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consequence of increasing numbers and their broader catchment. For example, the relevant nonacademic
work experience of mature students will often exceed that of their supervisors; and the level
of preparation for learning, the motivation and the level and quality of background knowledge among
students can vary considerably, even within a single cohort. This diversity can have major benefits
because the students themselves contribute in important ways to the quality and effectiveness of the
higher education learning environment.
A more diverse student body bringing in a broader range of knowledge and experience has the
potential to lead to more productive interactions between students and a higher quality learning
experience. Nevertheless, having a more diverse student cohort can make the process of providing
higher education more complex and more difficult, which means that continuing to provide education
services in the same ways as in the past may no longer be viable or effective. Moreover, it may be
difficult to capture the benefits of a diverse student cohort when significant numbers of students are
part time and unable to participate fully in the informal as well as in the formal activities centred on the
university campus.
Another source of tension can be the changing values of students across generations. Values can
affect factors such as attitudes to work-life balance (not just as a student but post-education); the
preparedness to consider and use different forms of technology for learning; the receptiveness to
different forms of pedagogy; the wished-for balance between teaching and learning; attitudes to
working in groups rather than as an isolated individual; the sought-for balance between in-depth
and broader approaches to the acquisition of knowledge and skills; institutional loyalty, including the
propensity to move from one job or task to another; and even career aspirations. These changing
values and preferences, especially when combined with the more sophisticated demands of employers
and new kinds of job, as well as the opportunities created by new technologies and by research into
cognitive development, mean that it is important that universities and other education providers do
not apply the assumptions of a twentieth century workforce or pedagogy when creating the workforce
of the mid twenty-first century.
Reconciling specialisation and generalisation
Pressures and opportunities for change occur at all levels of the education system. However, the
demands placed on the system become increasingly complex with higher levels of education. One
reason for this is that the competing and sometimes conflicting demands of specialisation and of the
development of high level generalist skills become especially difficult to address as the intensity of
education increases.
Working for a PhD entails doing research that makes a significant new
contribution to knowledge. Almost inevitably, this will result in a narrow
focus. One reason for this is the large numbers of researchers addressing any
broad topic, such that a high degree of specialisation may become necessary
to ensure the work does not duplicate research conducted elsewhere;
another is that an ability to provide new knowledge significant at a broader,
strategic level will usually require a breadth of experience that a typical
research student is unlikely to possess.
Does a PhD
research project
always require
specialisation?
Specialisation is not necessarily bad: society needs and will always need subject experts with great indepth
knowledge and an ability to examine in detail highly specialised areas based on extensive but
focussed experience; on the other there is also a need for broad, strategic and creative understanding
flowing from the application of high-level analytical and conceptual skills that build on broad, crossdisciplinary
knowledge.
THE CHANGING PHD PAGE 19