What is the New Route PhD

What is the New Route PhD?

The New Route PhD is a national initiative to equip PhD students with the skills they need to pursue successful careers as leaders in universities, companies, government or the public services.

It provides doctoral students with the highest quality of taught materials and practical experience alongside advanced research. This integrated approach offers students a learning environment in which to broaden and deepen subject knowledge and professional skills while providing the opportunity for interdisciplinary study to extend their expertise in new directions.

This innovative and seamless scheme has the full support of the UK government, the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) and the British Council. It meets UK doctoral standards and the principles laid down by the Quality Assurance Agency of the UK, including normal quality assurance mechanisms such as assessment hurdles and the provision of external examiners.

In terms of the research student experience as well as the standing and value of the awards for which New Route PhD™ students study, this programme is a landmark in the provision of education excellence.

The New Route PhD™ is an exciting alternative to -- not a replacement for -- a traditional PhD. Successful New Route PhD™ graduates will have obtained professional and transferable skills that form a major part of the programme. For those pursuing university teaching careers, the Certificate in Learning and Teaching, which is an optional part of the programme, is an invaluable qualification in its own right. Top

New Route PhD students will not be studying in isolation but in a supportive environment.

Through the taught element of the scheme, they will be able to develop a range of professional skills drawn from a menu of advanced taught modules which may include:

Subject specific modules to deepen knowledge.
Interdisciplinary studies to widen subject knowledge.
Teaching skills.
Group work, problem solving, communications.
Advanced/specialist IT.
Languages.
Media related skills.
Business methods and enterprise skills.
Intellectual property rights.
Technology transfer.
Formation of spin-out, high technology companies. Top
Experience of sophisticated equipment and advanced techniques not necessarily.
Encountered in the main research project.

In September 2003, 34 leading universities across the UK began offering over 120 different subjects areas, and more are expected to become available from September 2004.

The New Route PhD scheme is fully equivalent to the highly regarded traditional British PhD and consists of a flexible framework that combines a proportion of taught subject specific and interdisciplinary modules designed to enhance students` knowledge and skills.

Within this over-arching framework, that is adopted by the 34 Participating Universities, there is flexibility for individual programme development to meet the needs of each student. In addition, a panel of supervisors is allocated to each student throughout the programme. Taught elements, individually assessed, enables smooth progression.

The rest of the programme will be based on general and specific research training to enable students to successfully complete their thesis. This integrated approach to studying for a Doctorate is unique and will most certainly give students who successfully complete the programme a competitive edge in a rapidly expanding worldwide market.

Programme Structure Diagram

Completion Time
Students will qualify for the award of PhD normally after four years (at some universities they may be eligible for an intermediate award after the successful completion of the first stage). The four-year framework is compatible with UK research councils` developing national policy on research student training. Top