From 2026, researchers at the University of Twente (UT) will no longer be able to obtain a PhD ‘cum laude’ (with distinction). The award, intended for PhD research of “exceptional scientific quality”, has a “systematically disadvantageous” effect on female PhD students, the university wrote on Wednesday. a message on its website. That is why the designation will disappear from the PhD regulations.
As far as we know, the UT is the first Dutch university to take this measure. Unlike bachelor’s and master’s degrees, where the distinction cum laude is given on the basis of the grades a student has achieved, the assessment of promotions is subjective. The award can provide an advantage when applying for job applications and research grants.
In 2018, research showed NRC that men at Dutch universities are much more likely to obtain their PhD cum laude than women. This ‘gender bias’ was confirmed in 2023 after research by professor of sociology Thijs Bol based on data from the University of Amsterdam. Male PhD students were 1.8 times as likely to receive their PhD with honors as women. The uneven distribution was present in all disciplines. The gap was largest when the promotion committee consisted entirely of men.
Bol is in favor of scrapping the award. “Selection in science is necessary, jobs and scholarships are scarce. But obtaining a PhD with honors is an arbitrary limit with a complicated, non-transparent procedure,” he said in an earlier interview with this newspaper.
Within the Netherlands, obtaining a PhD with honors can be an advantage, but internationally the distinction has little significance. In many countries it does not exist.
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Half of PhD students are women, but they rarely receive cum laude honors
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