OFFER OF DOCTORAL CONTRACT: Inclusion policies in European higher education: a comparative approach

European Commission; France; Sur place; EUR 60 000 - 80 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

Une université en France propose un poste de doctorant dans le domaine des sciences de l'éducation, financé sur quatre ans. Le projet vise à analyser l'impact des politiques d'inclusion dans l'enseignement supérieur à travers des études quantitatives et qualitatives, en collaboration avec d'autres universités européennes.

Qualifications

• Titulaire d'un Master de recherche en Sciences Humaines et Sociales (préférence en Éducation ou Sociologie).
• Première expérience en étude qualitative avec données documentaires et entretiens.

Responsabilités

• Participer à un projet de recherche sur l'inclusion en enseignement supérieur.
• Réaliser des enquêtes et des interviews étudiants.

Connaissances

Compétences analytiques

Compétences rédactionnelles

Formation

Master en Sciences Humaines et Sociales

Description du poste

Organisation/Company Université Rennes II Department CREAD Research laboratory Centre of Researches on Education, Learning and Didactic (Centre de recherches en Education, Apprentissages et Didactique) Research Field Educational sciences » Education Sociology Political sciences Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Country France Application Deadline 25 Aug 2025 - 23:59 (Europe/Paris) Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Offer Starting Date 15 Oct 2025 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The doctoral contract is fully funded by the Junior Professorship in “Equality in and towards Higher Education in Europe”, attached to the CREAD of Rennes 2 University. Launched in December 2024 for a period of four years, the chair’s objective is to compare how European universities are implementing EHEA recommendations on equal access and success in higher education. The research project includes a quantitative component (secondary analysis of data and administration of a questionnaire) and a qualitative component (interviews). The chair is funded over a period of four years by the National Research Agency. The field of investigation mainly consists of universities from the European alliance EMERGE, which includes Rennes 2 University.

Being a multisite team under the double supervision of Rennes 2 University and the University of Western Brittany (Université de Bretagne Occidentale, UBO), the CREAD brings together researchers from various disciplinary backgrounds working on objects related to education and training research, in its broadest sense. From the school institution to effective classroom teaching practices, from the training of trainers in the use of technologies for education at different stages of life, and from didactics to informal learning modalities in popular education, the research objects as well as the theoretical and methodological frameworks mobilised cover numerous approaches deployed in Education and Training Sciences. Beyond the characteristic diversity of this multi-discipline, the members of the CREAD are attached to the organisation in the long term of a unified workspace, bringing together a plurality of actors around issues that are scientific and formative, but also institutional and political, in the etymological sense of the term, with a common goal of emancipation of subjects: learners, actors, citizens.

FRAMING OF THE DOCTORAL CONTRACT
Inclusion in higher education is a priority of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), as evidenced by the 2020 Rome Declaration signed by the ministers of the member countries. However, the European Commission’s 2024 report on the EHEA stresses that, in all states, inequalities regarding access to, and success in higher education persist (European Commission, 2024). Nevertheless, further analysis is needed: while the Bologna process and the EHEA have contributed to the harmonisation of higher education structures, principles and missions in Europe, states retain a strong influence on their educational policies (de Wit & Wang, 2024). In addition, since universities enjoy a certain degree of autonomy in terms of their organisation and students’ admission, they can adopt a variety of inclusion policies within the same country (Bennetot-Pruvot et al., 2023).
For these reasons, a plurality of measures is implemented in the EHEA and students evolve in a diversity of university contexts, which participate in differentiating student experiences (Jellab, 2011; Buckley & Lee, 2018; Brooks et al., 2022). These are also mediated by different student characteristics such as social affiliation, skin colour, gender or sexuality (James & Taylor, 2022). In short, there is no such thing as a unique student experience, including within the EHEA (Brooks et al., 2022).
Combining sociology of higher education (Musselin, 2022), sociology of policy instruments (Halpern et al., 2014) and sociology of student experience (Dubet, 1994), this doctoral research project falls within a comparative approach (Paradeise et al., 2009), by examining how different European universities interpret and implement the principle of inclusion in higher education defined at a national / regional level. The aim is to highlight the similarities and differences between countries, but also between universities, and to explore student experiences in those different contexts.
This research will examine the interrelationships between the three levels of EHEA governance. The first level is supranational and corresponds to the EHEA’s recommendations and strategic frameworks. The second level is national and concerns policy adaptation and implementation. The third level is institutional and brings together the strategies put in place by universities. The relationships will be analysed by highlighting potential structural tensions between these levels.
At the EHEA level, analysis of declarations and reports will help to establish the European framework and identify possible tensions between supranational recommendations and national implementation.
At the state level, the study of regulatory texts, legislation and political discourse will provide a comparison of national frameworks and margins of variation in the appropriation of European guidelines.
At the university level, interviews with university vice presidents and heads of faculties will examine public policy instruments, actors’ guiding principles, their representations and the tensions that may arise between institutional and national levels.
Finally, a questionnaire administered to students from different universities, supplemented by in-depth interviews with students and lecturers, will enable the study of lecturers’ perceptions of their missions, the comparison of students’ experiences and the identification of possible gaps between institutional policies and lived realities.
The field will be constituted of signatory country members of the EHEA, to compare the implementations of its recommendations. The choice of countries selected for the study will need to be explained in the application.

