Guidance on Professional Doctorates

ACADEMIC QUALITYASSURANCE

Appendix 12

GUIDANCE ON PROFESSIONALDOCTORATES

Updated February 2018

Academic Quality and Compliance

Contents

Introduction...... 2

Guidance on Award Titles andAbbreviations...... 2

Approval of New Professional Doctorate awardtitles...... 2

Approval of Professional Doctorateprogrammes...... 2

Principles...... 2

Course Structure Diagram for Professional Doctorateawards

Table 1: Maximum taught component (full-time structure)

Table 2: Minimum taught component (full-timestructure)

Admissions

ProgrammeAdministration

Progression...... 4

Authorised Interruption to Study/extenuatingcircumstances...... 4

Student Feedback……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4

Assessment...... 5

ExternalExaminers...... 5

FinalAward...... 5

AcademicRegulations

Introduction

Professional Doctorate awards are credit- based awards and include both assessed taught components and a substantial research element within the programme and because of the specific nature of the programme they have abespoke integrated set of regulations.

The regulatory framework which has been developed for these awards, takes into account a range of factorsincludingtheQAAQualificationsFrameworkandCodeofPractice,criteriaforprogression,credit framework and comparability ofstandards. Like other doctoral programmes they should include both preparatory research and directed study and assessed work which is designed to support the subsequent period of independent supervised research. Its primary mode of assessment is examination of the thesis.

Professional Doctorates are intended to offer an alternative form of Doctorate study to students who wish to add to knowledge within their professional practice without undertaking a traditional research degree. The ethos of the Professional Doctorate is that it makes a significant and original contribution to applied knowledge in the context of professionalpractice. The award provides students with formal academic recognition of their professional development and standing and highlights the specific contribution made by students to extending knowledge and professional practice.

Schools operating Professional Doctorates must be able to demonstrate that their studentshave close and regular contact with experienced professional practitioners, and that they are closely integrated within the School and wider researchcommunity.

Professional Doctorates are a Doctoral programme firmly rooted in research and which sit within the research portfolio.

Guidance on Award Titles andAbbreviations

All awards will be titled ’Professional Doctorate’ (DProf) unless there is a specific reasonto give the award a specific title.

The only specific award titles currently approved at UCLan are as follows;

Doctorate in Business Administration DBA

Doctorate in Education EdD

Approval of New Professional Doctorate awardtitles

The approval of each new Professional Doctorate award title (e.g. DBA) will require initial approval from Academic Board on advice from Academic Standards and Quality Assurance Committee (see Academic Regulation B4 (Taught Academic Regulations).

Approval of Professional Doctorateprogrammes

Each course is subject to the University’s course approval process (see Section 4 of the Course Developer’s Guide for furtherinformation).

Principles

1.The Professional Doctorate award is based on a single flexible structure and consists of an overall notional credit rating of 540 credits. Within this structure, the programme musthave;

• At least half of the programme will be research (i.e. a minimum of 280 (notional) credits of researchcomponents);
• This should include a major Research project, which will be at level 8. This may vary between a single large project of up to 420 credits and a series of smaller research components, of a minimum of 280 credits which includes a single research project of a minimum of 200credits;
• A minimum of two-thirds of the programme (360 credits) will be modules at level 8 (this can include both taught and researchmodules);
• The minimum of taught credits will be 120 and the maximum number of taught credits will be 220. If included an exit award of Masters should comprise at least 180 credits.

(See tables 1,& 2 for further guidance on the minimum and maximum taught components).

2.A Professional Doctorate may have exit awards of Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters/Professional Masters as appropriate. Exit awards must be detailed within the Programme Specification and where appropriate be named.

3.Following the viva at Stage 2 of the research element of the programme a student may be awarded the alternative award of MPhil as an examination outcome as detailed in the Academic Regulations.

4.The overall programme length for students on these doctorate programmes must meet the maximum registration time of 4 years for full-time students and 7 years for part-timestudents. The expected submission times however are 3 years for full time students and 6 years for part time students. Students entering directly into Stage 2 should have their expected submission and maximum period of registration adjusted accordingly.

5.It should be noted that the research component is actually implicitly creditrated.

6.Theresearchcomponentsoftheawards willberegisteredbytheappropriateSchoolusingthe Research Programme Approvalprocess.

7.A Professional Doctorate has a requirement for Level 8 (doctoral)modules.

8.A full year is notionally equivalent to 180 credits and flexibility is allowed within the regulations astothelengthoftheprogrammeforeachindividualawardwithinatimeframeofthreetofour years,tobejustifiedatthecourseapprovalevent,evidencedwithatimelineindicatingstructure for either 3 or 4 years, and referenced to common practice elsewhere in thesector.

9.Professional Doctorate courses will normally include a substantial element of professional basedcompetencies.Thesemaytaketheformofindividualmodulesormaybeintegratedwith academic study within amodule.

10.All students should have access to a PDP programme embedded where appropriate within their programme of study, should also have access to generic research skills training and should be encouraged to maintain a record of their own PDP.

