Doctoral insertion survey
(Assessment carried out in 2016 for the re-accreditation of the Doctoral School 2017-2021)
We carry out surveys on an annual basis. 1 year, 3 years and 5 years after the thesis.
Returns remain satisfactory, with an average response rate of around 90%. The non-response rate remains less than or equal to 10%. The rate of unemployed doctors is less than 5%. Most of the doctors lost to follow-up are foreigners.
The classification into permanent and fixed-term contracts is based on a "French" definition of these terms. Indeed, some positions abroad are labelled "CDD" because of their contractual nature, which underestimates the reality of employment for these doctors. In a context where the number of doctoral students rose steadily between 2002 and 2006 (from nearly 400 to 753 in 2010!), stabilizing since 2007 at around 650 doctoral students and 130 annual thesis defenses, we note that over 80% of doctoral students are on permanent contracts 8 years after their thesis. The 5-year surveys (2006-2009) show that this ratio is tending to fall towards 60%, whereas it is around 40% in the 3-year surveys (2010-2012)
An analysis combining permanent and fixed-term contracts shows that 50-60% of PhDs are still working in research, while the proportion of PhDs working in industry hovers around 10%, with no upward trend
An analysis of the integration of doctors on permanent contracts confirms the following trends: a gradual decline in recruitment for research and teaching positions (from 40% to less than 20% at 5 years post-doctorate), relative stability of doctors in the healthcare field finding hospital-university positions, a relative increase in recruitment for engineering positions in academic but not industrial research and, as a counterpoint, an increase in the number of doctors recruited on permanent contracts outside academic or industrial research. Doctors are looking for new types of employment before coming up against the wall of the 6-year "authorized" fixed-term contract.
The consequence of this trend is a significant accumulation of PhDs on fixed-term contracts in academic research for up to 5 years post-doctorate, leaving a significant but unfortunately well-identified risk of a sudden drop-out beyond this critical period in the current economic and legislative context. The year 2010 (at 5 years) is singular in this respect, and shows a clear inversion in the ratio of research to other permanent employment, probably linked to active changes in doctoral orientation.
The geographical distribution of former doctors shows that around 50 to 60% find work in France, but this rate is tending to fall, while the average rate of integration in Europe remains stable at around 10% and in the rest of the world at around 20 to 25%. Further analysis shows that around 25% of PhD graduates manage to find a job in the PACA region where they completed their thesis.