International Resources

Organizations, Partnerships, and Initiatives

These "Organizations, Partnerships, and Initiatives" seek to bring together doctoral students and young researchers, facilitate exchanges, and further the interests of doctoral students across countries.  Also included further down on this page are International Promising Practices. 

The Bologna Declaration  http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates/erasmus/bologna.pdf (html format)  Signatories from 29 European countries have agreed to an action plan that has the goal of reforming higher education institutions in a convergent (but not necessarily "standardized") way, creating compatible credit systems, shortening time to degree, and creating a "European higher education area" by 2010 in order to increase the international competitiveness of European higher education. For an update on the current activities, see http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/educ/bologna/bologna_en.html. 

Council for the Renewal of Higher Education
http://hgur.hsv.se/general_info/ The Council is a permanent National Agency under the direction of the Swedish Ministry of Education. The Council funds competitive grant programs for innovative projects in the area of graduate and undergraduate education.

Doctoriales
http://www.doctoriales.com/ (English version)  Created by the Ministry of Defense and the Bernard Gregory Association (l'Association Bernard Gregory), the Doctoriales are seminars organized to improve employability of doctoral students in France. The seminars are run in cooperation with industry in order to make the doctorate in the sciences more innovative and try to give young scientists a wider choice of career options.

European University Institute
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i41/41a04301.htm  This pan-European university in Tuscany brings together doctoral students from 42 countries in an educational parallel to the European Union.  The university's goal is "to contribute, by its activities in the fields of higher education and research, to the development of the cultural and scientific heritage of Europe." 

Socrates/Erasmus
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/erasmus.html  Socrates/Erasmus aims at improving the quality and the "European dimension" of higher education, including both universities and "extra-university" institutions. Participating countries are the 15 Member States of the European Union, the 3 countries of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and all the Associated Countries in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Cyprus and Malta. Activities include student and teacher exchanges; joint development of study programs; dissemination and implementation of results of CD projects; thematic networks between departments/faculties across Europe; language courses and intensive programs; and the European credit transfer system.

European Commission: Education and Training
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/index_en.html  This organization is a branch of the European Union.  The EC is working on initiatives like the Bologna Declaration (see above), the Mobility Action Plan (that would remove barriers to studying in countries outside one's own), the eLearning action plan, and work and study abroad programs.

European Association for International Education (EAIE)
http://www.eaie.nl/about/index.asp  EAIE is a non-profit organization whose main aim is to stimulate and facilitate the internationalization of higher education in Europe and around the world and to meet the professional needs of individuals active in international education. The organization offers networking tools, training, a listserv, publications, and more.

Eurodoc
http://www.eurodoc.net/presentation/index.html  Eurodoc was founded by the Ph.D. student associations and unions of the European states in order to bring together European doctoral students and young researchers, to be a discussion platform, and to work towards the amelioration of the status of Ph.D. students and young researchers. The site includes workgroups, discussion groups, activities, organizations, archived documents, and more. See also Eurodoc Exchange, co-sponsored by Next Wave and Eurodoc.  

European Science Foundation
http://www.esf.org/  The European Science Foundation is a pan-European organization that brings together scientists (including beginning scientists and doctoral students) and funding agencies to work on European initiatives. The site includes resources in scientific fields spanning the humanities, social sciences, engineering, and the physical, medical, life, environmental, and earth sciences. Resources include networks, grant and conference calls, funding opportunities, workshops, and information about research programs focused on specific themes and funded by member organizations.

The National Unions of Students in Europe (ESIB)
http://www.esib.org/  ESIB is the umbrella organization of 47 national unions of students from 35 countries and through these members represents over 10 million students. The aim of ESIB is to represent and promote the educational, social, economic and cultural interests of students at a European level, particularly through the European Union, Council of Europe and UNESCO.

Worldwide Universities Network
http://www.wun.ac.uk/  This site might be of interest to people setting up international collaboration between universities. The nonprofit group, Worldwide Universities Network, is an international group of universities using online collaboration to improve their research capabilities. The network includes eleven institutions from the United States and Britain, and two Chinese institutions.  

International Promising Practices 

These programs are also posted on our site as "Promising Practices:" click on the program's name to go to the Promising Practice description and contact information.

International Off-Campus Ph.D. Program on Cleaner Production, Cleaner Products, Industrial Ecology and Sustainability
http://www.eur.nl/fsw/gsem/phd/program.html  This program at Erasmus University in the Netherlands operates in partnership with specialized university departments, government agencies and industrial workplaces worldwide in order to provide qualified students the opportunity to pursue independent research. Faculty and candidates keep in regular e-mail contact, gather annually in a 14-day intensive retreat, and occasionally make site visits. The program promotes international collaboration among students and faculty, supports applied research, avoids "brain drain," and encourages the organization of Ph.D. research and advising according to the needs of environmental policy, industrial innovation, NGOs and other end-users, rather than exclusively along disciplinary lines.

Multidisciplinary Ph.D. Program
http://www.itc.nl/research/phd/default.asp  The International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC) is a non-profit foundation funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Education and Science. ITC's courses are designed to facilitate a multidisciplinary approach to geo-informatics, land resource surveys, urban sciences, and earth and water resource surveys. The ITC educational system is international and intended primarily for mid-career professionals and scientists from "developing countries." Throughout the ten-year program, every student has two advisors: one from within ITC and one professor from a university. The Ph.D. trajectories are relevant and meaningful for their employer organizations, and therefore contribute to "successful" employment.