Doctoral degrees are at Level 8 of the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies (FHEQ).
Matters of policy, funding and participation in postgraduate education are determined by the Office for Students (OfS) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), who have signed a collaboration agreement confirming how they work together in several key areas, including knowledge exchange, financial sustainability and infrastructure funding. The OfS superseded the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), while UKRI comprises the seven UK research councils, Innovate UK and Research England. Both organisations began operating in April 2018 under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017.
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated to PhD (or DPhil in some universities), is awarded for the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, or application of existing knowledge in a new way, at the forefront of an academic discipline (e.g. in arts, social sciences, business, humanities or science subjects). This is usually through original research.
All doctoral degrees are expected to meet the generic statement of outcomes set out in the qualification descriptor for doctoral degrees in the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies (FHEQ). This sets out broad expected outcomes for a doctoral degree in terms of what graduates should be able to demonstrate, and the wider abilities that they would be expected to have developed.
Doctoral programmes generally take three to four years full-time, or five to seven years part-time, to complete. They are not typically credit-rated.
The majority of doctoral degrees are taken at universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs). However, there are some opportunities for studying in government laboratories, hospital laboratories and research institutions – in partnership with a university.
The ‘New Route PhD’ or integrated PhD involves studying a one-year research master’s degree followed by a three-year PhD. It combines research with a structured programme of training in research methods and transferable professional skills.
The professional doctorate includes a significant taught component and a smaller research project. It is often taken on a part-time basis and can last anywhere between two and eight years. This type of doctorate is primarily aimed at professionals in vocational sectors such as healthcare, teaching and education, and engineering and manufacturing, whose research is expected to contribute to theory as well as professional practice.
Academics with a substantial body of experience but no PhD may apply for a ‘PhD by publication’. This involves submitting previously published work (e.g. books, book chapters, and journal articles, that together form a coherent body of work and show evidence of an original contribution to a particular field of study), together with a supporting statement.
PhDs by distance learning are offered by an increasing number of HEIs and may be taken full- or part-time.
The graduate careers website Prospects provides further information on these routes.
Higher education institutions (HEIs) set their own admission requirements. Guidelines on the selection, admission and induction of students are available from the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) UK Quality Code for Higher Education in the advice and guidance document on research degrees.
For doctoral research, applicants would normally be expected to have at least one of:
Information for candidates considering applying for a third cycle programme is available from the Vitae website. Vitae is a national organisation that supports the professional development of researchers.
Doctoral candidates may have the status of students, or may hold an employment contract with their higher education institution (HEI). Traditional, supervision-based (student) doctorates are the more widespread.
Supervision arrangements are determined by individual higher education institutions (HEIs). Guidelines are provided by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) in the advice and guidance document on research degrees, which forms part of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education.
Research students are encouraged to take ownership and responsibility for their own learning during and after their programme of study, and to recognise the value of developing transferable skills. The advice and guidance document on research degrees, which is part of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) UK Quality Code for Higher Education, provides guidance on the support that should be offered to research postgraduate students to develop employability skills.
In its productivity plan, Fixing the Foundations: Creating a More Prosperous Nation (2015), the Government stated its intention to support universities in collaborating with industry and commercialising research. For further information, see the parallel subheading in the article ‘Bachelor’.
Assessment procedures for research qualifications are different from those for taught awards and usually include some kind of oral examination. Doctoral candidates are examined on the basis of an appropriate body of work and an oral examination (viva voce), in which they defend their thesis to a panel of academics who are experts in the field.
External examining provides one of the principal means for maintaining nationally comparable standards within autonomous higher education institutions (HEIs). The assessment procedures include the appointment of one or more external examiners for each subject. Their role is to give an additional opinion on the performance of candidates for degrees. This aims to ensure comparability of standards between universities, and that the examination system and the award of degree classifications are fairly operated. External examiners are usually senior members of the teaching staff of a similar department in another university.
The advice and guidance document on research degrees provided by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) as part of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education provides guidance on assessment and external examining.
Subject to the status of their degree awarding powers (DAP), HEIs are responsible for their own awards and qualifications, the conditions on which they are awarded, and qualification titles. Guidance is provided by the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies (FHEQ), alongside qualification descriptors which set out the generic outcomes and attributes expected for the award of doctoral degrees (page 30).
Qualification titles for doctoral degrees include:
Honorary doctorates are not academic qualifications.
Open and distance learning is also available. The Open University, for example, which specialises in ‘supported open learning’, offers doctoral programmes. PhD qualifications taken through the Open University involve a four-year period of full-time study, or a maximum of six years part-time.
Higher doctorates may be awarded in recognition of a substantial body of original research undertaken over the course of many years. Typically, a portfolio of work that has been previously published in a peer-refereed context is submitted for assessment. Most higher education awarding bodies restrict candidacy to graduates or academic staff of several years’ standing.
Article last reviewed September 2019.