What Light do Professional Doctorates Throw on the Question of What Counts as Knowledge in the Academy at the Start of the Twenty-first Century?

Authors

Sandra Fisher, Technological University DublinFollow

Document Type

Article

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

5.3 EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

Publication Details

Level3 – August 2006 – Issue 4.

Abstract

In their article, ‘Professional Doctorates in England’, Bourner et al. (2001: 81) pose the question ‘What light do professional doctorates throw on the question of what counts as knowledge in the academy at the start of the twenty-first century?’ This article attempts to address this question. The article provides some background to the development of professional doctorates. It looks at forces, such as the rise of the knowledge society, economic drivers, and the demands of lifelong learning, that are shaping knowledge in the academy in the twenty-first century. I attempt to interpret these forces in the context of the development of professional doctorates. I argue that the development of professional doctorates has unmasked some of the limitations of the ‘traditional’ Ph.D. as a vehicle for the production of knowledge. However, the development of professional doctorates brings new challenges to the academy of the twenty-first century.

Recommended Citation

Fisher, S.: "What Light do Professional Doctorates throw on the Question of what counts as Knowledge in the Academy at the start of the Twenty-first Century?" (Bourner et al. 2001: 81) Level3, Issue 4, August 2006.