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Course Structure Diagram for Professional Doctorateawards

11.The course structure is intended to be flexible in the amount of taught and research components in theprogramme.

12.Course teams are able to develop a programme with taught and research components within those minimum andmaximum guidelines.

Table 1: Maximum taught component (full-time structure)

Table 2: Minimum taught component (full-timestructure)

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Admissions

13.The criteria for entry onto a Professional Doctorate programme will be determined by the host School and course team, in consultation with the Research Student Registry (RSR) and approved by the course approval panel on behalf ofASQAC.

14.An entry condition of all Professional Doctorate awards will be that the candidate has had a period of experience working as a professional in their field. The period of experience will be determined by the course team with a justification at courseapproval.

15.Where appropriate, admission will be dependent on an assessment of the student’s proposed field of research to ensure that the University is able to provide appropriate facilities and supervision to support the research. Where the decision on a research topic is to be developed during the taught element of the course, it will be the responsibility of the Course Leader to provide advice prior to submission and approval of the topic by the Research Degrees Tutor and subsequently the Research Degrees Board.

16.Admission for these awards should continue to be processed by the relevant UK/EU overseas teams in Recruitment and Partnership Service in liaison with course teams and the Research Student Registry.

17.Students may be permitted to enter a Professional Doctorate programme with recognition of prior learning for the taught elements of the programme in accordance with the University published procedures in relation to APL/APEL. In deciding how much APL/APEL may be awarded the Course Leader must ensure that an applicant will have sufficient academic and research underpinning to successfully complete Stage 2 and therefore applicants may be directed to undertake specific taught modules in preparation for Stage 2.

ProgrammeAdministration

18.The programme administration is undertaken by the Research Student Registry working closely with Campus Administrative Services in relation to the operation and assessment of taught modules and the owningSchool.

Progression

19.Progression through the taught elements of the programme will be in line with the University taught regulations. All Professional Doctorate students will undertake an annual progression exercise once they have registered the working title of their research project (in line with the Annual Progression Exercise for research degrees), with the results being considered by Research Degrees Board in line with the published guidelines.

Authorised Interruption to Study/extenuatingcircumstances

20.The relevant Board will consider applications for extenuating circumstances in relation to taught modules in line with the University taught regulations. Where the extenuating circumstance impacts on the research components of the programme, and/or the thesis, students will need to make an application for an authorised interruption to study to the relevant Research Degree Tutor through the normalchannels.

Student Feedback

21.Students will have opportunity to participate during the taught aspects of their programme in standard student feedback mechanisms such as SSLCs. They will be included in PRES once registered on the research element of their programme and will also have mechanisms to feedback through supervisor meetings and the annual assessment of progress.

Assessment

22.Assessment of the taught elements of the Professional Doctorate will be undertaken in accordance with the University taught regulations and following the processes and procedures detailed within the University Assessment Handbook.

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23.Where a module is based on assessment of competencies in situ, it is likely that professionals other than University staff will be involved in assessing these competencies. Where module learning outcomes are evaluated externally this is normally done on a pass/fail basis, and that appropriate written work, for instance a reflective self-assessment of competencies gained, is submitted for assessment by Universitystaff.

24.The research competences should be mapped against the joint skills statement for research and provided as documentary evidence at the course approvalevent.

25.The registration of a working title for the level 8 project is approved through the Research Degrees Tutor and via the Research Student Registry.

26.It is intended that there is flexibility in assessing what is appropriate for the research element. This would not necessarily be a sequence of work as is typical for PhD, but might be several typesofresearchinitiativesdesignedtodeveloparangeofresearchcompetencies.Aportfolio ofworkswouldalsobeacceptableasthethesissubmissionforProfessionalDoctorateawards. If the research element has disparate components, the candidate should submitanoverview summary, which where appropriate would include specific consideration of the skills acquired (in addition to write ups of the individual pieces ofresearch).

26. Examinations arrangements for the assessment of research thesis must be submitted to the Research Student Registry for consideration by the Research DegreesBoard.

ExternalExaminers

27. External Examiners for the Level 7 stage, and where relevant any taught Level 8 modules of Professional Doctorate will be appointed in accordance with the University’s procedures for appointing External Examiners for taught provision. Where taught modules are shared with other postgraduate programmes, the External Examiner will be jointly appointed.

28. The role of the external examiner for theresearchcomponent(s)wouldbethesameasforanexternalexaminerforaPhD. However, at the viva the external examiner should be able, where appropriate, to examine the research component and explore aspects of professional competency other than research skills. The examination arrangements for Professional Doctorate projects are approved through the Research Degree Board.

FinalAward

29. Confirmation of the final Professional Doctorate award will be by the Research Degrees Board.

30. In confirming the award the Research Degrees Board will ensure that the candidatehas

• passed both the taught and research elements of theprogramme;
• presented and successfully defended a thesis by oralexamination.

AcademicRegulations

31. Courses will be governed by the AcademicRegulations for Professional Doctorates and the Research Student Assessment Policies and Procedures Handbook.