This book provides a framework for analysis and reviews the changing landscape of doctoral education across fourteen global case studies before providing conclusions and recommendations for further research and development.


Traditionally, doctoral education was a matter of the talented few being apprenticed to learn how to research from masters in their discipline. The work was conducted in private in spaces far removed from normal teaching or industry activities. The only requirement for academic staff to supervise or to examine candidates was to be research active. Many candidates dropped out during their studies. For those who persisted, their doctoral research could take years to complete, and most graduates went on to academic careers. But in recent decades, several changes have transformed doctoral education almost beyond recognition. The chapters in this book present an analysis of graduate and doctoral education globally aligned with current developments and research, provide an overall framework for the discussion at the international level of changes in doctoral education, examine how changes have been manifested in a sample of case studies of major doctoral providers from across the globe, and offer conclusions about the changing graduate and doctoral landscape with suggestions for future research.

This volume will be of interest to all those engaged in doctoral education, including doctoral candidates, their supervisors, and deans and administrators of graduate research. It was originally published as a special issue of Innovations in Education and Teaching International.