Graduate School Program for International Researchers and Interdisciplinary Training Erasmus Project

Project Title

Graduate School Program for International Researchers and Interdisciplinary Training

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Quality and Relevance of Higher Education in Partner Countries; Research and innovation

Project Summary

Context and background
Triple-I doctoral training, defined as the international cross-fertilization between disciplines and sectors, is promoted widely in higher education across Europe. A network of nine graduate schools for the social sciences and humanities (SSH) collaborated from September 2017 until September 2020 to produce adequate practical instruments for stimulating, organizing and managing Triple-I training, relevant to 1) PhD-researchers, 2) supervising and teaching staff, 3) doctoral curricula and 4) organisational procedures.

Objectives
Graduate Spirit aimed to
• Provide a systematic Inventory of current policies, procedures and practices to promote interdisciplinarity and diversity in the participating GS.
• Identify a full range of best practices and combine them into a ‘Blueprint’ for successful interdisciplinary and diverse GS.
• Develop and test innovative instruments Triple-I training ileading to an ‘Innovation menu’ from which individual GS can pick and combine.
• Engagement of a wide range of GS and policy makers in and outside the EU by opening and sharing results, using dedicated interactive instruments for data- and knowledge sharing.

Number and profile of participants;
The SPIRIT consortium consisted of nine national GS of the SSH in the Netherlands, Germany (2), Poland, Finland, France, the UK, Belgium and Hungary (our partner there, CEU, moved to Vienna during the project). They represented the two big organisational forms that are typical of European GS in the SSH: big umbrella organisations (Netherlands, Belgium, France, Finland) and small thematic schools or programs (Poland, the UK, Hungary, Germany).

Activities
Graduate SPIRIT conducted three types of activities:
1) collecting information through desk research, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups.
2) producing practical tools for new schools and schools looking to improve their practices with respect to handling the diversity of their PhD-candidates, incentivizing their staff to follow Triple-I perspectives; adjust the curriculum to the digital age; and make their organisations safe and inclusive.
3) engaging with a wide variety of (inter)national networks and stakeholders to discuss and promote Triple-I doctoral training.

Results and impact
Graduate Spirit produced:
* a systematic Inventory of current policies, procedures and practices to promote interdisciplinarity and diversity in the participating GS. This showed that all these dimensions are heavily influenced by the two main organisational forms of schools found in the project, i.e. large umbrella schools and small thematic schools.
* a full range of best practices with respect to PhD-researchers, supervising and teaching staff, doctoral curricula and organisational procedures which were collected and presented in an easy searchable online catalogue of ‘Tips and Tricks’.
* an online Innovation Menu for schools interested in: providing services to PhDs regarding their wider employability; training supervisors to handle the international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral diversity of their PhD-candidates; adjusting the curriculum to forms of e-learning and design thinking; helping the schools address the issues of vulnerability and safety in the PhD-trajectory.
* important direct impact on the national doctoral training policies in Poland, Moldavia, Cuba and on practical arrangements of universities in Kurdistan and Chile, and significant engagement with university managers, higher education experts, supervisors and PhD candidates across Europe.

Long term benefits
All partners have adjusted their practices and incorporated the findings of the project in their activities for PhD-candidates, staff and supervisors, curriculum and organisation. Specific countries (Poland, Moldavia, Cuba) and universities outside of the network have used and are using the tools produced by Graduate Spirit.

Please see for full detail about the project: www. gradspirit.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 377100 Eur

Project Coordinator

ERASMUS UNIVERSITEIT ROTTERDAM & Country: NL

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITAET LEIPZIG
• KOZEP-EUROPAI EGYETEM
• INSTYTUT FILOZOFII I SOCJOLOGII POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK
• LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY
• HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
• KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
• RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG