Doing a PhD in Holland
18 Dec 2009
Why do your PhD in Holland?
- Holland ranks 2nd worldwide in number of publications per researcher
- Holland ranks 3rd worldwide in impact of research publications
- Holland has excellent graduate schools
- There is a large variety of research fields
- There are 14 research universities
- A PhD is not regarded as a study but as serious research
- PhD candidates and their supervisor work in close collaboration
- There is a great amount of interdisciplinary collaboration
- PhD researchers are often paid employees
In Holland, research is carried out by research universities, research institutes and by companies. Only the 14 research universities can award PhD-degrees. However, since other research institutes generally work in close collaboration with these universities, they can also provide positions to PhD candidates.
In addition to the standard PhD-degree, the three universities of technology also offer design and technological design programmes in a number of engineering fields. These consist of advanced study and a personal design assignment. Technological design programmes require two years of study to complete and graduates obtain the degree of ‘Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng)’.
