Those of us who worked with former Higher Education Minister Robert Halfon will be all too familiar with his “two favourite words in the English language”, “Degree” and “Apprenticeships”. I would like to advocate for two more: “Professional” and “Doctorates,” for many of the same reasons that Robert Halfon was such a cheer leader for Degree Apprenticeships.
Over the coming decades, high level educational attainment, together with advanced technical and professional skills, will be a defining factor in our future economic prosperity at national, local and individual levels. In this context, professional doctorates are – I believe – the way forward for knowledge exchange, advanced skills enhancement and ultimately workforce retention.
We are being bombarded on a near daily basis with future predictions on skills needs for the future. For example:
- A report from UUK in 2023 suggests that 88% of new jobs in 2035 will require a degree equating to a 11 million extra more graduates needed.
- The National Foundation of Educational Research suggests that up to 7 million workers may lack essential employment skills to do their jobs by 2035.
ONS’s latest population predictions determine that over the course of the next 10 years, birth rates in the UK will decline to a level just below the number of deaths. Between mid-2022 and mid-2032, they estimate, 6.79million people will be born, and 6.81million people will die.
All of that means that without high rates of immigration to the country, which the ONS suggests will be necessary, the UK will see a shrinking workforce.
This issue is compounded by the fact that in many professional sectors, including our public services, a combination of long service and generous pensions means many are currently able to retire in their mid-50s, or certainly take a different path to their initial chosen career. No one wants to deny deserving professionals their time to do something for themselves, but the departure of these professionals presents a brain drain of vastly experienced and knowledgeable workers who still have much value to add, not least as mentors to future generations. There is significant untapped potential here for the UK’s workforce.
Many of these individuals won’t necessarily have followed a career path as we would recognise today and may not have pursued the qualifications route, such as getting a degree or a post graduate qualification. All the more reason to take stock and consider how we recognise, reward and bottle a lifetime of knowledge and experience that goes well beyond the parameters of a degree.
Professional doctorates enable participants to continue working in their chosen industry whilst pursuing an active interest in work-based research of a level equal to that of a PhD (level 8). They are essentially work-based PhDs, and l see them as a “win:win:win” solution to the workforce retention crisis – for employers, employees and the economy. They reward the individual with recognition of their years of experience in their profession through one of academia’s highest awards – a PhD; the business in return can retain this valuable individual for more years and capture their knowledge and expertise through the PhD research for the business.
All Alliance universities offer professional doctorates, which won’t be a surprise given our close partnerships with industry. The issue though is that professional doctorates, despite having been around a fair number of years, are seen as relatively novel; they are not well understood and there is a shameful level of snobbery about them that pervades the sector.
Increasingly in our discussions with government and the research councils, professional doctorates are getting mentioned as a valuable vehicle to support the UK’s skills and innovation drive. Those of us at UA that have long championed the Professional Doctorate are keen to ensure that Prof Docs get their moment – finally. To this end, UA is working in partnership with the UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE) who have developed a survey to really understand what is happening across the sector. If, like us, you think Prof Docs are two of the best words in the higher education lexicon please complete the survey and share as far and wide as possible.
Note: the UKCGE survey will close on 31 March
