The Polish Graduate Tracking System (ELA) is constantly evolving. From autumn 2021, the public will be able to view the professional and scientific achievements of doctoral students and PhD holders online. The doctoral path is most frequently traversed by graduates of exact and natural sciences, and least frequently by those of the social sciences.
Some alumni commit to scientific careers by continuing their education in doctoral studies – and, since 2019, in doctoral schools. Data gathered by the National Information Processing Institute (OPI PIB) in the ELA and POL-on systems allows us to identify which graduates are most willing to pursue their education in such a way.
Fewer doctoral students
Doctoral programmes are most popular among the graduates who majored in exact and natural sciences. This has remained fairly stable over time. The least interested in such programmes are graduates of the social sciences. The data shows that increasingly fewer students are willing to devote themselves to doctoral studies. Although particularly noticeable among theology and arts graduates, dwindling interest in PhD programmes has also been observed in other fields of study. One factor is likely the establishment of doctoral schools. It should be noted, however, that the drop is also partially due to graduates more commonly deciding to postpone doctoral studies by one or more years after obtaining their degrees.
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exact and natural sciences
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theology sciences
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human sciences
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engineering and technical sciences
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arts
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agricultural sciences
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medical and health sciences
|
social sciences
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 13.65 | 14.89 | 7.59 | 5.28 | 5.51 | 5.60 | 3.82 | 2.21 |
| 2016 | 13.35 | 11.01 | 7.88 | 5.03 | 4.79 | 4.56 | 3.50 | 2.15 |
| 2017 | 13.16 | 9.12 | 5.95 | 4.56 | 3.89 | 5.05 | 2.89 | 1.55 |
| 2018 | 12.63 | 7.07 | 4.77 | 3.92 | 2.95 | 4.36 | 2.33 | 1.33 |
| 2019 | 11.03 | 0.74 | 3.13 | 2.74 | 0.87 | 2.46 | 1.21 | 0.66 |
Doctoral studies are most popular among the graduates of physics and molecular biotechnology
It should be emphasised that there are other fields of study whose graduates also demonstrate interest in continuing their education (see the table below). These include (between 2015 and 2020): nanostructure engineering, application of physics in biology and medicine, technical physics, philosophy, and canon law. The share of 2019 graduates who continued their education at doctoral schools is in decline for all fields of study.
The list of subjects after which graduates choose to pursue doctoral studies (% of graduates).
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Field of study | % | Field of study | % | Field of study | % | Field of study | % | Field of study | % |
| Nanostructure engineering | 73.3 | Artes liberales - a unique field of study | 63.16 | Physics | 40.29 | Nanostructure engineering | 60.00 | Physics | 27.82 |
| Physics | 46.8 | Application of physics in biology and medicine - unique field of study | 58.06 | Molecular biotechnology | 35.42 | Application of physics in biology and medicine - unique field of study | 46.67 | Molecular biotechnology | 25.37 |
| Molecular biotechnology | 40.0 | Physics | 49.23 | Philosophy | 30.80 | Physics | 41.51 | Technical physics | 22.22 |
| Medical physics – a unique field of study | 33.3 | Nanotechnology | 43.33 | Medical physics | 29.17 | Neurobiology | 35.90 | Microbiology – a unique field of study | 21.62 |
| Cultural studies | 33.3 | Molecular biotechnology | 37.78 | Cultural studies | 27.58 | Oceanography | 31.82 | Medical biology | 20.51 |
| Oceanography | 32.7 | Canon law | 33.75 | Cognitive science | 25.00 | Canon law | 29.63 | Chemistry | 17.35 |
| Technical physics | 32.5 | Genetyka | 32.26 | Canon law | 23.08 | Cognitive science | 22.64 | Philosophy | 15.65 |
| Canon law | 30.8 | Philosophy | 32.16 | Chemistry | 22.46 | Philosophy | 22.16 | Acoustic engineering | 14.29 |
| Archaeology | 27.8 | Archaeology | 30.93 | Composition and theory of music | 21.74 | Technical physics | 21.52 | Microbiology | 14.10 |
| Philosophy | 27.4 | Medical physics | 27.08 | Archaeology | 20.50 | Composition and theory of music | 21.28 | Journalism and media management | 13.95 |
| Cognitive science | 25.0 | Technical physics | 26.04 | Electronics | 20.20 | Chemistry | 20.61 | Musicology | 13.95 |
| Theatre studies | 24.2 | Musicology | 22.22 | Microbiology - a unique field of study | 20.00 | Cultural studies | 20.51 | Archaeology | 13.45 |
| Musicology | 23.5 | Cultural anthropology | 20.37 | Oceanography | 20.00 | Applied Mathematics | 20.45 | Geology | 13.39 |
| Film and new media studies | 22.5 | Microbiology | 20.34 | Agricultural and forest technology | 20.00 | Musicology | 19.51 | Biology | 13.16 |
| Chemical analytics | 21.6 | History | 20.22 | Eastern studies – a unique field of study | 18.42 | Cosmetic chemistry | 19.44 | Biotechnology | 13.10 |
| Cultural anthropology | 21.6 | Ethnology | 20.00 | Biology | 18.37 | Microbiology | 17.57 | Applied Mathematics | 11.54 |
| Chemistry | 21.4 | Chemistry | 19.06 | Biotechnology | 17.63 | Molecular biotechnology | 16.67 | History | 10.67 |
| Biotechnology | 21.2 | Geophysics | 18.92 | Microbiology | 16.95 | Biotechnology | 16.20 | Cognitive science | 10.00 |
| Electronics | 20.5 | European diplomacy | 18.42 | History | 16.62 | English Philology | 16.13 | Optics – a unique field of study | 10.00 |
| Slavonic studies | 20.0 | Oceanography | 18.37 | Asian studies | 16.28 | Archeology | 15.83 | Polish in social communication | 8.89 |
