The three most common degrees at the doctoral level are the PhD/DPhil, the professional/vocational doctoral degree (i.e. DBA or DEdu) and the Honorary Doctoral degree. We have summarized below some basic information on the various doctoral degrees awarded at universities worldwide.

Doctoral degrees are commonly referred to as research degrees and are typically categorized as postgraduate degrees at the highest, terminal level. A long and prosperous career in academia, innovation and specialty research or public policy often require a doctoral degree for advancement in these areas.

Entry into a doctoral degree programme requires either a first degree at the Bachelor level or a Masters degree. It is less common for students in the UK to enter a PhD or other doctoral programme without having completed a Masters degree and indeed, most doctoral programmes in the UK require that the student have some level of study beyond the Bachelor degree before being admitted to a doctoral programme. In other countries, such as New Zealand and the US, it is more common to be able to enter the PhD or doctoral programme with a Bachelor level degree, provided the Bachelor degree is four-year degree (with Honours) and the students is able to not only demonstrate a higher level of knowledge in the subject, but he or she must also have outstanding academic credentials. In the US, the option to enter the doctoral programme stream directly from an undergraduate degree may depend on the field of subject the student wishes to study. Subjects in the natural sciences, or ‘hard sciences’, typically hold a greater potential for this particular pathway than a course of study in the humanities or social sciences. It is advisable to always check with the university in question as to what their specific entry requirements are.

In recent years, an increased amount of attention has been given to the doctoral research degree in Europe. As a vehicle to advance the European aim to create a knowledge-based economy, doctoral degrees have attained a considerable instrumentality. The doctoral degree in the European context of the Bologna framework is considered the ‘third cycle’ in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), and the final cycle in the framework. In order for the 46 countries participating in the Bologna Process to be able to create doctoral programmes that allow for a greater uniformity and thus mobility, the following guidelines have been established. The so-called ‘Dublin Descriptors’ outline that a doctoral degree shall be awarded to students who:

• have demonstrated a systematic understanding of a field of study and mastery of research associated with that field

• have demonstrated the ability to conceive, design, implement and adapt a substantial process of research with scholarly integrity

• have made a contribution through original research that extends the frontier of knowledge by developing a substantial body of work, some of which merits national or international refereed publication

• are capable of critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis of new and complex ideas

• can communicate with their peers, the larger scholarly community, and with society in general about their areas of expertise

• can be expected to promote, within academic and professional contexts, technological, social or cultural advancement in a knowledge based society1

The new European framework stipulates that a third cycle degree should be three or four years in length. This is considerably shorter than it used to be the case for PhD programmes in some Bologna countries and is in line with a global trend toward shorter doctoral study. In the UK, most PhD programmes take three to five years, while in the US, a PhD may take as long as seven or eight years, depending on the field of subject. In the past, a student would have a fair amount of latitude in the timeframe within which to complete their PhD studies, some would take as long as ten years to hand in and defend their thesis. As universities increasingly become enterprises and must compete in an international education market, however, a new trend for time limitations for doctoral studies can be observed. In the UK, the student is expected to have completed the thesis no later than 12 months after the actual programme is finished. Online programmes may take as little as two years to complete, depending on the institution and the field of subject. A two-year doctoral programme, however, is highly intensive and requires a lot of discipline. It may also have limited recognition depending on the institution, country and field.

Both, research PhDs/DPhils and more vocationally oriented doctoral programmes have several core components to their degree structure. Typically, a doctoral degree programme consists of

• Course of study through coursework (often in methodologies or research skills such as research methods or related topics)

• Original research presented in a thesis, dissertation or portfolio of work

• Defence of the thesis presented before a panel of experts (also called the Viva)

In the USA, doctoral students may have to pass a series of exams after the coursework component in order to demonstrate that they have sufficient background knowledge to continue on with the research and the thesis or dissertation. Similarly, in the UK there may be an oral exam to upgrade to full PhD student status. Some doctoral programmes may additionally require a practical component such as fieldwork, teaching experience or similar components. For more detailed information on each of these structural components, please see our section ˜PhD Structure” (LINK).

