Doctoral Education in Australia

Between Global Trends and National Traditions

Doctoral education is under scrutiny worldwide. Global discourses increasingly shape the way doctoral education is conceptualised and organised within particular national systems. This article uses the case of Australia to show how both global trends and national traditions determine the development of doctoral education systems. Australia’s remote location, colonial history and drive to connect to the world have shaped unique structures of this system. It is characterised by a specific PhD student population, the traditional Honours pathway, an entirely external examination process and a policy-driven managerial approach that aims to align emergent historical structures with globalised models of the PhD. The article draws on key reports and quantitative data to describe the history, contemporary structures and challenges of the Australian doctoral education system.