Guidance notes for applying for the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD)
We hope that these notes act as a useful guide to applying for the Doctorate in Education (EdD) programme.
Initial contact
For an initial discussion about the EdD programme please email the Doctoral College. Administrative staff will be happy to respond to your enquiry and will redirect you to academic staff where appropriate.
How the application process works
When you're ready to apply you should complete the application form for postgraduate study, which you can find on our applicants and enquirers page.
Here is a summary of the process:
- Initial contact - email doctoralcollege@plymouth.ac.uk.
- Application - download the application form for postgraduate study from the website and, once complete, send it to the Doctoral College.
- Selection - your application will be sent to staff at the Plymouth Institute of Education who will consider documentary evidence and then invite you to interview, if appropriate.
- Notification - once a decision has been made, the Doctoral College will write to you to offer you a place, or to decline your application.
- Programme preparation and start - once accepted, the Plymouth Institute of Education will be your first port of call for day-to-day information about the programme.
Completing the application form
Read the information about meeting entry requirements listed above on this page and check that you meet them. If you are unsure, or have circumstances that might be considered as an alternative to particular requirements then contact the Doctoral College and ask to discuss them.
The application form is largely self-explanatory, but requires you to write a personal statement/research proposal. For the EdD you can write as you choose, but please include information about the following:
- Why you are interested in the EdD and its focus on professional practice and, specifically, why you are interested in it over and above a PhD.
- What the focus of your research is likely to be. Note that we do not expect you to know this in detail at this stage, and you will be able to refine/alter the focus later, under guidance. However, candidates will only be accepted on the basis that we are able to supervise their likely topic effectively. Please take time to look at the Institute of Education web pages, which will give you an idea of the areas we support.
- Your current professional situation and what it is about this situation that makes it mutually compatible with the EdD.
- Why, and how, you think you are capable of undertaking work at doctoral level (showing what you understand this to imply) and, in particular, of undertaking a large piece of original research.
- Over and above these specific points, we need to know you are capable of working at the level that the EdD demands, that you are willing to become part of a cohort of mutually supportive professionals and that you are able to commit yourself sufficiently to what is an exciting, but very demanding and time consuming endeavour, over an extended period of time.