Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
700
Exact and Natural Sciences
Engineering Science and Technology
Medical and Health Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
Social Science
Humanities
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Ye a r
Fig. 3. PhD thesis concluded between 2000 and 2012, by scientific field. Adapted from [8].
Engineering Science and Technology is a scientific area of great interest and relevance
in higher education level. In 2012, approximately 19% of the concluded PhD theses were
performed in the EST. Engineering graduates learn to integrate scientific and engineering
principles to develop products and processes that contribute to economic growth,
advances in medical care, enhanced national security systems, resources management,
and many other beneficial areas. As a result, students who graduate with engineering
degrees bring highly prized skills into a wide spectrum of sectors.
Figure 4 presents the relative percentage of total doctorates performed in Portugal by
scientific expertise domain in Engineering Science and Technology field. Considering
only the EST field, about 28% of all doctorates developed, in the year 2012 in Portugal,
were in Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computers domain. The other three
main relevant domains are: Civil Engineering (13%); Material Engineering (12%); and
Chemical Engineering (11%). One possible explanation for this distribution could be
related with the type of operating industry and their requirements. It is expected that,
with the new technological challenges, emergent fields such as Biomedical Engineering
or Engineering and Industrial Management, this distribution will suffer a substantial
adjustment in the next few years. Within all of these groups, the diversity of engineering
graduates' backgrounds and points of view contributes to their ability to achieve the
advances in innovation and productivity.
Although research and academia are still prominent careers for PhD students,
nowadays, PhD graduates can move into a wide range of occupations and career
sectors. There is an increase of PhD students aiming to move out of the higher
education sector immediately after graduating. One of the main reasons why a large
proportion of PhD students do not pursue academic careers is the notorious difficulty
in securing a permanent university position. The registered growth in doctorates in the
fields of science, maths, computing and engineering subjects, academic job market is
fiercely competitive. Nevertheless, as challenging as can be the careers outside
academia, it is necessary that the industry and business sectors have the capacity to
absorb this overqualified labour-work.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search