Program Requirements

The Ph.D. program in Higher Education is comprised of courses totaling a minimum of 60 academic credit hours beyond the masters degree. The curriculum includes four parts including a content concentration totaling 33 credit hours (including the higher education core - 21 credits, a cognate - 9 credits, and the capstone course - 3 credits), a research component including 12 credit hours, the dissertation seminar and the dissertation, which will include a minimum of 12 credit hours. The dissertation will often include more than 12 credit hours depending on the length of time necessary for completion.

Students entering the program may also need to complete one introductory statistics course if they have not had such a course or cannot demonstrate competency at a satisfactory level. If students have not yet served in an administrative or other leadership position in a college or university for a minimum of three years, they will also need to complete a six credit hour internship (HIED 868). Students who come into the Ph.D. program with a master's degree in an academic field that is unrelated to higher education administration and/or who have not completed courses to develop competency in specified areas may need to complete these courses in lieu of electives.

Under normal circumstances, admissions will be offered once a year in order to build efficient cohort groups for this type of advanced study. In order to enhance the experience of the students and to increase the efficiency by which courses are offered, a cohort of 10-15 students will be admitted each year. This limited number of students is necessary to assure that there is an adequate number of full-time faculty to serve the students through advising and other duties, particularly when the cohorts reach the dissertation stage of the program.

To build a cohesive cohort group, a series of intensive courses will be offered on the Old Dominion University campus each summer. It will be expected that all newly admitted students will come to campus for one of these seminars during the summer after which they are admitted to the program and complete two courses together as a group. These courses will be selected from within the "content concentration" or "research" requirements. A third course will be available for regular study during the summer so that students may comply with one of the residency requirements. Residency at a second intensive seminar the following summer is recommended but not required.

A minimum of two semesters of full-time study is required of students in the program to meet University residency requirements. One of the semesters of full-time study (defined as completion of nine credit hours) must be accomplished by the completion of the intensive seminar noted above. The second semester of residency can be accomplished in several ways. Students may complete nine credit hours during any semester or may attend a second summer residency. Courses taken via TELETECHNET or other distance education methodologies are considered "resident" courses, so that taking three TELETECHNET courses during a semester may complete the second residency requirement.

Applicants must submit completed applications and all related material no later than February 1 of each year, and students will be admitted for study beginning in June or July of the same year.

Program Completion and Exit

In order to complete the program students must fully comply with the curriculum below, all requirements noted elsewhere in the University catalog for graduate students, and within the PhD in Education Handbook. It is the responsibility of the student to obtain these materials and complete required portions.