Official Label - Employers
Showcase your commitment to doctoral education
The "Doctorat : employeur engagé" ("PhD-committed employer") label recognizes organizations that integrate doctoral degrees and doctoral graduates into their human resources strategy and actively promote them.
Why this label?
Labeling is both a strong message to students, doctoral candidates, and early-career doctoral graduates, a recognition of your commitment, and a gateway to services and information.
Visibility and attractiveness
Companies that demonstrate their interest in PhD holders' profiles send a strong message to doctoral graduates, doctoral candidates and students, and thus collectively encourage the pursuit of doctoral studies. Labelled organizations are featured on Doctorat.gouv.fr.
Human Resources Strategy
The method, inspired by what has been done on professional equality with the Egapro label, enables an HR diagnosis on talent management and brings the doctorate into employers' human resources strategies.
Services and information
Labelled organizations have a privileged information channel on doctoral education, as well as useful resources and services to advertise their PhD funding opportunities, access the research ecosystem, or establish doctoral research partnerships.
Image and positioning
Accreditation allows you to strengthen your image with your funders, R&D partners, and future employees. You can also benchmark your organization against the national average by obtaining your PhD Score and display it to highlight your positioning.
The organizations most concerned
This label was designed for organizations operating outside the academic sector that wish to integrate PhD into their human resources strategy or to highlight their commitment:
- Companies – Start-ups, SMEs, mid-sized companies and large groups,
- Associations and foundations,
- Local authorities,
- State administrations and public establishments (excluding the academic sector).
This label is aimed at organizations that seek, in particular, to:
- to enhance and/or develop their research, innovation, transformation, and response capabilities to new challenges,
- ...be perceived as innovative organizations, convince funders, investors, and clients - particularly international ones...
- recruit doctoral candidates or PhD holders or upskill their staff by supporting them in pursuing a doctoral program through continuing education,
- develop research partnerships, strengthen ties, or gain access to the public research ecosystem - including laboratories, infrastructures, equipments, specialist researchers, or international scientific network.
And what about employers in the academic sector? Universities, research organizations, and other higher education or research institutions can also apply for this label; the application process is streamlined for employers that already hold the HRE label (Human Ressource Excellence in Research) from HRS4R (Human resources strategy for researchers) in EU.
The 4-step certification process
Download and sign the letter of commitment Step 1 of 4
- With this letter, the organization formally commits to the certification process.
- The letter must be signed by the organization's legal representative or by a person authorized by the legal representative.
Identify doctoral candidates and PhD holders among the organization's management staff and arrange for the information to be kept up to date. Step 2 of 4
- The identification covers all functions and hierarchical levels, up to and including executive roles.
- It is not limited to R&D activities.
Designate a contact person and compile your file Step 3 of 4
- This designated contact person will serve as the point of contact for Doctorat.gouv.fr regarding all matters related to accreditation.
- The contact person will be able to receive announcements and news regarding PhD and post PhD funding offers on doctorat.gouv.fr. Some of the information provided during the accreditation application process will be used to showcase the organization on Doctorat.gouv.fr: a brief description of the organization and its activities, key initiatives the organization wishes to highlight in connection with this accreditation, and a link to your website.
Submit the application online Step 4 of 4
- The relevant ministerial departments handle the processing following submission.
- Processing time: 15 days to 1 month
What you receive: an official certificate and a PhD Score.
Certificate: "PhD: Certified Employer"
After reviewing the application, the certified organization receives a certificate of award for the "PhD: Certified Employer" label, valid for 2 years. This certificate indicates its "PhD intensity index" as well as its ranking within the national landscape on a scale of 1 to 5, including a PhD Score.
The list of certified employers is published on Doctorat.gouv.fr, accompanied by a profile for each one.
However, the PhD intensity index, the PhD Score, and the organizational data submitted to calculate them do not appear on Doctorat.gouv.fr.
At your discretion: you are free to communicate about your certification and share your PhD Score publicly - on your website or social media - or with key stakeholders such as clients, investors, and partners.
PhD Score Interpretation Guide
| PhD Score | Intensité doctorale |
|---|---|
1 |
inférieure à la moyenne nationale dans le secteur privé |
2 |
supérieure à la moyenne dans le secteur privé |
3 |
supérieure à la moyenne nationale, tous secteurs confondus |
4 |
intermédiaire entre la moyenne dans le secteur public et dans le secteur académique |
5 |
au niveau du secteur académique |
Ultimately, the PhD Score will be refined to enable organizations to compare themselves with similar organizations in terms of workforce size or business sector.
Once certified,
certified organizations have access to a dedicated communication channel with ministerial services. This channel allows them to receive information about PhD programs, invitations to webinars, and events.
They also gain exclusive access to the feature for publishing PhD funding offers on the national PhD platform Doctorat.gouv.fr
Initiative led by
About
The creation of this label and a PhD intensity index is one of the recommendations from the (Opens a new window) interministerial Pommier-Lazarus report, submitted in 2024.
This initiative addresses the following issue: Currently, PhD students and holders are identified within companies and other organizations when they work as R&D researchers, but not when they hold other roles within the organization and no longer when they transition from R&D to other functions. This leads to a misconception of both the responsibilities they can be entrusted with early in their careers and their potential for professional growth.
To address this issue, the creation of a PhD Intensity Index was recommended. The methodology draws inspiration from existing frameworks, such as the Egapro label for gender equality.
To prepare their application, organizations committing to this certification process must: 1. Gather information about the presence of PhD students and holders among their executives, at all stages of their careers or across all roles and functions within the organization, including leadership positions. 2. Establish a system to keep this information up to date.
The goal of this identification process is to shift perceptions of PhD holders and integrate the value of a PhD into employers' human resources strategies. The PhD Score will enable organizations to benchmark their situation against the national average.