Declining student enrolments could see several UK and Irish universities close their professional doctorate programmes with overall growth in industry-focused qualifications “plateauing” in recent years, a report says.
Designed as an industry-engaged alternative to the PhD, professional doctorates allow candidates to focus on workplace challenges and apply their research in a practical setting. They are currently offered by about three-quarters of UK universities (101 in total) and 41 per cent of Irish higher education institutions (seven in total), having been embraced since the early 2000s.
However, the qualification’s popularity has waned in recent years, suggests a report published by the UK Council for Graduate Education and University Alliance, which represents the UK’s professional and technical universities, published on 9 July.
Drawing on 73 responses from universities in the UK and Ireland, the study found 45 per cent of those offering professional doctorates had seen enrolments increase in the past five years with 28 per cent indicating recruitment had remained flat.
However, some 26 per cent of respondents state enrolments had fallen in recent years, “which may lead to programme closures”, says the report. Some 51 per cent of respondents said levels of enrolments on these courses were not meeting expected levels when the courses were developed, it adds.