EXPECTED IMPACT OF RESEARCH
The objective of this project is to study what universities in Europe (primarily partners in the European university alliance EMERGE) are doing concretely to promote the inclusion and success of students who are distant from the academic world, in line with EHEA guidelines (student mobility, three-year degree, European credit transfer and accumulation system (ECTS) favouring student exchanges between university systems, etc.) and how this translates into practice in students’ experiences and careers. While taking into account the social, economic, political and cultural contexts of universities, an analytical typology of factors facilitating or hindering the implementation of inclusive educational policies, devices and practices of universities is to be achieved, and their effects according to the target groups of students (social background, gender, educational background, etc.). By identifying effective support mechanisms for students from underrepresented backgrounds or from marginalised territories, the expected benefits include:
• Reducing socio-economic inequalities among young people;
• Improving students’ living conditions and overall student experience by fostering a sense of belonging to the university;
• Clarifying the dynamics of governance and student representation in universities;
• Training and qualifying a diverse population;
• Fostering dialogue between European universities on students’ experiences and sense of belonging;
• Optimising public policy.

Where to apply

E-mail [e-mail]

Requirements

Research Field Educational sciences Education Level Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

• A student holding a research Master’s in Human and Social Sciences (in priority in Education and Training Sciences, or in Political Sciences or Sociology).
• A student possessing a first experience of qualitative study crossing documentary data, observational data and interview data. A grasp of quantitative methods will be appreciated.
• A student demonstrating (courses followed, Master thesis written, professional experiences) a first familiarisation with sociology of higher education.
• Good writing, listening, analytical and organisational skills.

Specific Requirements

• The student is committed to taking part regularly in the CREAD’s activities, the research unit they will be linked to, as well as in the training sessions offered by the doctoral school ELICCE.
• The student is committed to travelling for the needs of their doctoral research (communications, conferences, etc.).

Languages FRENCH Level Good

Languages ENGLISH Level Good

Additional Information

Thesis co-supervised by Lucy Bell (Junior professor in Higher Education and Training Sciences) and Julie Denouël (Lecturer in Education and Training Sciences holding an authorisation to direct research).
Laboratory: Centre of Research on Education, Learning and Didactics (Centre de Recherche sur l’Education, les Apprentissages et la Didactique).
Funding: Research chair “Equality towards and in higher education in Europe” – 36-month doctoral contract.
Gross remuneration: 2200 €/month (final quarter of 2025); 2300 €/month (between January 2026 and October 2028)

Selection process

Candidates will send by email to Lucy Bell and Julie Denouël l, by 25 August 2025:

• A resume;
• A covering letter;
• A thesis project of 6 to 8 pages including the bibliography (object, research questioning, methodology, field of study / corpus, provisional outline, bibliographical selection, a note on the candidate’s professional project, research project calendar);
• Their Master’s thesis;
• Their Master’s transcript.

Candidates will receive an answer on 2 September at the latest and may be invited for an interview on 9 September 2025.

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