In an effort to synchronize its educational system with the rest of Europe, Sweden on 22 February passed an educational reform that includes a contentious measure to limit funding for PhD programs.

The law will help bring Sweden in line with the Bologna Process, a scheme that aims to harmonize by 2010 higher education among 45 countries in Europe. But critics in Sweden say the measures could weaken educational standards and jeopardize employment prospects for graduate students seeking competitive postdoctoral positions in the US and elsewhere.

Launched in 1999, the goal of the Bologna Process is to promote uniform educational standards and ease mobility of students among the member countries, which now have an uneven hodgepodge of educational structures largely impenetrable to outsiders.

If you take away a year from our education, our contribution to the scientific community is going to decline. Niclas Sigholm, Swedish National Union of Students

The first two phases of the scheme recommend that undergraduate programs throughout Europe should last three years and master's degree programs two years. The recommendations are not legally binding, but many countries such as Sweden and Germany are already converting to this system. Many Eastern European countries are particularly keen on the scheme, which could boost their weak higher-education systems.

“The Bologna Process is a great impetus for reforms,” says Carsten Dose, a member of the German Science Council, a higher-education think tank in Berlin. But it's important that the system retains some flexibility, Dose says. For instance, some students need more time than others to prepare for an academic career.

The PhD phase of the Bologna Process has just begun and recommendations are expected to be complete in time for a summit in London in May 2007. At a May 2005 meeting in Norway, representatives of several governments agreed that most countries should have PhD programs that last three or four years, but they cautioned against overregulation, says Elizabeth Tapper, a spokeswoman for the European University Association in Brussels. The association and a few others have been charged with developing recommendations.

Sweden's new law reflects the guidelines for the length of undergraduate and master's degree programs, and those met with little opposition. But several student groups in Sweden have protested the cut in PhD funding, which lops a year of university salary support for students with master's degrees down to three years from the current four.

The funding cut reflects growing pressure throughout Europe to get graduate students out of school swiftly, says Niclas Sigholm, president of the Swedish National Union of Students. Truncating PhD programs might actually make Sweden's graduates less competitive in the US, Sigholm says. “If you take away a year from our education, our contribution to the scientific community is going to decline.”