Institute of Biochemistry
ETH Zurich
Prof. Dr. Josef Jiricny
Professor Emeritus
HPM G15.3
Otto-Stern-Weg 3
8093 Zurich, Switzerland
Phone +41 44 633 62 60
Email: jjiricny@ethz.ch
http://www.bc.biol.ethz.ch/research
Tuesday, 11th
December 2018
Re: Report of ISAB 2018
Dear Professor Dvořák,
Please find enclosed a brief report of the International Scientific Advisory Board, which summarises the
impressions gathered during the visit to your institution between the 4th
and 5th
December 2018. I hope that you
and your colleagues will the find the suggestions useful.
With kind regards and many thanks for your hospitality,
Josef Jiricny
Prof. Peter Dvořák
Vice-Rector for Research
Masaryk University
Žerotínovo nám. 617/9
601 77 Brno
Tschechische Republik
Monday, 11th
December 2017
Re: Report of ISAB 2017
Dear Professor Dvořák,
Please find enclosed a brief report of the International Scientific Advisory Board, which visited your institution
between the 6th
and 7th
December 2017.
With kind regards,
Josef Jiricny
ETH Zurich, Institute of Biochemistry
Page 2/3
Report of the Masaryk University International Scientific Advisory Board
The International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) of Masaryk University (MUNI) carried out its third site visit
on the 4th and 5th December 2018. Prior to its meetings with the representatives of the various faculties, the
ISAB was informed about the current situation at MUNI by its pro-rector, Prof. Petr Dvořák.
The ISAB was highly-impressed by the progress made during the past twelve months. The seriousness with
which its initial set of recommendations were analysed and the general willingness to implement the
suggested changes is a clear indication of the ambition of the leadership of MUNI to improve the national
and international standing of their institution. This positive attitude is laudable and encourages the ISAB to
continue its current efforts.
During the first morning session, the representatives of all the faculties and institutes informed the ISAB of
their achievements and also of the difficulties in implementing the board's recommendations concerning the
number of PhD students and PhD Programs.
Following its initial analysis of the situation in Brno in 2016, the ISAB had the impression that the numbers of
PhD students and PhD Programs were too high. This led to questions regarding the quality and motivation of
the students, the quality and role of the PhD Programs and the reasons motivating the PIs and Faculties to
accept so many students.
This year’s discussion revealed that the initial assessment of the ISAB was shared by most of the
participants and it was encouraging to note that the faculties have made real efforts to reduce PhD student
numbers and also to merge several PhD programs. It was also very encouraging to learn that the criteria for
acceptance into the respective PhD programs were generally re-examined and that genuine attempts are
being made at recruiting a higher percentage of talented and motivated students. It became apparent,
however, that there were differences in the ways the PhD students were remunerated and there were
significant differences between the various faculties in their ability to attract top national and international
candidates. This was the case particularly in humanities, and it is for this reason that the ISAB has
undertaken to examine the situation in these faculties in greater depth. What follows is a summary of the
impressions of the ISAB and a list of recommendations that are intended to stimulate further discussion.
1. Graduate Schools - the ISAB suggests that the MUNI consider the possibility of setting-up faculty-wide
umbrella organisations (Graduate Schools), which would administer and co-ordinate the different PhD
Programs, and ensure that admission criteria (and processes), course requirements and regulations for
thesis committees, progress reviews, teaching, thesis defenses, etc. are uniform across the entire
faculty. They would also be responsible for organising compulsory "soft skills courses" (scientific writing,
science ethics and presentation skills) for the students. Graduate Schools could also offer courses for
the PIs, e.g. laboratory management skills, didactic skills and administration skills. Graduate Schools
would also present an opportunity for advertising MUNI and for recruiting top students ("branding").
2. PhD Programs - the ISAB is of the opinion that the number of individual programs is still too high. The
board understands that the programs need to cover specialist disciplines and fields of science and
humanities, however, there is no reason why the specialist streams cannot be offered within a single
PhD Program. The raison d’etre of PhD Programs is to provide the participants with education that is
broader than that of their specialist subject and this is possible only if the programs are large enough to
enable students from distinct, but related fields to actively interact not only academically, but also
socially, for example at student retreats.
