The commonly accepted goal of doctoral education is to train students to be independent researchers and scientists. The backward design framework was used to model how graduate handbooks should be developed; by setting measurable outcomes and working backward to design programmatic elements that will meet those desired goals. Under the backward…

Purpose: In this collaborative autoethnographic study, four faculty members in a US-based Doctor of Education (EdD) program reflected individually and collectively in the authors' community of practice through reflective journaling, self-reflection and discussion sessions to analyze the individual stories critically. This study aims to examine the…

The COVID-19 outbreak has dramatically changed all spheres of humans and caused the interruption of educational settings around the globe. It necessitated the rapid transition of virtual supervision and online service delivery internationally. The present study constructed a model using equity theory and the D&M (DeLone and McLean) model to…

Whether studying physical sciences, social sciences, engineering, mathematics, humanities, or education, approximately one in every two doctoral students fail to persist to degree completion (Bowen & Rudenstine, 1992; Lovitts, 2001; Tinto, 2012). A quantitative comparative study focused on two populations; students currently enrolled in the…

Doctoral education has grown substantially, resulting in a larger and diverse pool of graduates for research. Simultaneously, gender balance in research has become a growing concern, particularly in Europe. Based on the Portuguese case, this paper discusses whether the increase in the pool of graduate talent, considered to be comprised of doctoral…

The problem addressed in this study was that online graduate students are not always clear about the role that academic support may serve in their online education, which may contribute to them not seeking support, even when it is needed. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory single case study was to explore student and coach perceptions…

A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is defined as the highest achievable degree and represents the completion of a specialized mentored project. Concerningly, graduate programs are structured in ways that can lead to inequities that exclude graduate students based on race, class, gender, ability, and additional intersecting social locations. Drawing from…

This article offers a critique of the manner in which doctoral supervision is conceptualised in a higher education system dominated by the market order. The authors consider the process of research supervision as an experience held in common, as a way of discovering the world together rather than as the fulfilment of discrete roles within a…

There are many studies on the role of technology in facilitating equality, quality, and effectiveness in higher learning in the last decade. This study aims at exploring the sustainability of a postgraduate program in a USA context following the COVID surge. Relational assurance is employed through qualitative methods, and frameworks to make sense…

Institutional Members of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) are increasingly offering graduate programs. A decade ago, in 2013-2014, only 45 percent were classified as Carnegie Masters or Doctoral. In 2023-2024, 55 percent fall in these categories. To better understand how independent colleges build, support, and sustain graduate programs…

Background: Given high attrition rates and lack of interest in faculty careers, it is crucial to understand how doctoral engineering students conceptualize academia and academic careers. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study aims to characterize the development of academic disenchantment among engineering students who have considered departure from their…

Student research is an important pedagogical feature across the higher education lifecycle. Postgraduate taught (PGT) student research has received limited attention in the context of the diverse nature of the PGT cohort. Using Activity Theory, PGT student research is explored from the perspectives of differently motivated Master's students:…

Over the last decade, a plethora of international policies and guidelines on research integrity have been produced, and many countries have developed national codes of conduct. Recently, as a way of implementing these codes, institutions have begun offering mandatory training in research integrity for PhD fellows. This paper is based on a case…

Collaboration is an undeniably important part of academic work, making challenging, ambitious research possible and more efficient. Collaboration also serves as a foundation for scholarly networks of individuals with shared interests, values, and goals that support one another in many ways. In addition, collaboration is described as a critical…

This qualitative study examines cognitive presence in a graduate-level online pedagogy course that introduced students to the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. Students wrote weekly reflections that described their own learning and speculated on how they could apply what they learned to create positive online learning environments for future…