The research-led, academically selective university is an invention of particular times and places. It is far from a universal model of higher education but has become the dominant model across the globe. It is what is meant by the terms 'good university', 'leading university' or 'top university' in much public and media discourse. The research-led, academically selective university is the gold standard, yet this model is very out of step with 21st century conditions: with concerns about employability, higher level skills-particularly as technology continues to advance - and the democratisation of knowledge and learning: sharing what we know and not building walls around it, already driven by the internet. The future of successful developed economies is no longer as knowledge economies. All developed economies are knowledge economies because knowledge is everywhere. Instead, their future is as creative economies, economies where what matters is being able to use knowledge to create desired futures and solve problems. However, creativity needs a continual dialogue between ideas and action, and this does not sit easily with the separation of research and practice established by a tradition of academics who practise only research and teaching. This article argues that far from being the poor cousin of the PhD, the professional doctorate epitomises a model of higher education that is for the 21st century, based on professional formation and design thinking.