Characteristics of Extramural PhD Studies

Abstract

Doctoral studies are in most cases carried out fully within the
academic environment. However, some PhD students and supervisors are
extramural, i.e. employed and based outside the university. This report presents
characteristics of such PhD studies, based on an investigation of two research
institutes (SP and VTI) and one authority (Lantmäteriet) having employees
engaged in academic research. The study was carried out mainly through semi
structured interviews with eleven PhD students and an additional six supervisors.
The results show that the extramural PhD studies are carried out under specific
conditions. Advantages are employment security and individual salary models, but
also the opportunity of having a supervisor team from both academia and the
institute/authority that provides broad expertise. Disadvantages are mainly timerelated,
due to split responsibilities between the studies and ordinary work. In
addition, there seems to be a lack of integration in the academic research
environment, which could lead to some missing scientific aspects of the doctoral
work.