The PhD Ethos-Mythos: What Chances do Have Young Talented Researchers in Reality? (Invited Paper)

Bernard Wallner, Helmut Schaschl, Martin Fieder

The nuclear tasks of universities did not change in the course of time. However, new responsibilities are added mostly depending on the en vogue zeitgeist, which does not necessarily facilitate strategic planning in an easy way. Because changes following the ideology of the spirit of the time are frequently not really adaptable to established structures. The classical parameters of university achievements are research and its output as well as teaching concepts to educate young scientists. Both, teaching and research, represent the major performance columns for universities and are dependent from each other and cause each other mutually. Many institutions proclaim that research-led approaches of scientific teaching generates the best academically trained graduates, who succeed competitively in the working environment and in the research world of universities. However, during the last 100 years the developments in the academic world showed that teaching and research do not cause each other like Castor and Pollux in order to be successful.

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