The ‘Industrialization’ of Doctoral Training? A Study of the Experiences of Doctoral Students and Supervisors

Abstract

There is growing concern that academic work is becoming more and more ‘industrialized’ in various disciplinary and institutional settings - that the work practices, professional identities and values of academia are becoming similar to those of the private sector. While most studies discuss this topic in the context of senior scientists, this paper considers doctoral training in the life-sciences in France, and, more specifically, analyzes changes in the doctoral experiences over the last four decades. Interviews with doctoral students and supervisors allow for tracking shifts in how French life-scientists define the values of doctoral training in their daily activities. Our results challenge the idea of some univocal and radical ‘industrialization’ of doctoral training, instead showing a strong interplay between continuity and change. The core values of doctoral training remain, but the rationales for promoting different aspects of doctoral studies have changed, and increasingly depend on how French life-scientists position themselves in the context of contemporary imperatives of institutional relevance and scientific competition.