On the basis of her experience, and after questioning students specifically on the subject, the author of this paper presents a synoptic view of fundamental problems faced by PhD students, including what they consider their insufficient preparation for PhD work in terms of literature processing skills, research management and methods, as well as time management. She also devotes considerable attention to the human factor issue, including personality and motivation issues, the students’ feeling of isolation, and supervisor-supervisee relations. She then goes on to suggest improvement of the situation through a ‘PhD prep school’, international cooperation in PhD training, and a ‘PhD contract’ between supervisors and supervisees laying down explicitly the role of each.