The ORPHEUS/AMSE/WFME PhD standards document, published January 2012, is a practical tool for quality assurance of PhD programmes. Another document, the new PhD principles document: “Best practice based principles for innovative doctoral training”, approved by the EU Council of Ministers is fully compatible with the PhD standards document. For this reason, ORPHEUS has expressed a wish to work closely with the European Commission on implementing this in the field of biomedicine and health sciences. The PhD standards document could also provide a basis for global conversations concerning the quality and content of PhD programmes. To increase awareness of the PhD standards document, national workshops should be held. In addition, ORPHEUS will introduce a labelling project based on initial self-evaluation and external evaluation of web site, which may be followed up by some form of site visit, of academics with experience in PhD education.