The document discusses cooperation in doctoral education between Tunisia and other Euro-Mediterranean countries. It notes that doctoral co-supervision can provide students with broader horizons, opportunities for multidisciplinary and international collaboration, and improved publication and career prospects. Statistics are provided on Tunisian scholarships and funding for co-supervised theses from 2012-2015. While co-supervision is encouraged, challenges include ensuring topics match employment demands to address graduate unemployment in North Africa. True win-win cooperation requires both supervisors to contribute meaningfully to students' projects.

2. Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific
Research , Tunisia
University of Carthage
For the Win-win
Euro mediterranean cooperation
in the doctoral education
Lassaad El Asmi,
President of the University of Carthage

3. Cooperation in the doctoral education
is necessary or at least very useful :
1. New horizons: Co-advisors act as drivers and catalysts
of research topics for students. It means that they can
broaden their horizons and push them towards learning
something new.
2. Multidisciplinary cooperation research
For example :
Principal advisor : Mathematician
Second advisor : Fluid Mechanic, or Biologist, or
Economist,

4. 3. Publication record: it may offer more
opportunities to get papers published
4. Project collaboration : often the collaboration is
in a context of a project
5. Soft skills: they enhance students socially and
culturally and develop their communicative
abilities

5. Tunisian Scholarships
In Tunisia, the co-supervisor is not necessary, but is
hugely encouraged when it is in the frame of international
cooperation.
National scholarships for thesis co-supervision
(bourses d’alternances)
2012 2013 2014 2015
Number of Students applying for
scholarships
249 291 339 369
Nunber of Months granted 648 717 750 780
Number of Airplane Tickets granted 108 114 127 140
Total Amount of funds (in €) 702 000 774 000 813000 850000

6. Phd Courses (ED) funding
Blobal Budget Grants
2012 335 000 106 900
2013 192 000 95 000
2014 252 000 140 000

7. Evolution of Phd theses co-
supervision agreements by country
Country 2012 2013 2014
France 52 60 52
Spain 2 0 3
Belgium 2 1 1
Italy 1 1 2
Germany 0 1 1
Portugal 0 0 2
Total 57 53 61

8. Mobility programs
Project Origin
Country
Host
Country
Nunber of
students
Number of
Months
Total
Amount
Al-idrissi II Tunisia Italy 1 6 9000
Tunisia Spain
4
Alyssa Tunisia France
Tunisia France 66 99000
Tunisia France
Al-idrissi II Spain Tunisia 1 6 9000
Alyssa Italy Tunisia 1 18 27000
Total 7 96 144000

9. Graduate unemployment
It is the Greatest challenges that North Africa currently face
The Causes are complex :
- Previous governments have made heavy investments in education
without link to employment.
- The policy of massification produced unqualified graduates
- In some disciplines; work in the sector of higher education is saturated (Biologie,
- Geologie, Chimie, etc …
Our demand :
Seek to produce graduates with skills that match private sector demands

10. Win-win cooperation
Our countries must face the graduate unemployment problem :
The choice of subjects must be oriented in the themes that enhance
employability.
In some cases, the co-advising turns to a negative experience.
In co-supervision both sides don’t contribute in the same way:
- Tunisian supervisor provides the student and the funds from a Tunisian
scholarship, and the partner supervisor provides the effective supervision on a
topic only concocted by the partner. Once the thesis is defended, it comes out a
new unemployed graduated.
- The co-supervisors don’t know each other