The Research Training Mission of the University: Challenges to Traditional Systems of Doctoral Education

Abstract

As conditions in labour markets in and outside academia are changing, greater emphasis is now being placed in many countries on the quality and type of doctoral education and training needed for acquiring, generating, integrating, transferring and using knowledge created by research. Doctoral research, a core function of universities, with the PhD arguably the key qualification defining the quality of research standards of a country (Gallagher, 2007, p.6), provides valuable training that produces highly skilled people able to transfer their knowledge and expertise to many different contexts. Moreover, governments view the outputs of doctoral training as important drivers in the global knowledge economy and an appropriate means of addressing the gap between postgraduate study and the needs of business and industry. In this sense, Kehm's (2007b, p.2) observation that "generation of new knowledge has become an important strategic resource and an economic factor" is apposite. With the focus particularly on the PhD degree, a theme of this article is how traditional norms and practices of doctoral research training are being challenged in a number of industrialised countries in a bid to broaden the skills and knowledge of graduates to fit more diverse social and economic needs.