Re‐imagining doctoral education: Professional Doctorates and beyond

Portents of the demise of the Professional Doctorate have emerged in some recent policy and institutional circles in Australia, raising questions about the meaning and relevance of the Professional Doctorate in an era of ‘league tables’ and research assessment in Australia. This article argues that such portents, based largely on narrow market‐driven arguments, are premature, reactive and unhelpful, in that they foreclose on a set of critical questions concerning the future purpose, scope and practice of doctoral education. The article argues that the simple re‐assertion of the PhD as the default award represents a restoration of the logics and imperatives of disciplinarity and of older notions of so‐called ‘real’ research. Further, questions of the changing economies of knowledge and practice within, between and beyond the reach of the university, are subordinated and disavowed. The article presents a re‐reading of the emergence of Professional Doctorates, from the perspective of a decade‐and‐a‐half of development and change. It suggests the need to revisit that history critically in the light of the current developments in doctoral education, in knowledge production and in developing different relations around knowledge between universities and different social and professional domains. Such revisitings can bring out emerging issues for doctoral education at a time when anxieties may inhibit taking up opportunities for innovation and linking with new kinds of knowledge production that go beyond Euro‐centric and university‐centric traditions.     

Barabas and Shylock against a background of Jewish history in England

This article examines the history of the Jews in England up to and including Elizabethan times in order to add to our understanding of Shakespeare's Shylock. The examination also compares Marlowe's Barabas with the Bard's characterization in order that a fuller dimensionality of the Elizabethan concept might be made manifest. Such an examination should be helpful to those who seek additional information on the proper interpretation of these characters.     

School district merger,busing, and the courts: Implications for school administrators

Many city school systems are faced with a situation of declining tax base, declining enrollments, and disproportionate minority ratios. Merger of city with surrounding school systems is one alternative to improve this situation. When city and surrounding systems contain disproportionate minority ratios the question may arise whether busing to achieve racial balance will likely be required by the courts. Review of desegregation litigation indicates that in the absence of intention to discriminate, the courts are not likely to require busing as a desegregation strategy. Further, school systems having achieved unitary status under court-approved desegregation plans may be allowed to adopt neighborhood school policies despite indications such policies would lead to partial resegregation.