For PhD Students

Educating Researchers for Tomorrow

The project's PhD students hold a special position, not only due to their contribution to the research output,but also because they are the next generation of TVET experts in our partner countries. Therefore, it is our aim to bundle our resources to provide them the best possible foundations and conditions to broaden their knowledge.

On the one hand, we do so by providing them feedback regarding their research, not only form their direct supervisors, but also from the other Principal Investigators and their peers in the academic community by motivating them to take part in international conferences. On the other hand, we organize meetings for the PhD students that aim at giving them feedback on their research in a condensed way, to coordinate their research and to provide them access to high quality education.

PhD Workshop on Qualitative Research at Kathmandu University in Dhulikhel, Nepal September 9-10, 2019

A two-day workshop on qualitative research for PhD students organized by KOF and Kathmandu University (School of Education) will be held by Dr. Karina Maldonado-Mariscal in Dhulikhel, Nepal. This workshop takes place as part of the R4D-research project "LELAM-TVET4INCOME" (www.r4d.tvet4income.ethz.ch) which organizes among other activities the International Conference on TVET for Employment, Income, and Job Quality, 11-12 of September 2019 in Kathmandu.

The main objectives of this workshop are to introduce students in a detailed and interesting way to qualitative methodology and to provide reflection tools for their own research projects. This workshop contributes to reflection and discussion among PhD students and promotes collaborative activities.

The main topics to be addressed are qualitative methods according to research purposes (advantages and disadvantages), collecting data, data analysis and coding. This workshop is structured with a theoretical part and a practical part that includes working with a software for qualitative data analysis and with diverse examples. Some reflection on case study research will also be introduced.

Photo shows PhDs of LELAM-TVET4Income Project

PhD Workshop in Zurich May 28- June 7, 2018

Another example for such a meeting is the PhD Workshop held in Zurich from May 28- June 7, 2018, organized by NADEL and KOF. All five PhDs of the project, including the researcher from Costa Rica attended the two-week workshop consisting of two parts.

In the first week of their stay, all of the PhDs/researchers joined the PhD Course external pageApprenticeship Training: Institutions and Markets offered by the external pageSwiss Leading House “Economics of Education”. This course was a joint block-course lectured by Prof. Samuel Mühlemann from the LMU Munich, Germany, Prof. Paul Ryan, PhD, King's College London and Prof. Dr. Ursula Renold, CES/ETH Zurich. It provided the PhDs an introduction to institutional aspects of vocational education and training in general, and work-based training, including apprenticeship, in particular.

In the second week of the PhD workshop, Prof. Isabel Günther, the Principal Investigator from NADEL, organized a workshop during which the PhDs had to present and discuss their PhD research proposals in an interactive way and to discuss further steps for the professional development of the PhDs.

In addition, the PhDs received written feedback on their PhD proposals from the other PIs. Another important goal of the workshop was to coordinate the research of the PhDs to bring their research together to a “big picture”. Prof. Ursula Renold gave a presentation about case study research designs.

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