The results are presented around two main themes, each with several sub-themes.
1) Organisation of and experiences during PhD training. From this theme, three sub-themes follow: i) individual preconditions and organisational set-up of training; ii) experiences of the training situation iii) experiences of discrimi-nation during training
2) Career development and mobility after graduation. From this second theme, three sub-themes follows: i) individual preconditions and organisational set-up of training for past and current positions; ii) working conditions; and iii) mobility since graduation.
Separate analysis is provided for those who have already finished PhD training (graduates) and those still in training (candidates).
7.1 Theme I: Organisation of and experiences during PhD training
Under this theme, the results relating to individual preconditions and organi-sational set-up of training will be displayed and analysed (e.g., position and age upon commencing training, type of dissertation and country of training). This is followed by examination of type of dissertation and respondents’ experiences of the training, with particular focus on areas of dissatisfaction (e.g., supervision and research resources in the country of training and in Mozambique). Special attention is given to the experience of discrimination during the period of train-ing. Finally, results relating to aspects of mobility during the period of training will be displayed and analysed (e.g., stay rates in country of training versus home country, practical arrangements and the implications of these).
7.1.1 Individual preconditions and organisational set-up of training
The great majority of respondents (96 per cent) reported that their training was organised in accordance with the sandwich model. All those few who reported other types of training modality referred to full-time study in a foreign institu-tion. No full-time studies were reported among those registered for training af-ter 1997. However, as will be shown elsewhere, the sandwich modality displays great elasticity in terms of stay rates, both in total and in average duration of each stay. The sandwich model has never included directives specifying dura-tion of stay in the foreign institudura-tion. This is basically sound, but in each case a point may be reached when too long stay rates in the foreign institution may be counterproductive for the home institution, both in terms of supporting the status quo and more importantly in building a research capacity and culture, the modality’s guiding p rinciple.
Since UEM has been the sole focus of Swedish-Mozambican research
co-operation, the great majority (98 per cent) of the responding PhD graduates/
candidates originate there.35 A similar percentage applies to the position of the graduates/candidates at the time of starting training, with more than 94 per cent holding a staff position at UEM. The remaining 6 per cent were postgraduate students at the time of recruitment. The findings confirm the picture regarding entry into PhD training in most of Sida’s bilateral research training programs, indicating that the educational level of staff members is still not sufficient to al-low for the “external” intake of candidates for postgraduate programs.
Linked to the prerequisites for recruitment is the question of age when start-ing PhD trainstart-ing. Although this issue is not supported by any studies, it has been the subject of discussion in many Sida-funded research training programs and criticism has been raised about the selection of relatively old candidates as a result of formal and informal seniority rules in collaborating institutions.
In the recruitment of the Mozambican candidates in this study, the pres-ence of this age bias seems to be comparatively low, though with a few note-worthy observations. As shown in Table 7.1, a majority of respondents started their training before the age of 41. There is, however, significant variation in the representation of women and men in the three age categories between 25 and 40. Men seem to start their training earlier than women, with a high representa-tion of men (51 per cent) in first two age categories, while a majority of women were found in the third category. In addition, a significantly higher proportion of women started their training between 41 and 45 (32 per cent). The equivalent proportion for men was found in the age category 25 to 30. Supporting the perception of old age bias in recruitment for PhD training is the proportion of men (23 per cent) in the two upper age categories 46-50 and 51-55. However, by cross-checking these figures with year of training commencement, it appears that the great majority of older candidates stem from early years under investiga-tion, that is the early 1990s. Generally, the results indicate a tendency towards earlier commencement, regardless of gender, as one moves along the time line.
Still, there was a significant difference between women and men as regards age when starting PhD training.
