Programme priorities:
Doctoral Studies
Position of students and funding
Under the Higher Education Act, doctoral students are students of the third cycle of higher education. The content of doctoral study consists of scientific inquiry and independent creative activity in the field of research or development, and independent theoretical and creative activity in the field of art, carried out under the qualified guidance of a supervisor. Doctoral students hold the status of student and are now, for the most part, remunerated through scholarships. At the same time, however, they are researchers at the very start of their careers, and the Student Chamber will support and advocate for steps leading toward the recognition of doctoral students as early-career researchers.
A very important step is the approval of the long-prepared reform of doctoral studies as part of the amendment to the Higher Education Act, which sets out the minimum level of financial support for doctoral students while also supporting a combination of scholarship and salary from an employment relationship. With respect to higher education institutions, the Student Chamber will advocate for the employment of doctoral students for creative activity related to the topic of their dissertation, so that this period may be recognized as work experience in their future employment, and so that their payments toward social security, health, and sickness insurance can be taken into account in the calculation of maternity benefits, in the calculation of their future old-age pension, or when assessing income in a loan application.
Together with the Czech Association of Doctoral Students, the Student Chamber will work to ensure adequate financial conditions for doctoral students, as well as opportunities for doctoral students to take part in projects supported by domestic grant agencies.
The Student Chamber advocates for the four years of doctoral study to be counted as a period of participation in pension insurance, as is currently proposed in the draft act on pension insurance. We further call for the introduction of an entitlement to maternity benefits and for the recognition of a doctorate as work experience.
Quality and other aspects of doctoral study
One of the main indicators of the quality of doctoral study is the quality of the supervisor and the supervising team. In this regard, the Student Chamber will continue to present the document it has drawn up, the Standard for Doctoral Supervisors, and will help student senators incorporate the important parts of this document into the internal regulations currently being prepared by higher education institutions.
The Student Chamber has long taken a stance against the involuntary, extensive use of doctoral students to provide direct teaching activity. During negotiations on the shape of the reform, the Student Chamber observed with concern the arguments made against introducing voluntariness and mandatory payment for teaching carried out by doctoral students, arguments which raise concerns about the ability of some higher education institutions to provide teaching without the assistance of doctoral students.
In view of the abolition of the per-capita contribution for doctoral scholarships, the Student Chamber will support more sophisticated forms of the admissions process for doctoral study. It further supports extending the minimum length of a foreign research placement within a doctorate from the current 30 days to three months. The Student Chamber notes that, at higher education institutions, the length of stay on a foreign placement tends to approach the minimum limit, or is entirely replaced by reporting creative activity carried out within the framework of international cooperation. A stay at a foreign training institution gives doctoral students an entirely new insight into the working conditions of researchers in their field of study and brings new knowledge, experience, and contacts; it is therefore not desirable for the provision on the minimum length of a foreign placement to be systematically circumvented.
The Student Chamber will also address questions concerning the employability of doctoral students within the academic environment and the development of soft skills. It will further support the introduction of industrial doctorates in cooperation with the private sector, within the framework of current legislation.
In connection with the quality of doctoral studies, the Student Chamber will also address the quality of scientific activity, particularly with regard to the setup of Methodology 2025+ and the area of open science.
