In recent years the third cycle has been put high on the agenda of European higher education. So far the discussions about the doctorate have mainly concentrated on the more general level. However, the work executed by the different Tuning subject area groups shows that there are obvious differences between disciplinary domains and individual subject areas regarding the structure and contents of doctoral studies. While in health care and natural sciences it is common to do doctoral research as part of a large scale project, this is less often the case in social sciences, humanities and arts related topics. Normally in the first two domains the research of the doctoral candidate contributes to achieving a set of overarching objectives and solving research questions posed by more senior researchers, while in the latter disciplines it is normal practice for research projects to be defined and carried out by an individual, having its own research questions and objectives. These differences in approach affect the way generic as well as subject specific competences are formed. Therefore, Tuning thinks that it is very important to enhance our knowledge of how doctoral programmes are organized and what they look like at subject area level by comparing the situation in the different European countries. This approach offers us much insight into the obstacles to and opportunities for (re-)structuring doctoral studies in the best possible ways and to identify the possibilities for transnational co-operation. In final analysis it is the subject area or a combination of related subject areas that form the basis for a graduate, doctoral or research school.