EIASM Academic Council Meeting 21 September 2009 Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki ORPHEUS - case study in building a network Michael J. Mulvany, professor of cardiovascular pharmacology Head, Aarhus Graduate School of Health Sciences Organization for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the European System

PhD is an international degree does it have the same meaning in all countries? Governments are promoting the PhD at huge cost what do they get for their money? Mobility how can applicants be compared, if the PhD has different standards? Programme development the opportunity to learn from each other Why is there a need for standards?

Professor Zdravko Lackovic, MD, PhD Department of Pharmacology, University of Zagreb The founder of ORPHEUS

Apart from being a symbol of music, and leading an untimely death, the mythical Orpheus is revered as a pioneer of civilization who taught the arts of writing, agriculture, and even medicine. ORganization for

First meeting, 2004 European Conference on Harmonisation of PhD Programmes in Biomedicine and Health Sciences was held in Zagreb. 53 delegates, 25 universities, 16 European countries

The Zagreb Declaration "The PhD thesis should consist of a review and the equivalent of three international articles" First meeting, 2004

Second meeting, 2005 The Second European Conference held in Zagreb 71 delegates, 33 universities, 21 European countries

Guidelines for Organisation of PhD Programmes in Biomedicine and Health Sciences’ Second meeting, 2005 "PhD programmes should be structured, last 3-4 yr be based on original research have course work not exceeding 6 months"

Third meeting, 2007 Third ORPHEUS 2007 conference held in Helsinki. 80 delegates, 43 universities, 26 European countries

Helsinki Consensus Statement on PhD Training in Clinical Research "The PhD in clinical medicine should have the same standard as PhDs in other biomedical fields" Third meeting, 2007

Fourth meeting, 2009 Fourth ORPHEUS conference held in Aarhus, Denmark 165 delegates from 72 universities from 33 European countries

The position paper Fourth meeting, 2009 Towards Standards for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences

Content: status points of consensus recommendations standards not standardization! Basis: previous ORPHEUS documents 72 faculties, 33 countries were involved deans, graduate school heads, students extensive discussion before, during and after conference PhD degree Requirements of the PhD programme Admission criteria Supervision Evaluation of theses The position paper

The way forward: giving ORPHEUS political influence ORPHEUS is now a member of the European Universities Association − Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE) Chairman of EUA-CDE and the European Commission participated in ORPHEUS2009. AMSE and WFME have endorsed the position paper ORPHEUS should meet with national organizations regarding implementation of the position paper ORPHEUS should lead the way in establishing networks to improve quality of PhD programmes in lesser developed countries

ORganization for ORPHEUS - case study in building a network delegatesuniversitiescountries 2004Zagreb Zagreb Helsinki Aarhus Vienna