500 "Consulting PhD Candidates" positions

"Consulting PhD candidates" will be recruited and paid by universities which, for their part, will be in charge of marketing the assignments. To help universities set up this scheme, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research will put up the global amount of 2.8 M€ for 500 positions of consulting PhD candidates.

The scheme is open to all PhD candidates receiving a doctoral studentship (ministry's research allocation, CNRS' BDI, regional councils' studentship…). Conditions are similar to graduate assistants' (MIES).

Like graduate assistants, consulting PhD candidates will sign a annual contract for 32 days distributed as needed and paid 4,020€.

Minister Valerie Pecresse also announced the creation of 500 additional graduate assistant positions. 2,800 of the 4,000 ministry's fellows will then have a graduate assistant contract in 2007.