Evaluación y mejora de los estudios de Doctorado PhD assessment and improvement

In order to go ahead in the EEES building process, the RD 1393/2007 regulation establishes a new structure for the official teachings and specifies the guidelines, conditions and procedures that rule the drawing up of the study plans to obtain the graduate, master and doctorate degrees. According with this law, every single university should carry out a new arrangement of the given teachings, including the doctoral programs. In this work we try to point out some problems and difficulties of the present PhD studies that should be taken in account to draw up further programs. Thus, we have assessed these teachings considering the PhD a program that should be approached in an understanding manner; assessing the programs’ design, development (educational period and research period), results and final product (doctoral thesis). The data and evidences used in this assessment come from various evaluative researches –either led by the author or in collaboration with others– on different PhD programs, using as a work methodology the checking of programs based on statistic data, expert opinions, and opinion polls among the involved audience (stakeholders). This study gives an account of the main problems that present the doctoral programs at its different phases, and thus, offers some proposals and recommendations for the Universities to be taken in account now that it is necessary the redesigning of PhD studies under current regulations.