Structured Diversity – The changing landscape of doctoral training in Germany after the introduction of structured doctoral programs

The introduction of structured doctoral programs (SDPs) is changing the conditions of doctoral training in Europe and worldwide. SDPs were introduced to reorganize doctoral training to make it more transparent and to improve the quality of doctoral training and supervision. This article suggests a conceptual framework to assess the outcome of these goals against the backdrop of existing pathways toward the doctorate, namely, the doctoral status group research assistants, scholarship holders, and external candidates. Based on empirical data from the large longitudinal study on doctoral candidates in Germany, ProFile, we describe the amount of structuration and formalization within those status groups and compare it to the structure of SDPs. Results reveal that traditional status groups already structure the context of doctoral training remarkably. In front of this backdrop, SDPs change the landscape in the expected way by improved transparency, course offers, and increased exchange with the supervisor. However, the effects of SDP membership vary between traditional status groups; thus, not all status groups profit to the same degree. We conclude that the structure of doctoral training has diversified through the introduction of SDPs and provides an outlook on the changes that can be expected if the number of SDPs increases.