Graduate and Postgraduate Training in Biology for the next Millennium

A Swedish Perspective

Lillemor Lewan, Lund University
Helgonavägen 3B, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden
Fax: +46-46-222 45 39
E-mail: lillemor.lewan@zoofys.lu.se

Training in Biology has long tradition in Europe. At Lund university in southernmost Sweden we have just celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Travel of Carolus Linneaus in our province. He travelled just after the battles between Swedes and Danes and the university had recently been founded with the aim to make that part of the former Denmark more Swedish. Today Danes and Swedes meet in the ÷resund University created by 13 higher education institutions in southernmost Sweden and eastern Denmark in support of an interactive ÷resund region.

Our efforts to introduce the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) in Biology education at our universities are very successful. Not only is the system basic for mobility during undergraduate studies. It is also a tool for our comparison of undergraduate study programmes, for co-operation in teaching and for development of joint study programmes. The system is also useful when students want to initiate interdisciplinary studies giving them credits to their degree also from course work in another faculty at their home university.

A PhD student, ‰sa Fex, recently defended her thesis Regulation of Injury Induced Schwann Cell Proliferationî in the Department of Animal http://www.darwin.biol.lu.se/zoofysiol/), Faculty of Natural Sciences, Lund University. Her PhD is a 240 ECTS credits degree on top of her undergraduate degree (BSc or MSc). The PhD programme comprises 45-60 ECTS credits course work and some 180-200 ECTS credits supervised research, including the publishing of papers/writing of manuscripts to be published and an extensive summary, generally in English. Opponent was Professor Jessen, University College, London. The PhD student defended her work in a discussion with Professor Jessen at a public seminar (in English), some three hours long, in the presence of the Examination committee and some 100 colleagues and friends. There were three members in the committee, two of which were external, i.e. from the Faculty of Medicine.

The PhD candidate had followed the PhD courses listed below:

Comparative Animal Physiology, 7.5 ECTS c credits
Laboratory Animal Handling, 4.5 ECTS credits
Communication Technique, 4.5 ECTS credits
Cell Biology, 7.5 ECTS credits
Cell and Tissue Culturing, 7.5 ECTS credits
Statistical Analyses, 7.5 ECTS credits
G-proteins and Cytosolic free Calcium signalling in Mammalian cells, 3 ECTS credits
Experimental Animal Operation, 3 ECTS credits


(In total 45 ECTS credits)

Such courses are supposed to support the candidate's research and are selected in agreement with the supervisor. The courses should also widen the candidate's knowledge and to some extent qualify for future employment.

This PhD candidate had presented her results at six international workshops abroad and as a result was invited the USA, where she will next begin a post doc position at the Univ. Cincinnati and Mount Sinai Medical School, New York.

In this case the PhD candidate is married and has a 6 years old son.

She started her PhD studies in June 1991, had 600h teaching as assistant and 160 as a lecturer. She hold a PhD position 4 y, had 1.5 y maternal leave, and finished her PhD in May 1999.

Based on my experiences from PhD studies in Sweden, I see two possibilities of European co-operation on top of the ECTS system.

To be good for the PhD student, supervised research abroad must be in collaborating research groups or in a group doing research of immediate interest to the studentís research topic. Participation in international conferences should be encouraged. Grants for students from abroad should be made available.

PhD courses could be set up by departments/enterprises having some good knowledge/method to offer. Such international courses should be intensive, and could be co-ordinated with international conferences for presentation of results. Grants for students from other countries should be available.

Good examples of intensive PhD courses already exist among the Nordic countries, i.e. the courses arranged by NorFA (Nordic Academy for Advanced Studies), see (http://www.norfa.no/e_index.html). The organisation is also open for applications from the Baltic Countries and Northwest Russia.

Introduction of the European PhD label would be an indicator showing that we are on the right way: towards increased PhD student mobility and improved transparency of theses. We can use English for increased scientific transparency. In parallel we can use our mother tongue for science writing and national dissemination of results and wider knowledge.