Doctoral Career Plan A

Academic unit or major

Career development courses

Instructor(s)

Hirofumi Akagi

Class Format

Lecture (Zoom)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

3-4 Thu (G115)

Class

A

Course Code

LAC.C602

Number of credits

100

Course offered

2020

Offered quarter

1Q

Syllabus updated

Jul 10, 2025

Language

Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

In this course students who wish to work in industry or academia will learn the basic skills necessary to build their career. We will first analyze the current situation for building a career with a PhD, then introduce possible career choices that may occur in 15 or 30 years. In particular, during the course of defining the disparities (and commonalities) between career design as a PhD holder, and the job search as a master's degree holder, students will think about what career design means for a PhD holder, what they should be doing (until when), and the potential meaning for career design of earning a PhD.
The instructor will introduce several reference works to that end. Students submit two exercise problems, either referencing the works or going on their own understanding. (The content and format of the problems will be indicated in lecture.) Students who have started a doctoral program, but don't know what they want to do in the future, are also welcome. We will think about life planning that looks ahead to not just building a career as a researcher, but also later their life as a citizen, employee, and academic.

Course description and aims

Knowledge obtained by scientific wisdom, literacy and acquisition of know‒how can expire. Lectures will include envisioning the future 5 to 30 years from now. Therefore, this course aims to have students experience lectures at which the best mixture of academic study and literacy know‒how is targeted. After the introduction of lecture outline, status quo analysis, career development in academia and career establishment of a corporate researcher, students are expected to design their life as a researcher.

Keywords

Doctoral career plan, Continual self‒awareness, Career in academia, Career of an enterprise engineer and a researcher,
Credit Cycle, Seniority⇒ Merit‒base system +Achievement‒base system, PD problem, Job hunting and career plan.
Respect of freedom and intellectual sincerity

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

There will be seven lectures based on Zoom. Lecture handouts will be uploaded after each lecture is finished.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

Textbook(s)

None.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

「理系のための研究生活ガイド（第2版）」 坪田一男、ブルーバックスB‒1671、講談 社、940円(Japanese books)
「院生・ポスドクのための研究人生サバイバルガイド」 菊池俊郎、ブルーバックスB‒1709、講談社、820円
「自分の小さな「鳥カゴ」から飛び立ちなさい」 河合江里子、ダイヤモンド社、1,400円(Japanese books)
「アメリカの大学院で成功する方法」 吉原真理、中公新書1732、中央公論社、760円
「理系のためのキャリアデザイン 戦略的就活術」 増沢隆太、丸善出版、2,000円(Japanese books)
「Japanese Science: From the Inside」 Samuel Coleman、Taylor & Francis Group
「アメリカの大学・ニッポンの大学」 苅谷剛 彦、中公新書ラクレ429、中央公論新社、840円(Japanese books)
「理系の女の生き方ガイド－女性研究者に学ぶ自己実現法」 宇野賀津子、坂東昌子、ブルーバックスB－1307、講談社、860円(Japanese books)
「A PHD is not enough !」 Peter J. Feiberman, Perseus Books Group

Evaluation methods and criteria

Submission of a home assignment related to each class (70%) and two reports (30%).

Related courses

• Other career courses

Prerequisites

This lecture is a modified subject of "Doctor career design Ⅱ" until FY2017
Duplicate registration with other A0D or P0D compliant career subjects is possible, but please note that one credit is required for the A0D or P0D compliant career subjects.

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

iidpinfo[at]jim.titech.ac.jp
(Indicate the name and affiliation)

Office hours

Weekdays 9：00‒17：00