Journal of IOA Article Examines Impact of Ombuds on PhD Student Success

The Journal of the International Ombuds Association has published original research by Paul Herfs, the former Ombuds for Staff and Faculty at Utrecht University. He draws on his experience to answer the question posed by the title of his article: "Can Ombudspersons Prevent PhD Students From Dropping Out?"

Here is the abstract of the article:

This article describes all kind of problems PhD students might encounter during their PhD trajectories. Because of these problems many PhD students leave universities without finishing their thesis and without PhD degrees. It leads to great losses of human capital. The author, who worked for 16 years as a university ombuds at a Dutch research university, is very experienced in the guidance of PhD students whose trajectories got stuck. Based on his experiences he describes interventions of an ombuds that might lead to diminishing dropout among PhD students. Although most of his experiences are accumulated at a Dutch university the described problems of PhD students could occur at universities all over the world. The same goes for ombuds interventions and solution.

Herfs has published in the Journal of Cal Caucus and served as a board member of ENOHE. In 2021, he was appointed Knight of the Order of Oranje-Nassau for his many years of service to Dutch society. (JIOA.)

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