The ISAB also felt that a close interaction between PhD Programs of different faculties might in some
cases be beneficial. One example could be the involvement of Sports Science with the faculties of
Medicine and Education.
3. Review of PhD programs – The performance of the individual programs should be regularly reviewed,
either by the appropriate Graduate Schools or by an invited panel of experts. In assessing a program's
success, criteria such as quality of publications, drop-out rate parametrised by year (could be high in the
first year but should decline thereafter), male/female ratios, time to graduation, jobs of graduates after
completion, etc. ought to be taken into consideration. The faculties should agree on a set of
performance measures. These analyses could also be used as indicators of the effectiveness of the
ETH Zurich, Institute of Biochemistry
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student supervision. The effect of gender on drop-out rate might be examined in light of the capacity of
available child-care facilities.
4. Supervision of PhD students - the ISAB recommends that its original suggestions for admission to
PhD studies be implemented and overseen by the Graduate Schools, and that all students be provided
with an individual, project-specific Committee that will follow their progress throughout their study. This
Committee should consist of the PI and at least two other experts in the discipline of the given project.
One expert should come from outside of the faculty.
5. Funding of PhD students - the ISAB recommends that all PhD students receive equal remuneration.
This should be high enough to enable them to work full-time without the need to seek additional
employment. Adequate and uniform remuneration can be used to enforce, by the institution or by
the Graduate Schools, desirable policies by tying the remuneration to goals and demands, such as
full-time studies and 4 (maximally 5) year graduation time. The remuneration scheme for PhD
students should be implemented in a way that allows PIs to spend grant money on student salaries
and/or to shift students between different sources of funding, without creating noticeable (to the
student), funding-dependent requirements (such as teaching) for the students.
6. Recruitment of external PhD students - the PIs should be encouraged to seek promising external
students in a pro-active manner, through interactions at conferences, seminars, targeting specific
undergraduate institutions (e.g. in Eastern Europe) through faculty visits and creating “student pipelines"
from these institutions.
The MUNI/Faculties should actively engage to change the current policy of levying registration fees on
international students, in order to increase the chances of recruiting highly-motivated candidates from
outside of MUNI.
7. Part-time PhD students - the ISAB feels that part-time PhD students are of little benefit to the MUNI in
general. It recognises that there might be circumstances where students may need to change from fullto
part-time study (e.g. as a result of maternity leave), but these should be seen as exceptions.
8. Practice-oriented PhDs - the ISAB feels that students intending to pursue a career in teaching,
business, law or economics are unlikely to produce research work of high originality, particularly if they
are employed during the course of the study. Awarding such candidates the title of Doctor of Philosophy
may be difficult to justify. The ISAB recommends that the Faculty of Education examine the possibility of
awarding the "practical track" students an alternative title, e.g. Doctor of Pedagogy or Doctor of Physical
Education, Business Studies may consider awarding a title of Doctor of Business Administration etc. In
these instances, part-time research would be justified.
9. Duration of PhD studies - PhD projects should be completed wherever possible within 4 years. To
ensure a timely finish, students ought to be asked to present/defend in front of the full PhD committee
their project at the end of the first year and present a progress report after 2 years including e.g. a draft
chapter of the thesis. The student's progress could where necessary be used as a measure of the
performance of the PI.
10. Teaching - the ISAB is of the opinion that teaching in excess of 150 hours over the four-year period
should be avoided.
11. PhD in Computer Science - the ISAB was unclear about the status of the Computer Science Institute
as an entity separate from Informatics. The ISAB recommends that the remit of this department be reexamined
and that a particular emphasis be put on the definition of its function as a service provider as
opposed to an academic research facility.
12. Internal evaluation committee - the ISAB questioned the utility of this reviewing body and feels that
evaluation procedures are meaningful only when they are carried out by specialised committees
composed of external experts.