1 Core principles CARDIFF UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL DOCTORATES REVISED CORE PRINCIPLES The following are core principles which help to define the nature of Professional Doctorates awarded by Cardiff University..1 A Professional Doctorate award signifies a doctoral level of achievement, judged to constitute an original contribution to knowledge..2 A Professional Doctorate therefore makes equivalent demands to the PhD, but in relation to a professional context..3 A Professional Doctorate is distinguished from a PhD by a title that refers to a particular profession or a professional area of work..4 A Professional Doctorate is organised systematically in terms of length and structure of programme, supervision and support, and assessment..5 A Professional Doctorate comprises directed study and research components. More specifically, it comprises a predefined programme of directed study designed to achieve specific educational outcomes and a substantial programme of research, which may comprise one or more linked projects. It may also include a component concerned with a set of professional competencies..6 Professional Doctorates are classified as research degrees. The various components are intrinsically linked and it might be difficult to categorise some activities. Notwithstanding, at least 50% of a Professional Doctorate programme is demonstrably devoted to research. It is usually a higher proportion. The 'research component' may be broader than the work devoted to the research programme that results in the final submitted thesis..7 The separate components are assessed and satisfy examining board(s) in meeting prescribed criteria for the award to be made. There may be a 'sequential' or 'parallel' approach to both delivery and assessment..8 The research programme demonstrates training in research methods, the generation of new knowledge and the presentation of primary research in the form of a thesis submitted for examination.
.9 The research programme is assessed by means of submission of a thesis and examination by an acknowledged expert(s) in the particular field of research..10 Length of the thesis varies between Professional Doctorates and is in accordance with programme regulations. Notwithstanding, the thesis is a substantial piece of doctoral level work, and should be in the order of 45,000 words as the minimum..11 Generic Cardiff University Senate Regulations, based on those for PhD, apply to all Professional Doctorates - in respect of general entry requirements, minimum periods of study, time limits, appointment of supervisors, thesis submission and examination..12 In addition, specific programme regulations and programme specifications are required for Professional Doctorate programmes..13 Professional Doctorates are subject to the same quality systems and processes as other research degrees, including the Code of Practice for Research Degrees and the Annual Review and Evaluation of Postgraduate Research Activity..14 A Professional Doctorates is characterised by doctoral level experience throughout the programme. By the end of the programme a successful candidate will evidence the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, and those attributes that describe the holder of a doctoral level award 1. Where assessment is structured throughout the programme, examiners must be satisfied that the candidate is developing doctoral level competencies and signs of originality in their work, appropriate to the stage of the programme. In given circumstances it might be appropriate for some units of study to be shared with Masters programmes, but, in such cases, learning experiences and outcomes should be clearly different for Professional Doctorate students 2 The use of credit.1 Credit is awarded to record the achievement of learning outcomes. There are two main purposes for its use: credit accumulation and credit transfer. 1 E.g. QAA descriptors for qualifications at Doctoral (D) level; the Dublin Descriptors.
.2 The available literature on the subject of Professional Doctorates and correspondence with recognised UK researchers 2 in this field would strongly suggest that the use of credit should be resisted..3 The use of credit at doctoral level is complex, and there is certainly a widespread resistance to the idea of using credit as the basis for the PhD 3. The language of credit and its association with the achievement of learning outcomes is not generally considered relevant to the way in which the PhD is described, with the key defining criterion being an original contribution to knowledge. A final thesis may provide evidence of the development of certain skills and abilities but the defining criterion of the award is more than this development 4..4 Professional Doctorates are characterised by the same defining criterion, hence the use of credit is similarly problematic..5 Assessment criteria for Professional Doctorates at Cardiff are primarily based around the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, and those attributes that describe the holder of a doctoral level award. These are evidenced in the research project(s) and the final thesis. Additional educational outcomes are usually the result of the directed study component. These are independently assessed and must be achieved to the satisfaction of the examiners but are secondary to those associated with the key defining criterion. Credit accumulation does not appear to be an appropriate approach..6 It is essential that the research component for a Professional Doctorate is comparable in standard with the traditional PhD. That the language of credit is considered inappropriate for the doctoral thesis is an argument against the association of credit with the research component of a Professional Doctorate..7 Directed study and research components are normally integrated within a Professional Doctorate. To disentangle them would be both difficult and inappropriate. This would seem to argue against assigning credit to only part of the doctoral programme..8 However, a number of Professional Doctorates in the UK are expressed, in part or whole, in terms of credit and the Credit and 2 Professor I Lunt, University of Oxford (Co-Director of ESRC funded project Professional Doctorates and their impact on employment and careers, 2001-02; 'Professional Doctorates: Integrating' - Scott D, Brown A, Lunt I, Thorne L, 2004, Maidenhead, Berks: SRHE and Open University; 'Professional Doctorates in Education', - Lunt I, 2002, on-line commissioned article on ESCalate website) Professor S Powell, University of Hertfordshire ('Doctoral Study in Contemporary Higher Education' - Green, HG and Powell, SD, 2005, Buckingham, OU Press; 'Professional Doctorate Awards in the UK ' - Powell S and Long E, 2005, UKCGE) 3 Quality Assurance Agency (1999) A consultation paper on Higher Education Qualifications Framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (London, QAA). 4 UK Council for Graduate Education (2002), Professional Doctorates (UKCGE).
Qualifications Framework for Wales 5 provides for Professional Doctorates..9 A distinction between the PhD and the Professional Doctorate is the need to meet a set of explicitly defined and explicitly assessed learning outcomes for the latter. One means of enabling this might be the use of credit..10 A Professional Doctorate should be organised systematically and transparently in terms of length and structure of programme, and assessment. One means of achieving this might be the use of credit..11 Alternatively, describing the directed study component of a Professional Doctorate in terms of defined units with weighted values, would also seem to facilitate structural organisation, assessment and student mobility..12 In addition, the proportion of the programme in which the activity is directly related to research, during the period over which the programme is defined, can also be expressed without the need for credit. 3 Areas that might be considered as part of the programme approval process or internal review process. In addition to considering programmes against the agreed core principles, panellists may wish to investigate the following:.1 What is the balance between directed study and research elements and how are they integrated?.2 What assessment methods are appropriate? How are the directed study and research elements brought together in the final assessment? How do the different elements of assessment combine both academic and professional criteria?.3 What pedagogical and organizational strategies will be used to facilitate professional learning and develop the reflective practitioner? Does the approach taken provide a bridge between theory and practice?.4 What are the key elements of the accreditation process if the Professional Doctorate is subject to accreditation by a professional body?.5 How are the conceptual differences between the traditional PhD and the Professional Doctorate, and their respective training needs, demonstrated?.6 How is equivalence of the intellectual challenge, in the context of explicitly the difference in philosophy and student experience, as compared with the traditional PhD, articulated?.7 What exit qualification, if any, is appropriate? 5 HEFCW (2004) Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales (Higher Education in Wales: Credit Specification and Guidance).