AQ_PhD System

ANVUR has proposed a new Model for the periodic accreditation of premises, Departments, University Courses and PhD programmes (AVA 3). This is in response to a need that emerged at European level and was supported by ENQA 'European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education' and EQAR 'European Quality Assurance Register'.

The model which is specifically for PhD courses, is:

D.PHD.1 - PhD Course Design
D.PHD.2 - Planning and organising training and research for the advancement of PhD students
D.PHD.3 - Monitoring and improvement

The PhD pathway is on the third level of education and the Dublin Descriptors outline its objectives:

Knowledge and understanding - Students who have systematically demonstrated understanding of a field of study and mastery of the related research method.
Applying knowledge and understanding - Ability to apply their knowledge and understanding that demonstrates a professional approach to their work, and possession of appropriate skills both to devise and support arguments and solve problems in their field of study.
Independent judgement - Ability to collect and interpret data (usually in one's own field of study) considered useful for making independent judgement, including reflection on related social, scientific or ethical issues
Communication skills - Being able to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialists and non-specialists.
Learning skills - Having developed those learning skills that are necessary to undertake further studies with a high level of independence.

In order to meet AVA3 requirements, the national doctorate course in Food Science, Technology and Biotechnology has set up a quality assurance and working group as follows:

Luca Simone Cocolin, University of Torino (lucasimone.cocolin@unito.it), President
Chiara Cordero, University of Torino (chiara.cordero@unito.it), Quality assurance manager
Paola Pittia, University of Teramo (ppittia@unte.it), Quality assurance manager
Diego Mora, University of Milano (diego.mora@unimi.it), Member of the group
Giorgia Spigno, University of Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (giorgia.spigno@unicatt.it), Member of the group
Antonio Piga, University of Sassari (pigaa@uniss.it), Member of the group

The main functions of this group are listed below:

Update and check the Doctorate web page
Monitor the current nature of the training and research offer by periodically discussing with the interested parties
Monitor the teaching and research of doctoral students
Continuously collect and analyze doctoral student opinion survey questionnaires to propose improving solutions.