Doctorat.gouv.fr, what is it and why?

Doctorat.gouv.fr is an initiative led by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space to:

• Re-enchant the collective imagination around the doctorate, both in terms of career prospects and the conditions under which doctoral theses are carried out,
• Improve the accessibility of the French research ecosystem and build connections with employment sectors,
• Open up the doctorate to new audiences and streamline the processes for applying to doctoral programs,
• Provide information and reference data drawn from official public statistics.

The platform is still under development; your feedback is invaluable in helping us improve it and ensure it meets your needs as effectively as possible.

In December 2023, the Ministers for Higher Education and Research and for Industry entrusted the (Opens a new window) authors of this report with a mission to strengthen existing mechanisms and develop new measures around four objectives:

1. Increase the proportion of doctoral graduates among corporate researchers and the proportion of engineers undertaking a doctoral thesis,
2. Strengthen support for doctoral graduates in building their professional careers, to enable a swifter and smoother transition into the private sector and to reach candidates who have historically been less connected to it,
3. Raise the private sector's perception of the doctoral degree, so that the doctorate is recognised as the highest-level qualification, acknowledged as such and in line with international standards,
4. Ensure that the skills and training of doctoral graduates fully benefit our economy and our businesses, particularly in industry.

The mission, carried out during the first half of 2024, led to the identification of approximately 10 recommendations, accompanied by proposed measures and actions. One of these recommendations was to create a national platform for the doctorate.