A doctoral degree may be completed in any scholarly discipline, although some disciplines are by nature more research intensive than others. In the United States, Education, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Engineering and Health make up nearly 50% of all doctoral study. While degrees in these fields tend to be research-intensive PhD degrees, there is a greater variety of doctoral study available today than ever before.

PhD/DPhil

The PhD is the most widely known postgraduate research degree and builds on a solid foundation of prior knowledge acquired through a Bachelor level or Masters degree. Some institutions, i.e. Oxford University and the University of Sussex, have a different terminology for the Doctor of Philosophy degree and award their graduating students with a DPhil title rather than a PhD. In essence, the two are the same. A PhD almost always requires the completion of a substantial body of research and the contribution of new knowledge to a field of study or discipline. In the UK, formal registration for the degree takes place after an initial year of research (sometimes this is referred to as the MPhil). The course of study for a PhD in the UK and Europe emphasises the research component throughout. Coursework may be required but to a lesser extent than for a professional doctorate or a PhD programme in the US. Working closely with a supervisor is a core characteristic of such a research-intensive course of study. More information on selecting and working with a supervisor can be found in our Admissions section (LINK forthcoming). Research degrees are not all exclusively PhD/DPhil degrees, with such titles as the Doctor of Arts (DA) and the Doctor of Engineering (DEng) being common. There is a considerable amount of crossover between what is considered a research degree and what is considered a professional doctoral degree, and the designation may vary from institution to institution. Crucial is the structure of the programme – whether assessment is primarily by final thesis or published work or whether the programme contains a substantial coursework element, practical training and/or field work.

Professional Doctoral Degrees

In recent years, a growing number of professionally oriented, or applied doctoral degrees have been on offer by universities internationally. This type of degree includes the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), the Doctor of Education (EdD) and many others. As indicated above, there is often no clear distinction between a research degree and a professional degree, rather there are always considerable elements of research in the professional degrees as well, requiring an original piece of research. The professional doctoral degree, however will have a larger taught coursework component and typically seeks ways to integrate academic knowledge with professional practical knowledge. Professionally oriented doctoral degrees are relatively young as an academic course of study and according to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the UK, professional doctoral degrees have a dual focus, whereby students of such degrees are expected to

˜make a contribution to both theory and practice in their field, and to develop professional practice by making a contribution to (professional) knowledge. To achieve this the research conducted would be expected to normally involve ‘real life’ issues concerned with practice, often within the student’s own organisation…”

There are a number of new initiatives that offer doctoral degrees in an integrated and highly structured way. An example of such a programme is the ‘New Route PhD’ in the UK, an integrated postgraduate programme combining research with a structured course of advanced training in specific and generic skills within a discipline. The goal of such initiatives is to bridge the gap between high-level knowledge acquired through research and the application in the professional world. The development toward doctoral degrees with a focus on the application of knowledge is in line with general trends in the international higher education arena and allow the student a greater choice in their educational paths.

Honorary Doctoral Degrees

The Honorary degree is an academic degree awarded for a person’s outstanding contribution to a particular field. It is often granted to persons who have no current and direct connection to the university and the award is given without the usual requirements applicable to students of a doctoral degree programme. The Honorary Doctorate is usually conferred as a way of honouring a distinguished person’s contributions throughout his or her career. A person awarded an Honorary Doctorate would not normally actually carry the doctor title. This particular degree award practice is not without controversy and indeed, one of the more curious awards of the title was to Kermit the Frog, who received the ‘Honorary Doctorate of Amphibious Letters’ for his musical contributions to the environmental struggle.

The large majority of doctoral degrees are conferred by a university or equivalent institution. There are, however, other opportunities available, which are often conducted as a partnership between a university and industry, government or other institutions. Particularly the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects are popular for such collaborative endeavours and any student interested in conducting their doctorate degree within the framework of such an institution should look for advertised placed in the respective specialty press.