The Risky Business of Doctoral Management

Universities are under no less pressure to adopt risk management strategies than other public and private organisations. The risk management of doctoral education is a particularly important issue given that a doctorate is the highest academic qualification a university offers and stakes are high in terms of assuring its quality. However, intense risk management can interfere with the intellectual and pedagogical work which are essentially part of doctoral education. This paper seeks to understand how the culture of risk meets the culture of doctoral education and with what effect. The authors draw on sociological understandings of risk in the work of Anthony Giddens (2002 Giddens, A. 2002. Runaway world: How globalisation is reshaping our lives, London: Profile Books.  Google Scholar]) and Ulrich Beck (1992 Beck, U. 1992. Risk society: Towards a new modernity, London: Sage. Crossref] Google Scholar]), the anthropological focus on liminality in the work of Mary Douglas (1990 Douglas, M. 1990. Risk and blame, London: Routledge.  Google Scholar]), and the psychological theorising of human error in the work of James Reason (1990 Reason, J. 1990. Human error, New York: Cambridge University Press. Crossref] Google Scholar]). The paper concludes that risk consciousness brings its own risks—in particular, the potential transformation of a culture based on intellect into a culture based on compliance.