Japanese Doctoral Students’ Career Plans and Research Productivity: Main Findings from a 2017 National Survey

Arimoto, Akira; Daizen, Tsukasa; Huang, Futao; Kim, Yangson

doi:10.1163/22125868-12340109

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…However, the fact that students with higher base academic abilities are less likely to pursue a Ph.D. is a cause for concern. In the Japanese context, academic jobs are losing popularity due to uncertain career prospects (Arimoto et al, 2019), which may drive away talented students. The findings also suggest that improving the local environment is an effective way to attract students.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This resulted in lower publication productivity (Shima, 2017), although Japan remains a major producer of scientific knowledge. Because academia is the primary employer of Ph.D. graduates (Kawamura & Hoshino, 2022), the poor career prospect has made academic careers unappealing to younger generations (Arimoto et al, 2019), and the enrollment rate from master to Ph.D. programs has been declining (9.3% in 2018 compared with 15.7% in 1998).…”

Section: Environment Around Phdmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determinants of Ph.D. progression: student’s abilities and lab local environment

Yoshioka-Kobayashi

Shibayama

2022

High Educ

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Ph.D. training is an important mechanism for developing scientists who will serve our knowledge-based society. Because the quality of students who join Ph.D. programs significantly impacts the outcome of Ph.D. training, students’ career choices at this initial stage—whether to proceed to Ph.D. or not—are of crucial interest. This study investigates how students’ attributes and the local lab environment influence their career choices using a unique empirical design in the Japanese graduate education context. The results show that students with high scientific abilities are more likely to proceed to Ph.D., and that students are more likely to proceed to Ph.D. if the lab has a favorable local environment for research and for training. Importantly, the findings suggest that students’ abilities and local environments interactively shape their career choices. In particular, high-ability students are drawn to local environments with high training capacities, whereas low-ability students are attracted to local environments with high research capacities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Environment Around Phdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of Ph.D. progression: student’s abilities and lab local environment

Yoshioka-Kobayashi

Shibayama

2022

High Educ

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Section: Liter Ature Re Vie Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies have assessed student motivation to undertake a doctorate but paid little attention to the contextual influence on student motivation (Arimoto et al, 2019; Guerin, 2020; Skakni, 2018; Tarvid, 2014; Terentev et al, 2020). Many studies have demonstrated that while academic employment is increasingly difficult to obtain, students still find various benefits in pursuing a PhD degree.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do students pursue a doctorate in the era of the ‘PhD crisis’? Evidence from Taiwan

Horta,

Li,

Chan

2023

Higher Education Quarterly

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Drawing on interviews with nine PhD students and twelve PhD graduates from a research university in Taiwan, this paper explores students' motivational profiles for pursuing a PhD at a time when that degree is increasingly decoupled from academic employment. Using self‐determination theory as a conceptual lens, the paper identifies common enrolment motivations in the PhD crisis era. Amidst the doctoral enrolment crisis in Taiwan, where the traditional employment path for PhD graduates (i.e., academia) is more of a mirage than a reality, the motivations of students to pursue a PhD do not differ much from those found in the literature concerning the era of PhD expansion. Two typical motivational profiles are predominant, one dominated by the accumulation of career advantages and the other by the search for personal growth. The findings show that the first profile tends to be on the minds of most students. The second profile tends to be adopted by those who have few career concerns or those who have a greater need for self‐improvement. We also find that these motivations have unique nuances, meanings and consequences for universities and doctoral education in the PhD crisis era.

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“…The most striking characteristics of Japanese doctoral education include the following aspects (Arimoto et al., 2019; Huang, 2020).…”

Section: Japanese Doctoral Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Japanese doctoral students’ stress: Main findings from a national survey in 2017

Huang

2021

International Journal of Chinese Education

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This study is mainly concerned with an analysis of what stress Japanese doctoral students face and how universities they belong to could provide better support for them, and help them to overcome their stress. The study employs the data from a national survey of doctoral students at Japanese research universities in 2017. In addition to a general description of their overall stress, four variables of gender, discipline, age and sector of universities are used to explore their perceptions of stress. The study argues that a vast majority of Japanese doctoral students suffered from stress in various aspects. Although some findings based on the case study of Japan are not consistent with previous research such as gender differences in stress, some match with existing research in terms of disciplinary differences and age differences in stress.

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Japanese Doctoral Students’ Career Plans and Research Productivity: Main Findings from a 2017 National Survey

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

Determinants of Ph.D. progression: student’s abilities and lab local environment

Determinants of Ph.D. progression: student’s abilities and lab local environment

Why do students pursue a doctorate in the era of the ‘PhD crisis’? Evidence from Taiwan

Japanese doctoral students’ stress: Main findings from a national survey in 2017

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