the research results and scientific advances transferred to society in accordance with the University's mission.

Since its beginning, the project has implemented several training workshops which have led to an increase in the number of highly aware and qualified thesis supervisors. The annual programme of workshops has strengthened our training project and positioned the URV as a leader in professional training for thesis supervisors, which it provides both at its own campuses and at other Spanish and Latin American universities.

Group of Trainers for the Professionalization of the Doctoral Studies

One of the activities of the URV's Doctorate School (ED) has been to train a group of 5 teachers to provide this project with expert trainers; together these teachers are known as the group of trainers for the professionalization of doctoral studies (GFPD). The group's members are Dr Joan Josep Carvajal and Dr María del Mar Reguero from the Department of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, Dr Ercilia García and Dr Mireia Valverde from the Department of Business Management, and Dolores Jiménez from the Department of Romance Studies.

Dr Carvajal Dra Garcia Dra Reguero Dra Valverde Dra Jiménez
Dr Joan Carvajal Dr Ercilia Garcia Dr Mar Reguero Dr Mireia Valverde Dr M. Dolores Jiménez

At the request of the EPD, the GFPD has designed training activities regarding the professionalization of the doctoral studies at the URV which they teach to the doctoral supervisors. The high impact of these training activities has led them to be requested by other national and international universities and higher education institutions. In this regards, the quality of our courses and the fact that we now teach them around the world means that we have become full members of the network of leading experts in the professionalization of doctoral studies and as such are as an example of good practice disseminated by the URV in international doctoral training forums.