ABSTRACT
The Ph.D. is the last step in the academic training of researchers, future lecturers, entrepreneurs and the intellectual elite. In an era in which knowledge and knowledge workers are increasingly important, the effectiveness and quality of this type of education is crucial (Pearson, Evans and Macauley, 2004; Barnacle, 2004). Understanding of the current functioning and future operation of this system and how it is interrelated with societal developments can guide government policy and university strategy. This is of particular urgency because in the near future the Ph.D. system will be redesigned as a last step of university reform laid down in the Bologna Declaration.