Table 7.1 Age when starting PhDs by gender in per cent (N)
Age/ Gender 25–30 31–35 36–40 41–45 46–50 51–55 Total
Female 3.2% (1) 6.4% (2) 51.6% (16) 32.2% (10) 6.4% (2) 0 (0) 100% (31) Male 21.6% (11) 33.3% (17) 15.7% (8) 7.8% (4) 15.7% (8) 5.9% (3) 100% (51) Total 14.6% (12) 23.2% (19) 29.3% (24) 17.1% (14) 12.2% (10) 3.6% (3) 100% (82)
35. According to information in available registers and records, the figure is also representative of the total sampled population. In cases where respondents specified other institutions, all have close cooperation with UEM, e.g., the National Institute of Meteorology.
Type of dissertation
In international academia there is general tendency towards the article-based dissertation at the expense of the monograph. The survey results indicate that this tendency seems to apply to the surveyed Mozambican graduates and candi-dates. As indicated in Table 7.2, article-form dissertations have over the period of investigation become the dominant form in most disciplines, irrespective of country of graduation, with the social sciences and humanities being the excep-tion.36 The proportion of article-based dissertations also increases as one moves along the time line of investigation, including in the social sciences and hu-manities. Not displayed in the table are candidates still in training, but results for this category seem to reinforce the picture of progressive movement towards dissertation by articles.
Table 7.2. Type of dissertation by country and discipline (N)
Sweden South Africa
The table covers only respondents who have graduated. The upper percentage for type of dissertation refers to the proportion between countries and disciplines, while the lower percentage refers to proportion of type of dissertation in a spe-cific discipline in Sweden and South Africa.
Judging from respondents’ narratives, the preference for dissertation by arti-cle seems to be not only the expression of a general trend in academia, but also a deliberate feature of the sandwich model. Several respondents asserted that the article form was more compatible with the mobile character of sandwich model, allowing for distinct checkpoints as one moved ahead with the research. In some cases, the choice of type of dissertation had not been optional, with dissertation by article being presented by the training institution as the only alternative. The following narratives elaborate on this:
For me the article form was the only option and my supervisor made it clear to me already at the beginning. Since most people in my field write disser-tation by articles I didn’t even consider writing a monograph. Now when looking back I realise that the article form was very suitable for the way the 36. These are also the exceptions internationally.
training was organised, going back and forth between Sweden and home. It allowed me to set up milestones and keep close contact with my supervisor.
(female)
I had colleagues doing their training in Sweden and in South Africa who both wrote monographs and I saw the difficulties they were facing, particularly the supervision. If the supervision is both far away and poor, you run a great risk to fail in the end. I have seen it happen, you put a lot of effort into something for a long time and if you are on the wrong track from the beginning it will end by catastrophe. Therefore for me dissertation by articles seemed to be a more secure way of training and it worked very well for me.
(male)
7.1.2 Experiences of the training situation
The experience of PhD training varied significantly according to academic dis-cipline. Graduates in social sciences, humanities and medicine display greater dissatisfaction across most variables, particularly with regard to supervision in the country of training, co-supervision and research training in the country of training. On the other hand, and not surprisingly, social science and humanities graduates showed the lowest rates of dissatisfaction regarding research resources in Mozambique. Science, medicine and technology scored high on this variable.
Graduates in agricultural science and technology generally displayed the lowest levels of dissatisfaction. No significant discrepancy was apparent when control-ling for period of time. The results from controlcontrol-ling for candidates in different disciplines did reveal significant differences, but the pattern remained largely intact.
Mobility in relation to the training situation
The experiences of the sandwich program have also been analysed in terms of stay rates37 in the country of training and academic discipline. The results in-dicate a slight tendency towards longer total stay rates among graduates that pursued their training in South Africa compared to graduates trained in Swe-den. Controlling for average time of stay, the South African group represented a significantly higher share among those reporting shorter average stays, which indicates a more frequent exchange in terms of visits.
The distribution of stays in country of training in relation to academic field revealed no significant variation (also when controlling for gender or country of training). The need for scientific resources such as laboratories and technical equipment in the STEM sciences seems not to have led to longer stays among graduates in these disciplines compared to graduates in the social sciences and humanities, who reported the lowest dissatisfaction with existing research
re-37. Stay rate refers to length and frequency of stays in the country of training during.