The sixth conference of the workshop series "International Dialogue on Education – Berlin" will take place on April 26, 2010 at the British Embassy, Berlin. The title of our next event is "Exploring Difference: Recruitment and Selection of Doctoral Candidates". With an increased demand for doctoral candidates, a more efficient graduate education and the introduction of graduate schools in Germany to meet the new challenges the organizational frameworks have greatly diversified, as have the goals and purposes of attaining a doctorate. Parallel to this development the search for doctoral candidates, particularly in the STEM disciplines, has intensified, both nationally and internationally. The next ID-E conference will therefore address the challenges associated with a reform of graduate education in Germany. As an international reference and benchmark we would like to discuss in particular what – for example - the PhD stands for in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia, what the mission for graduate education is in these countries, how it is achieved through the selection process of graduate students, and how quality in graduate education is evaluated and maintained. Finally we would like to discuss with our speakers from UK, the US, Canada and Australia what the ideal doctoral candidate is and how their institutions actively select them. Speaker for the US will be Dr. Ahmed T. Abdelal, Provost at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

The workshop series International Dialogue on Education Berlin is a joint initiative of the British Council Germany, the German Academic Exchange Service, the German-American Fulbright Commission, the Australian Group of Eight and the Canadian Bureau for International Education in Berlin. Through the contributions of international participants the series aims to enrich the debate on science, research and higher education policy in Germany, to place German perspectives in a global context and to learn from positive examples from other countries.

Conference results and further information on the next event can be found at http://www.daad.de/ID-E_Berlin/.