Five years of work, four years of pay: these are the reasons why PhD candidates delay
On average, it takes five years to earn a doctorate in the Netherlands, while PhD candidates are only paid for four years. Unclear expectations, poor supervision and unrealistic planning are to blame, concludes the Promovendi Netwerk Netherlands (PNN) in a report published today.
Only 40 percent of PhD candidates manage to complete a PhD programme – which requires a four-year contract – within five years. The rest of them takes longer and have to write their thesis in their own time when the contract expires. Often in a precarious financial situation or alongside a full-time job. Some PhD candidates under these circumstances no longer manage to hand in their thesis at all.
For the first time, the Promovendi Netwerk Netherlands (PNN) asked PhD candidates in focus groups for their reasons of the delay. That report, which concludes most importantly that the rules for obtaining a doctorate are too unclear, will be published today and presented on Friday afternoon at a symposium in Utrecht.
No PhD students who wanted to share their experiences with Folia were found within the given time. “You notice that there is a stigma attached to it that people don’t like to talk about,” says Benthe van Wanrooij, PhD student at the University of Amsterdam and chair of PNN. And so she speaks on their behalf.
Benthe, PhD programmes that overrun are as old as time. In 1993, researchers already concluded that more than half of UvA PhD candidates were delayed. What prompted you to investigate this now?
“In recent years, we have received signals that there has been more pressure on the PhD programme. PhD candidates felt that they had more tasks to complete, but that nothing ever got done. For example, before they can get started, PhD candidates now have to make a plan for data management, request permission from ethics committees and comply with open science principles. We wanted to know if that had an impact on the duration of the PhD programme.”
And?
“It certainly plays a role. We heard from PhD candidates that they sometimes had to wait 6 to 8 months for permission to use data. But that reason is highly dependent on the project.”
“We also conclude that many things have remained the same. Inadequate supervision, heavy teaching duties and social isolation have been reasons why PhD candidates run out of time for thirty years.”
“What we saw for the first time in this report is that the conditions set for a dissertation remain too vague. This makes it unclear to PhD candidates when a dissertation is finished. There are formal rules that a dissertation must meet, such as the number of publications, but these differ per faculty and supervisors often have their own requirements. This lack of clarity leads to delays, while working towards concrete goals is a great motivator.”
PNN surveyed 46 PhD candidates at Dutch universities, the vast majority of them were in the final phase of their doctoral programme. 70 percent of them were women and more than 40 percent were doing a PhD in the social sciences. All Dutch universities were represented, except for Maastricht University.
For the first time, PNN asked PhD candidates themselves to provide reasons for the extension of the PhD programme. This was done in focus groups, previous studies only worked with questionnaires.
One third of PhD candidates at the University of Amsterdam in 1993 where six months delayed. In 2025, 40 percent of PhD candidates are delayed for over a year. Are PhD candidates having a harder time today?
“That is difficult to determine, also quantitatively. The duration of doctoral programmes was hardly ever recorded in the past. That is only just starting to happen at universities now.”
“However, the number of PhD students has increased dramatically. In the 1990s, there were about 8,000 PhD students in the Netherlands, now there are 40,000. It has also become more accessible and the group of PhD students is more diverse. In the past, it was more often the elite who obtained a PhD, now it is a better reflection of society. That means more people with lower incomes and more women. People often obtain their doctorate at the age when many people start a family. And with a crying baby in your arms, it is even more difficult to finish a dissertation.”
In the report, you write that the proactive attitude of the PhD student can prevent delays.
“That can certainly help, but ultimately Graduate Schools and supervisors must also take responsibility. By making a realistic plan together and clearly stating what is expected of a PhD candidate. Many PhD candidates, and especially foreign PhD candidates, told us that they did not know that they were expected to take matters into their own hands.”
Institutes have been working on PhD tracking systems, new guidelines and cultural changes for years. What will this report change?
“Over the past six months, we have noticed that universities are finally recognising the need to complete the PhD programme in a timely manner. The Graduate Schools can really make the change happen.”
“This is already happening at some universities. I know of one example of a Graduate School that not only keeps track of how long it takes for PhD candidates to finish their thesis, but also intervenes when they see that PhD candidates of certain supervisors consistently take longer. They then actively engage in dialogue with the supervisors: how are you going to ensure that your PhD candidates obtain their doctorates within four years? That was previously unthinkable. I think it is a good thing that this will be managed better, also in annual meetings with supervisors.”
Who should read this report?
“Graduate Schools. But also the Doctorate Boards, to clarify the doctoral regulations. And all supervisors. We hope to reach them through our PhD candidates, by asking them to place a copy of this report on their desks.”
