EIASM Academic Council Meeting 21 September 2009

Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki

ORPHEUS - case study in building a network

Michael J. Mulvany, professor of cardiovascular pharmacologyHead, Aarhus Graduate School of Health Sciences

Organization for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the European System

PhD is an international degree• does it have the same meaning in all countries?

Governments are promoting the PhD at huge cost• what do they get for their money?

Mobility• how can applicants be compared, if the PhD has

different standards?

Programme development• the opportunity to learn from each other

Why is there a need for standards?

Professor Zdravko Lackovic, MD, PhDDepartment of Pharmacology, University of Zagreb

The founder of ORPHEUS

Apart from being a symbol of music, and leading an untimely

death, the mythical Orpheus is revered as a pioneer of

civilization who taught the arts of writing, agriculture, and

even medicine.

ORganization for

First meeting, 2004

European Conference on Harmonisation of PhD Programmes in Biomedicine and Health Sciences was held

in Zagreb.

53 delegates, 25 universities, 16 European countries

The Zagreb Declaration

"The PhD thesis should consist of a review and the equivalent of three international articles"

First meeting, 2004

Second meeting, 2005

The Second European Conference held in Zagreb

71 delegates, 33 universities, 21 European countries

Guidelines for Organisation of PhD Programmes in Biomedicine and Health Sciences’

Second meeting, 2005

"PhD programmes should

• be structured,

• last 3-4 yr

• be based on original research

• have course work not exceeding 6 months"

Third meeting, 2007

Third ORPHEUS 2007 conference held in Helsinki.

80 delegates, 43 universities, 26 European countries

Helsinki Consensus Statement on PhD Training in Clinical Research

"The PhD in clinical medicine should have the same standard as PhDs in other biomedical fields"

Third meeting, 2007

Fourth meeting, 2009

Fourth ORPHEUS conference held in Aarhus, Denmark

165 delegates from 72 universities from 33 European countries

The position paper

Fourth meeting, 2009

Towards Standards for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences

Content:

• status

• points of consensus

• recommendations

• standards not standardization!

Basis:

• previous ORPHEUS documents

• 72 faculties, 33 countries were involved

• deans, graduate school heads, students

• extensive discussion before, during and after conference

• PhD degree

• Requirements of the PhD programme

• Admission criteria

• Supervision

• Evaluation of theses

The position paper

The way forward: giving ORPHEUS political influence

• ORPHEUS is now a member of the European Universities

Association − Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE)

• Chairman of EUA-CDE and the European Commission participated

in ORPHEUS2009.

• AMSE and WFME have endorsed the position paper

• ORPHEUS should meet with national organizations regarding

implementation of the position paper

• ORPHEUS should lead the way in establishing networks to

improve quality of PhD programmes in lesser developed countries

ORganization for

ORPHEUS - case study in building a network

delegates universities countries2004 Zagreb 53 25 162005 Zagreb 71 33 212007 Helsinki 80 43 262009 Aarhus 165 72 332010 Vienna