A doctoral study is central to providing crucial competencies and motivation for endeavors. Unfortunately, the current state of the doctoral courses is far from perfect. Several factors have fueled the current crisis including:
- Massification of higher education,
- Diversification of doctoral candidates and of their expectations, as well as a broader range of career prospects beyond academia, and
- Criticizing doctoral training for being too narrow and specialized, failing to qualify graduates for non-academic work, which entails a broad set of transferable skills, not only specific disciplinary knowledge.
It seems that there is a serious need for a system that functions more effectively and efficiently. The typical model of doctoral education is no longer sufficient to prepare postgraduate students for rapidly changing work environments. This degree has recently been the subject of much criticism, focused on its unsuitability for non-academic labor markets, supposedly more useful forms of learning or knowledge production, the length of time it takes to complete, and other issues.
This book, as the most recent research output related to the future of doctoral programs tries to take into account past trends in higher education and its current economic and technological challenges, shed light on the probable pragmatic future of transformative doctoral studies, and create a new concept representing the upcoming destination. It can be called the Philosofessional Doctorate, summarizing the Philosophical-Professional Doctorate, and may be acronymized as PfD replacing the so-called PhD as the last academic degree awarded all over the world to those who investigate philosophical-theoretical aspects of a given specialty/profession and conduct structured and deep research projects as both the sign of academic maturity and the license to enter mainly academia and sometimes industry. The Philosofessional Doctorate (PfD), as an invented term, implies an all-inclusive new design, curriculum, and research endeavor for doctoral studies in which nothing should be left without linking to industry. Under this concept, academia in its entirety will be considered an agent of the industry, as it is to some extent now. The aim is to maximize the current state-of-the-art of academia�¢??s linkage to industry. The future of academic disciplines cannot be imagined without a thorough and perfect connection with industry as the context. There should be one-on-one links, just like the roots and branches of a tree; where no stand-alone and isolated component can be found. Of course, by industry, I mean not only industry but also market, society, and, in general, every public or private institute customizing the products and services of academia and its outputs. In summary, a given PfD holder in any specialty is expected to start and pursue his/her studies with this aim in mind: to serve a given part or a building block of the economic/social system, and this plan on the table: to solve a given problem of practice collaboratively. PfD, as will be discussed in this book, will eventually be a symbol of the most integrated, flexible, and useful academic program.