How likely are doctoral students to recommend their programmes? Associations with satisfaction with six academic aspects of their doctorates

This study investigates the association between doctoral students’ willingness to recommend their programme and their satisfaction with six academic aspects of them: thesis supervision, programme intellectual environment, teaching quality, research experience, programme curriculum, and institutional intellectual environment. Using data from a census of all nationally accredited doctoral programmes in Chile (N = 3082 students), a cumulative logit regression with proportional odds models was employed. The analysis reveals a strong positive association between recommendation likelihood and satisfaction with each one of the six academic areas. Curriculum satisfaction exhibited the strongest association with recommendation, followed by teaching quality. Thesis supervision, while significant, showed a weaker association than expected based on prior literature. These findings suggest that focusing resources on curriculum and teaching quality may be particularly effective in enhancing student satisfaction and programme recommendations. The study highlights the importance of program specific academic factors, contrasting with previous research emphasising supervisor quality as the primary driver of doctoral student satisfaction. This difference might be attributed to variations in programme structures and cultural contexts. Limitations include the study’s secondary nature, cross-sectional design, and non-random sample. Further qualitative research is suggested to explore these nuances and provide a deeper understanding of the factors shaping doctoral student experiences and recommendations in Chilean and potentially other Latin American contexts.