United Kingdom
All doctorates (except for those awarded honoris causa) granted by British universities are research doctorates in the sense described above, in that their main (and in many cases only) component is the submission of a thesis or portfolio of original research, examined by an expert panel appointed by the university. The Quality Assurance Agency (for England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not Scotland) states:
Doctorates are awarded to students who have demonstrated:
- the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, through original research or other advanced scholarship, of a quality to satisfy peer review, extend the forefront of the discipline, and merit publication;
- a systematic acquisition and understanding of a substantial body of knowledge which is at the forefront of an academic discipline or area of professional practice;
- the general ability to conceptualise, design and implement a project for the generation of new knowledge, applications or understanding at the forefront of the discipline, and to adjust the project design in the light of unforeseen problems;
- a detailed understanding of applicable techniques for research and advanced academic enquiry.
— Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Annex 1
Even the relatively new 'vocational doctorates' such as the EngD, EdD, DSocSci, DCrimJ and DClinPsych require the submission of a body of original research of a similar length to a PhD thesis. In the case of the EngD, however, this might be in the form of a portfolio of technical reports on different research projects undertaken by the candidate as opposed to a single, long monographical thesis. Another important difference is that traditional PhD programs are mostly academic-oriented, whereas, in an EngD program, the candidate typically works full-time for an industrial sponsor on application-oriented topics of direct interest to the partner company and is jointly supervised by university faculty members and company employees.
The PhD itself is a comparatively recent introduction to the UK, dating from 1917. It was originally introduced in order to provide a similar level of graduate research training as was available in several other countries, notably Germany and the USA. Previously, the only doctorates available were the higher doctorates, awarded in recognition of an illustrious research career.
The universities of Oxford and Buckingham denote the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with the postnominal initials DPhil. The University of York and Sussex also did this for some years, switching to the more conventional PhD quite recently.
In UK the Doctorate is a qualification awarded at NVQ level 5 or QCF level 8 in the national qualifications framework. http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/qualification-and-assessment-framework/89-articles/250-explaining-the-national-qualifications-framework
Read more about this topic: Doctorate, Practice By Country
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