International Conference on Professional Doctorates

Jointly hosted by Middlesex University and
UK Council for Graduate Education

Conference Summary
Conference Proceedings
Plenary Presentations
Keynote Presentations
Round Table Discussion Presentations
Workshop Presentations
Discussion Lecture Presentations
Other Presentations
Posters
Organising Committee
Photographs
Location

Conference Summary:

This international conference addressed issues surrounding continuing professional development activities between higher education and 'work' and the innovative ways that higher education, professional associations, businesses and other stakeholders are creating new educational opportunities. In his opening address Professor Waqar Ahmed, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Enterprise, at the Middlesex University emphasised the need to ensure appropriate funding of Professional Doctorates. This was an issue which was a significant topic of conversation especially among UK delegates during the two days of the conference.

The first plenary, Being professional about doctorates for professionals: an international perspective, was given by Professor Terry Evans, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It drew on his long experience of Professional Doctorates and PhDs. In recent years there have been significant changes in the gender balance so that the number of women now starting doctoral study exceeds that of men. Perhaps most interesting of all, was an indication of the time spent on different doctoral activities (writing, defining the research method, carrying out the research) at various times which had the potential to help refine or even re-define the approach of those designing doctoral programmes. There could be no doubt from this presentation that doctoral students, especially those on Professional Doctorates, are probably even more complex and diverse than even the most experienced of the audience might have thought. As an opening plenary this was a great success by opening up many questions about doctorates that delegates could mull over for the remainder of the meeting.

David Scott, Institute of Education, London, UK, gave the second plenary, Current issues in the development and management of Professional Doctorates. He compared and contrasted the types of doctorate available and briefly reviewed the history of the Professional Doctorate in the UK, dissecting the range of doctorates, including some of the different types of Professional Doctorates, in the context of disciplinary knowledge, technical rationality (does it work in practice?), dispositional and transdisciplinary knowledge (the no end point, fundamental research) and value-driven critical knowledge. There was seen to be an issue for Professional Doctorates if they were expected to be mirror images of the traditional PhD and if the academy were to impose a singular view of disciplinarity on them.

The conference was particularly fortunate in having a view from the United States, Challenges and opportunities for the Professional doctorate. A North American Perspective, by Debra Stewart, President of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), Washington, USA. An important driver in the US is the predicted employment growth especially in registered nursing and post-secondary education connected with an increased demand for up skilling of the health care workforce. This has already manifested itself in a huge increase in the numbers of candidates in doctoral studies in nursing. A further driver is the expanding commitment to sustainability and climate change and a step change in the political priorities of the new administration. This is creating a demand for science and technology programmes that can prepare professionals able to deal with the gap between theory and practice. The CGS had set up a task force to consider the Professional Doctorate in the US context. It had concluded that the Professional Doctorate should address the demands of professional practice unmet by other “non-professional” degrees, concentrate on advanced practice or clinical or other applied research and should be guided where relevant by the professions especially where they related to licence to practice. In terms of structure the expectations were not dissimilar in parts to the requirements of a traditional doctorate but with perhaps more emphasis on coursework and professional practice and a capstone project. There were still some issues surrounding the notion of coursework -only doctorates, transitional “updating” degrees, low entry requirements and how to grant credit for prior work experience. Debra warned against a number of possible pitfalls: expecting all doctorates to be the same, accrediting a programme just because an accrediting body has made it a condition for accreditation of another programme, and offering programmes only because others do. This latter action often leads to too many similar programmes being unable to recruit a viable number of candidates. Ultimately the institution has to be fully committed to the Professional Doctorate concept and ensure that every graduand achieves a standard of excellence comparable with the traditional PhD. This is most likely to be guaranteed through accreditation and review incorporating relevant national standards for professional bodies and robust institutional review. Debra’s final conclusion was that the Professional Doctorate is a degree whose time has come and needs to be embraced and supported by Graduate Deans.

The final plenary, Reflexivity and research training in Professional Doctorates: lessons learnt from the DBA, was presented by Murray Clark, Sheffield Hallam University, UK and Janet Kirkham, University of Hertfordshire, UK. This lively and entertaining session ensured that the conference ended on a very high note. The presenters argued the case for a more critically reflective approach for participants in DBA programmes and an increased focus on epistemic over and above methodological reflexivity. In doing so they pressed for research training in the DBA to strike an appropriate balance between the researching practitioners, who would be expected to inform management design and theory through their management expertise and practice, and the practicing researcher, developing informing and developing practice through theory developed by academic work. Information was also presented from a detailed investigation of 21 DBA programmes to understand their approach to research and learning.

Some issues relating to Professional doctorates

Many interesting issues were raised at the conference. There was much debate within and outside the formal sessions about the very wide-ranging nature of different Professional Doctorates, the role and nature of the research element and evidence that some Professional Doctorates exist in the US that have no defined research element. The rapid increase in numbers of candidates in some Professional Doctorate programmes, which had led to challenges to find sufficient appropriately qualified supervisory teams and examiners, had also led to some being seen as a cash cow for institutions where pressure was brought to bear to continue to recruit large cohorts even when the programme teams were already overstretched. In other cases the rise of the Professional Doctorate has been accompanied by a major reduction in the numbers of traditional PhD candidates, which has in turn led to a concern about the future of fundamental research in some fields. However, it is clear that the Professional Doctorate is a qualification of today. It has given many professionals who would have been unable to work through a traditional PhD a chance to extend their skills and is responsible for a huge increase in applied research much of whose impact is yet to be fully acknowledged.

Following an analysis of the very positive feedback received from delegates the organising committee have already met and begun to consider the development of small workshops on the Professional Doctorate and the plans for the International Conference of Professional Doctorates II.

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Conference Photos:
To view photos from the Conference, please click here

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Location:
Cavendish Conference Centre, London

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