Doctoral education and employment in the regions

The case of Catalonia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7366444
AutoresEloïse Germain-Alamartine (0000-0003-1188-4422, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen6
Número1
Páginas299-318
Fecha de publicación2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaRegional Studies Regional Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2168-1376 • E-ISSN: 2168-1376
EditorialTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21681376.2019.1584049
OpenAlexW2944514829
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10
Referencias citadas36

Even though the doctoral degree was originally designed for an academic career, there is an increasingly important labour market for doctorate holders outside academia, mainly because of a shortage of job opportunities within it. Doctoral degrees are granted only by universities; thus, universities are the only suppliers of the doctoral workforce to the labour market. Understanding the needs of non-academic employers is thus crucial if universities are to adapt their doctoral education curriculum. Many studies have analyzed labour markets for doctorate holders at national and transnational scales, but few studies focus on the regional scale. The present study explores regional data for Catalonia in Spain on the employment situation of doctorate holders in order to define the characteristics of the regional, non-academic labour market for doctorate holders. Descriptive statistics suggest a high retention rate of doctorate holders within the region and a large part of doctorate holders (two-thirds) having a job that does not require a doctoral degree. This study highlights the existence of a skills mismatch that might be linked to the preference for a better paid or more stable job, or to the lack of development of skills that represent added value in the eyes of employers. These characteristics can be formulated as hypotheses to be tested in further qualitative or quantitative studies. They have several implications for universities, non-academic employers and regional policy-makers, such as the need to work on the valorization of the doctoral degree in the non-academic labour market

Business · Curriculum · Economic growth · Economic shortage · Economics · Employability · Geography · Higher education · Job market · Pedagogy · Political science · Preference · Public relations · Scale (ratio · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Work (physics · Workforce · Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions · Engineering · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences · Higher Education Governance and Development