Reproducing academic successors or cultivating versatile experts: influences of doctoral training on career expectations of Chinese PhD students

This investigation focuses on Chinese doctoral students' career expectations, and examines how the students' career expectations changed over time under the influence of doctoral training based on survey data of 1467 doctoral students from 8 Chinese universities. Doctoral students' evaluations of doctoral training were identified. The examination indicates that more than half of doctoral students expect a non-academic profession, and more than 70% of students did not alter their professional expectations radically over time. Logistic regression model results indicate that doctoral students' career expectations and their changes over time were influenced by doctoral training in their university environment, students' relationships with supervisors, and students' experiences of collaboration with non-academic organizations. Doctoral students are dissatisfied with doctoral training that does not encourage and prepare them for diverse career paths. We conclude that in the present environment, the goal of doctoral training should not only be the reproduction of academic successors but also be the cultivation of versatile experts..