Professional Doctoral Education in Australia and New Zealand: Reviewing the Scene

Abstract

Doctoral education appears to be undergoing change world-wide. Some PhDs in Europe have broadened (Adams & Mathieu 1999; Mathieu & Adams 1997; Orme 2000), and this approach has also been seen in Australia - for example, at the University of Adelaide (Brine 2000). Laot (c.2000) reports eleven named research doctorates developed in social work in Europe during the 1990s, most of which represent a move away from the profession and the workplace into Academe. Also, doctorates other than the PhD are not a coherent set. For example, in the US there is the pre-service 'doctorate' as well as the research form of doctorate (Davies 1996). There are, too, the higher and honorary doctorates both of which are awarded by many universities. The Professional Doctorate, though, appears to have increasingly seized the imagination of the higher education sector.This chapter continues our exploration of the development of Professional Doctorates in Australia (Shanahan 1996; Maxwell & Shanahan 1996) and of others (eg Trigwell, Shannon & Maurizi 1997), and extends this to New Zealand.