Redefining the Doctorate

The original impetus for this initiative came from the work of the Rugby Team 06. The Rugby Team acknowledged feedback from the sector that the ‘Roberts agenda' raises questions about the nature of the doctoral qualification. It acknowledged that it was timely to encourage the sector to engage in an informed national debate on "What is a doctorate?".

The first stage in developing the project was the drafting of a discussion paper Redefining the doctorate January 2007, published by the Higher Education Academy and other national stakeholders in December 2006. Key themes include the attractiveness of the qualification, the process of the degree programme (including supervision and training), assessment, time to completion and completion rates, and employability and international mobility.

This paper has been discussed at a number of national meetings during 2007 with various stakeholder groups. The reports of these meetings are available from the Higher Education Academy ‘Doctoral Debate'.