Professional doctorates can be transformative – but no one seems to know what they are

Professional doctorates could be instrumental in linking research and innovation with high-level industry-aligned skills. But their future is uncertain.

A professional doctorate, if you’ve not come across the term before, is a doctoral-level qualification which has been designed specifically for those working in professional roles. It is equivalent to a PhD, but rather than being geared towards an academic career, it is rooted in professional practice. It guides research towards real-world application and allows professionals to investigate challenges that are happening directly within their own sector.

According to a new report from the UK Council for Graduate Education and University Alliance, while 71 per cent of UK higher education institutions offer professional doctorates, take-up is plateauing and organisational strategy is inconsistent. While the reasons for this are complex, there are three broad themes: lack of awareness, an inconsistent funding system and perceived lack of parity with PhDs among academic and industry audiences.

Professional value

Professional doctorates are valuable for many reasons – first and foremost, they widen the world of doctoral research. PhDs can seem like niche qualifications meant only for those from highly academic backgrounds. Professional doctorates offer an alternative path, and open doctoral-level research to those who have chosen a professional career.

Students can continue their professional roles while undertaking research, making PhD-level qualifications accessible to groups who may not have been financially able to undertake long-term research otherwise. According to our new report, approximately one-third of institutions reported improved representation of underrepresented groups within doctoral study thanks to professional doctorates.

Professional doctorates arguably provide more value to the economy than a traditional PhD. They sit at the intersection of academia, industry and professional practice – rather than gearing researchers towards a purely academic pathway. Creating research with real-world application in industry which could genuinely improve practice, productivity and innovation on the ground in areas like advanced manufacturing, nursing and even law translates to immediate impact.

For example, professional doctorates in nursing and midwifery at Oxford Brookes University are teaching clinical staff how to lead and contribute to long-term national healthcare strategies. From an employer perspective, this can make holders of professional doctorates appear particularly credible in professional settings compared with their PhD counterparts.

If rolled out more strategically in areas like advanced manufacturing, for example, this could bolster more than just research and innovation – it could inject high-level skills directly into an industry without losing any employees in the process. They’re the answer to sustainably producing highly skilled employees who are already deeply embedded in the industry.

Root of the challenge

Why, then, are these programmes facing such challenges? Ultimately, the plateau in uptake and strategic inconsistency from providers and industry can boil down to two reasons: funding challenges and a knowledge gap.

According to our report, the majority of students taking professional doctorates are self-funded, with only a small percentage receiving employer or external support. This is largely a result of research councils and funders prioritising PhDs – many within the sector just don’t know enough about professional doctorates, and want to take the safer bet. This dynamic is deepening the lack of parity between the well-known and well-established PhD and the seemingly mysterious professional doctorate.

To my mind, one of the key advantages of professional doctorates is their role in widening participation in doctoral research. But the fact that most professional doctorate students are currently funding themselves suggests that this mission is only being partially realised.

Addressing the knowledge gap

There is confusion about doctoral routes in general, of course – even around what a PhD offers outside of academia. Employers struggle to interpret or use doctoral-level skills in their workplaces. Anti-higher education sentiment from the media and, in some respects, government is not increasing employers’ motivation to understand.

This is where clear communication and collaboration between universities and the professional industry are key. Employers will only see how invaluable doctoral-level research and skills are to their industries if they have regular engagement with the institutions delivering it.

Within the University Alliance, our universities have prioritised industry and employer engagement to ensure that skills taught at higher education institutions will fit seamlessly into the workplace – and indeed bring innovation to industry. Without these partnerships, both funding and recognition are difficult to attract and achieve.

Alongside this, in order to get employers and government stakeholders onboard, reframing professional doctorates as something recognisable, prestigious even, is key to engaging these groups. Explaining that they are essentially the level 8 equivalent of a degree apprenticeship – a qualification widely valued by government and employers – could be vital for demystification.

Professional doctorates ought to be pitched as a pathway where employers invest in their workforce to solve real business problems. Once employers see a return on this investment, awareness and demand are more likely to grow.

Funding the improvement

Funding is clearly at the centre of the challenges facing professional doctorates. Rather than an inconsistent approach that places disproportionate burden on the students themselves, it would be mutually beneficial if professional doctorates received consistent employer and government investment.

The most streamlined approach would be for employers to be able to redirect existing resources, such as the apprenticeship levy, into professional doctorates. Allowing employers to use this resource to fund staff to advance their organisation could be transformative.

The current state of professional doctorates feels like a missed opportunity. They are so uniquely positioned to translate research into innovative professional practice with individuals who are experts in their industry. Considering the ambitions for industry and skills development within government, it’s clear that professional doctorates provide a seamless mechanism which could help achieve them.

Poor awareness and lack of parity of esteem with more traditional research routes aside, there are several existing systems by which funding and uptake could be boosted. As ever, it all starts with engagement: universities, government and industry must collaborate to make the most of this invaluable resource.