| dc.description.abstract | Traditionally, doctoral studies at the Theological faculty are conducted individually, at least when it comes to tutoring, literature courses and examination. Apart from this, regular seminars are held for discussing papers and preliminary chapters. The particular structure of the Theological faculty means specific difficulties. The faculty includes eleven disciplines, all dependent on their specific traditions and methodological trends. Within each of these disciplines, there are a relatively small number of doctoral students, which means that actual courses cannot realistically be held regularly within the separate disciplines, most of which will also become even smaller when the effects of the new national regulations become more obvious. The project consists in developing a structure including courses as an integrated part of the doctoral studies at the Theological Faculty, new and more pedagogical forms for examination, and forms for co-operation and exchange with other disciplines at the Faculty of Arts as well as with other theological faculties in Sweden and the other Nordic countries. The project is planned to cover a period of three years, and shall include testing and evaluating alternative forms for seminars, courses and examination. The focus of the project lies on the development of forms for doctoral courses, which could be examined through writing and discussing papers, reviews and articles. Actual doctoral courses have not been offered earlier on a regular basis, and the doctoral students have generally taken their literature courses (covering a period of 1½ year) individually. Thus, most of the teachers do not have any experience of developing doctoral courses or of conducting tutoring in the form of such courses. The project is therefore not aiming at developing courses within an already existing structure, but at acquiring a competence for performing doctoral education in this way, and at developing a partly new structure. For this purpose, experience from other faculties must be obtained. The project thus has as one of its purpose to acquire and evaluate experience from theological faculties in other countries, such as the Netherlands and the United States. The project will include two journeys for such consultation. Basically, the project involves three interrelated aspects, all included in the work on developing forms for doctoral courses: a) integration of examination and learning in a way corresponding to the students' writing of their theses; b) presentation and discussion of papers, reviews and preliminary articles; c) internationalisation of the doctoral program. During the project's first year, four interdisciplinary groups of students and teachers have responsibility for the further development of one course each, which might be regularly given as doctoral courses at the faculty and/or in co-operation with other faculties and universities. The courses should be at various levels and relevant for different groups of doctoral students. The four courses will then be given for the first time during the second year of the project, two during that year's spring term and the other two during the autumn, and evaluated by teachers and students together. Two models will be tested to start with: 1. Two thematic and interdisciplinary courses, in co-operation between two or more disciplines at the faculty. 2. Two courses within one discipline each, in co-operation with other faculties and/or universities. Parallel to the internal work with developing and evaluating courses, those responsible for the project will, during the first year of the project, consult theological faculties and departments of religious studies at Berkeley, with long experience of doctoral education in the form of regular courses. In the second year, a visit to Utrecht, Netherlands, will have the same purpose. This consultation will focus on questions regarding scholarly and pedagogical conditions specific for the fields of theology and religious studies. Such conditions may involve, among other things, methodological, theoretical and other prerequisites for interdisciplinary, thematic courses as well as specific courses within these particular fields of study, as well as with disciplines outside the fields of theology or religious studies. The results of this consultation will be part of the basis for the development of a course structure, and of specific courses, within the Theological faculty. In several of the faculty's disciplines, it may be relevant to co-ordinate courses with other Nordic theological faculties. During the first year of the project, possible forms for such co-operation as well as possible means of funding joint Nordic arrangements on a regular basis will be investigated. More generally, the doctoral program should acquire a higher degree of international connection, and students get acquainted with scholarly milieus in other countries. Possibilities for flexible student exchange between universities and colleges in primarily the Nordic countries should therefore also be investigated, with the aim of developing routines for an exchange system on the level of supervisors, which would mean that doctoral students in the same discipline at different Nordic universities could choose to spend part of their studies at another Nordic university. Such possibilities will be examined in connection with the development of forms for co-operation regarding doctoral courses. The conclusions reached through the project will be of three kinds. First, the faculty will reach organisational, economical and other conclusions from the process of building up a new structure and competence within the faculty's doctoral program. Secondly, teachers and students will acquire pedagogical, qualitative and other conclusions from the courses that have been tested within the project. Thirdly, conclusions from the international consultations and from the work on developing forms for international co-operation will be reached in dialogue with the international and Nordic contacts. The results and conclusions will be summarised in English, for reviews and comments from the international contacts consulted in the project. Thereafter, the summary together with comments from the external reviewers will be discussed within the Theological faculty as a background for the continued development of doctoral courses and for further conclusions concerning the project. Finally, the report shall be printed in the form of a final report, where also general conclusions about how they might be applied in other areas will be discussed. The final report shall be available in printing and sent to the Council for Higher Education and to Swedish universities with undergraduate and doctoral programs in theology and religious studies. | swe |
