The changing landscape of doctoral education in the UK

As elsewhere across the globe, for the past two decades doctoral education in the UK has been in the throes of change. This article seeks to describe and analyse developments in 1) the national framework for doctoral education, 2) institutional structures, 3) doctoral programmes, 4) doctoral candidacy, 5) doctoral supervision and 6) doctoral examination. Multiple sources of evidence, including official documentation and the results of investigations of the public-facing websites of the 150 institutions providing doctoral programmes, are used. The conclusion shows that these changes have been far-reaching, particularly for supervisors, and a call is made for greater recognition of their contributions to doctoral education.