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Quality and Equality in British Ph.D. Assessment
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 08:15 authored by Louise Morley, Diana Leonard, Miriam DavidThis paper asks whether doctoral assessment has escaped the regulation of quality assurance procedures. Raising questions about the affective and micropolitical dimensions of an oral examination conducted in private, it explores how current concerns about quality assurance, standards, benchmarks and performance indicators in higher education apply to the assessment of doctoral/research degrees in Britain, and in particular to the viva voce examination. Successful PhD completion is a key performance indicator for universities and an important basis for the accreditation of their staff. Despite the rise of new managerialism, a general preoccupation with calculable standards and outcomes and an emphasis on student entitlements, transparency of decision making and information for ¿consumers¿, there still seems to be considerable variation, and some mystification, in how doctoral assessment is conducted and experienced. The massification of doctoral studies and the doubling in number of institutions awarding their own doctorates, post-1992, are both likely to increase product variety still further.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Quality Assurance in EducationISSN
0968-4883External DOI
Issue
2Volume
11Page range
64-72Pages
8.0Department affiliated with
- Education Publications
Notes
This article won the 2004 Literati Award for ExcellenceFull text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes