PhD education in a knowledge society an evaluation of PhD education in Norway

The aim of the Evaluation of PhD education in Norway was to provide a description of the status of PhD education in Norway, following the implementation of the PhD degree in 2003. We introduced a new doctoral degree and also the context was new. Moreover, the evaluation was to give an assessment of the performance of the PhD education system in terms of its quality, efficiency and relevance, and provide recommendations to the government and the higher education institutions about how to improve PhD education in Norway. The evaluation is of the overall system of PhD education, and does not seek to evaluate individual higher education institutions or PhD programmes. Based on the data collected, experiences from other countries and input from international experts on PhD education, the overall assessment is that Norway has a high quality PhD education system. Although the PhD education system has many qualities, it also faces persistent challenges and emerging issues that need to be addressed.