Universities examine possibilities
Professional doctorate: new type of PhD
Universities are examining the possibilities for creating a new type of PhD: the professional doctorate. This new type of PhD would be focused on professional practice and would take about two years. Institutes of higher vocational education (HBO) are watching the developments with great vigilance.
The professional doctorate, introduced twenty years ago in Australia and in Great Britain in 1992, is characterized by more education, more professional practice and, in particular, applied research. Per request of Secretary of Education Rutte, the Association of Dutch Universities (VSNU) has formed a task force to examine whether the country will benefit from introducing the professional doctorate.
`The task force will examine whether we need a new type of PhD or if the current system provides enough flexibility for variation,' explained a VSNU spokesman. `The professional doctorate must be more than a way to `upgrade' students of HBO institutes. The focus must remain on research.'
HBO institutes are watching the developments closely. After all, research for and by professional practice is exactly why they created their `circles of knowledge' and appointed lecturers. Consequently, they see a role for themselves in creating the professional doctorates. For example, lecturers could serve as co-supervisors.
Furthermore, Norbert Verbraak, acting chairman of the HBO council and chairman of Fontys Hogescholen, predicts,'The plan will fail if they do not involve us in it. The idea comes from us. Practice-oriented students who want to broaden their education currently have no option but to go into science. That is a shame. That is why we support government-funded professional master's degrees and professional doctorates as follow-up programs for HBO students.'
Sijbelt Noorda, rector of the merged University and Hogeschool of Amsterdam, also sees possibilities for a professional doctorate. `It can increase diversity in PhD programs. For example, in arts programs we are experimenting with earning a PhD on a work of art or a composition in combination with a reflective text. These things are common practice in England. In design programs, you can also graduate on a design. In the end, a PhD program is always about research. You can choose between applied and fundamental research, but it's still research.'
Meanwhile, institutes of higher vocational education are working on increasing the percentage of teachers with a PhD to twenty or twenty-five percent. HBO institutes are currently far behind in that field compared to other countries, where it is much more common for instructors to have a PhD. The institutes admit that it is not possible to create a healthy climate for applied research until more trained researchers work in higher vocational education. Until that time, their role in PhD programs will be limited - that is, if the universities even deign involve them.
The professional doctorate will not be embedded in the law. Secretary Rutte contends that the law is flexible enough to adapt to new developments.
Trans. Jeroen Latour
HOP, Bas Belleman |
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