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| Approving Authority: |
University Education Committee |
| Establishment Date: |
1996 |
| Date Last Amendment: |
Academic Senate August 2000 |
| Nature of Amendment: |
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| Date Last Reviewed: |
September 2005 (edited) |
| Publication Reference: |
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| Contact Officer: |
Professional Doctorates Entry Committee Secretary |
Background
Professional Doctorates have been offered since 1996. There are professional doctorates in Education, Public Health, and Policy and Administration. The Guidelines for the Admission Requirements, Content and Structure of Professional Doctorates were approved in 1996, and were amended in 2000. The professional doctorates program is managed by the Professional Doctorates Entry Committee (PDEC).
Guidelines
In general, professional doctorates should be designed to assist middle level, upper-middle level professionals or advanced practitioners to reach the highest levels of their professions. The professional doctorate will extend candidates well beyond masters level.
Professional doctorates should be designed in accordance with the following guidelines.
- The degree will be a 108 unit program offered over three years full-time or the part-time equivalent.
- The degree should be comparable with a PhD in the level of scholarship required and in the total amount of work required, although the emphasis will be different because of its professional development focus. The program should combine research and coursework. The proportions of the course devoted to the research component/s and to coursework may vary according to the needs of the professional area concerned. The research component/s may take a variety of forms one of which may be a thesis.
- The coursework component will include and should emphasise the development of research and advanced professional skills and expertise. These could comprise the following:
3.1 high level practitioner skills, or
3.2 innovative training of practitioners, or
3.3 research leadership, or
3.4 high level policy advice and implementation, or
3.5 corporate or sector management and/or strategic planning.
- The minimum requirement for admission will be a four year degree, or equivalent, together with relevant experience. Candidates must currently be engaged, or have been engaged, normally immediately before commencement of study, in a relevant professional field, emphasising the importance of extensive related experience.
There will be two entry points into the program:
- On the completion of a four year degree or equivalent; the program will consist of the full 108 units;
- On completion of a relevant masters degree, some credit will be given. The amount will depend on the nature and level of masters degree completed, but will not exceed 36 units.
- The structure of the program should meet the following requirements:
5.1 The doctoral topic coursework and research component/s of the program will, between them, total at least two thirds of the weight of the total program and should require at least two years' full-time study (72 units).
5.2 The coursework component will include topics unique to the program which are designed to develop the student's professional skills. 5.3 The program should articulate with other programs at different levels, especially masters degrees, normally in the discipline area. It may include other topics, eg from masters programs, which are intended to provide additional professional skills, or knowledge. Up to 36 units of credit transfer may thus be available for those parts of the doctoral program which overlap with masters programs. Where the doctoral program allows for entry by students who have no background of research, topics must be included which will ensure the development of research skills up to the level required for commencement of the research component/s 5.4 The program will include a research component (or components) totalling no less than 36 units. This component requires candidates to make an original and substantial contribution to the discipline and provides the opportunity to apply the student's research skills in the discipline concerned. The research component/s will consist of one of the following options: * a series of research projects totalling no less than 36 units,
OR * a thesis of up to 54 units. Theses of less than 36 units will need to be supplemented with additional separate research projects to ensure the minimum 36 unit research component is satisfied. Theses of more than 36 units but less than 54 units may also be accompanied by one or more topics consisting of smaller research projects. Only in exceptional cases will a thesis of more than 54 units be approved. No less than 36 units (but in some cases up to 54 units) of the research component must be externally examined or validated and should be at PhD level qualitatively. The assessment of some or all of the research component/s may include a requirement that the work be subjected to formal peer-review through its publication. 5.5 In addition to the research component/s, there may also be practice-based doctoral level coursework topics, with the objective of these also resulting in peer-reviewed publications.
5.6 The range of coursework topics which would be made available in a professional doctorate might include (but is not limited to) the following: * doctoral topics unique to the course, designed to extend practitioner skills. These may include: * topics in critical theory and/or policy in the discipline; * topics in applied fields relevant to the professional area of the student; * doctoral topics involving practice-related studies; * topics at masters level designed to: * enhance practitioner skills; * introduce students to research in the field and develop research skills.
- The structure of the program should be based on the following schema:
Introductory topics
(for which credit may be granted)Doctoral topics
(core requirement)Research component/s
(core requirement)May include masters level topics. Topics could be in theory, research or practice in the discipline. Theory/skill/know-ledge topics, taken at an advanced level (ie beyond masters level), eg critical theory, management theory, advanced practitioner skills.
Practice-based topics. (eg research with external assessment/publicat-ion; or field placement in an appropriate leadership/practit-ioner environment;
or original production.)Original and substantial contribution to the discipline, externally assessed.
A thesis of up to 54 units may be included.
The Professional Doctorates Entry Committee
Terms of Reference
* Assess applicants for entry to all professional doctorates at Flinders University; * Assist with the development of new professional doctorate proposals; * Advise Academic Senate on matters relating to professional doctorates, including new course proposals.
Membership
Core Members
* Vice-Chancellor (or nominee); * Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) (or nominee); * One representative from each faculty from an Academic Organisational Unit which offers a prefessional doctorate nominated by the Executive Dean.
Additional Members
* Two AOU nominees, including the Course coordinator for the Professional Doctorate concerned.
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