Higher Education

Doctoral Degree Programs

Opportunities for graduate studies

The program in higher education offers doctor of education and doctor of philosophy degrees with majors in higher education. Graduates of the doctoral programs are employed as middle- and senior-level administrators (including presidents, vice presidents and deans) and as faculty members in colleges and universities.

The Ed.D. and Ph.D. in higher education provides you with valuable opportunities:

• acquire knowledge about research, theory and practices applicable to higher education
• conduct and evaluate applied or basic research in higher education
• study past, present and emerging patterns for organizational and professional administrative practices in higher education administration or research
• assess and participate in the practice of higher education administration or research

The Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs differ significantly in length, emphasis, course work, research tools, field tools, minor field and dissertation requirements. Prerequisites may be required.

Doctoral degrees in higher education

Ed.D. degree

The Ed.D. in higher education is designed for students interested primarily in the application of theory and research to higher education. The Ed.D. is particularly appropriate if you aspire to be in on of the following positions:

• a senior leadership position in a college or university
• a middle-management administrative position in student affairs, administrative and business affairs, or development in higher education
• an administrative and staff position in a state or regional higher education coordinating or governing agency
• an administrative leadership position with a higher education accrediting agency, professional associations or consortia.

Ph.D. degree

The Ph.D. in higher education serves students interested primarily in scholarly research, exploration and teaching of higher education as a field of study. The Ph.D. degree is appropriate if you aspire to be in on of the following positions:

• an academic teaching or research position in a graduate program, institute or center for the study of higher education
• a senior leadership position in a comprehensive or doctoral/research university
• an applied research and senior leadership position in an institution of higher learning, medical center, government agency, consortia of higher education institution or higher education professional association
• a research and senior leadership position in a statewide higher education coordinating agency or multi-campus system office.

Admission requirements

You must apply for admission to the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies and submit a graduate school application, transcripts of all work and GRE or GMAT score.

When applying to the higher education program, you are required to submit a program application including an essay on your professional goals, a resume or vita, and three reference letters. After reviewing these materials and the resulting admission score, you may be invited to be interviewed by faculty members.

The admission process requires time to complete these steps. Allow one to two semesters to complete the application and admission process. Contact the program office for specific deadlines, due dates and details.

For admission requirements and procedures, refer to the UNT Graduate Catalog online at www.unt.edu/catalog. You may also contact the program office at (940) 565-2045 or visit the program's website www.coe.unt.edu/che/highered.

Degree requirements

Ed.D. degree

The program requires a minimum of 60 semester hours of course work beyond the master's degree. This includes a series of qualifying examinations (research and statistics, major field, and cognate or minor field) and an applied, analytical or descriptive dissertation of at least 12 semester hours.

Doctoral core requirements (15 hours)

• EDHE 6050 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
• EDHE 6510 History of Higher Education in the U.S.
• EDHE 6520 Research on Students in Higher Education
• EDHE 6700 The Role of Higher Education in a Democracy
• EDHE 6710 General Administration in Higher Education

Base course requirements
(9 hours)

Select from the following:

• EDHE 6570 The Professoriate in Higher Education
• EDHE 6720 Academic Administration in Higher Education
• EDHE 6730 Organization and Administration of Student Development Services
• EDHE 6740 Planning and Analytical Systems in Higher Education
• EDHE 6750 Human Resource Development in Higher Education
• EDHE 6760 Higher Education Finance
• EDHE 6780 Educational Resource Development in Higher Education
• EDHE 6790 Legal Aspects of Higher Education

College of Education core requirements
(6 hours)

• EPSY 5210 Educational Statistics (Prerequisite for EPSY 6010 not counted toward the degree)
• EPSY 6010 Statistics for Educational Research EPSY 6020 Research Methods in Education

Research course requirements (3 hours)

• EDHE 6530 Research on Higher Education (should be taken after completion of EPSY 6010 and 6020)

Internship (0-6 hours)

Minor or cognate area (12 to 15 hours)
Research (9 hours)
Dissertation research requirements (Minimum of 12 hours)

After completing the required course work, you must pass the program's written and oral qualifying exams.

Ph.D. degree

The Ph.D. requires a minimum of 72 semester credit hours beyond the master's degree. This includes a series of qualifying examinations (research and statistics, major field and cognate or minor field) and a theoretically-based publishable dissertation of at least 12 semester hours that can be generalized to the field of higher education.

Doctoral core requirements (15 hours)

• EDHE 6050 Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
• EDHE 6510 History of Higher Education in the U.S.
• EDHE 6520 Research on Students in Higher Education
• EDHE 6700 Role of Higher Education in a Democracy
• EDHE 6710 General Administration in Higher Education

Base course requirements
(9 hours)

Select from the following:

• EDHE 6500 Essentials of Academic Publishing in Higher Education
• EDHE 6550 Policy Studies in Higher Education
• EDHE 6570 The Professoriate in Higher Education
• EDHE 6720 Academic Administration in Higher Education
• EDHE 6740 Planning and Analytical Systems in Higher Education
• EDHE 6750 Human Resource Development in Higher Education
• EDHE 6760 Higher Education Finance
• EDHE 6780 Educational Resource Development in Higher Education
• EDHE 6790 Legal Aspects of Higher Education

Elective course requirements (6 hours)

You may select two additional EDHE courses from the higher education course inventory, including EDHE 6900 independent study or EDHE 6850 Studies in Higher/Adult Education.

College of Education core requirements (6 hours)

• EPSY 5210 Educational Statistics (Prerequisite for EPSY 6010 not counted toward the degree)
• EPSY 6010 Statistics for Educational Research
• EPSY 6020 Research Methods in Education

In addition to these courses, you must pass comprehensive written examinations that cover the content of these research courses.

Higher education program research
course requirements (3 hours)

• EDHE 6530 Research on Higher Education (should be taken after completion of EPSY 6010 and 6020)

Research tool requirements
(9 hours)

Select from the following:

• EDHE 6850 Studies in Higher/Adult Education: Quantitative Research in Higher Education
• EPSY 5240 Survey Research Methods in Education
• EPSY 5350 Educational Evaluation and Assessment
• EPSY 6005 Statistical Theory and Simulations
• EPSY 6210 Multiple Regression Analysis and Related Methods
• EPSY 6220 Classical and Modern Educational Measurement
• EPSY 6230 Advanced Research Design [prerequisite EPSY 6240]
• EPSY 6240 Technology in Research
• EPSY 6280 Qualitative Research in Education
• EPSY 6285 Qualitative Data Analysis in Education
• EPSY 6290 Multivariate Statistics in Education
• EPSY 6300 Applied Research in Education

Internship (0-6 hours)

• Minor or cognate field requirements (12 to 15 hours)
• College of Education and higher education research requirements (9 hours)
• Dissertation research (12 hours)

Faculty's scholarly activities

The program's quality is enhanced by faculty members' affiliations with the Bill J. Priest Center for Community College Education, the Don A. Buchholz Endowed Chair in Community College Education, the Center for Higher Education and the North Texas Community College Consortium.

Program faculty members serve or have served as editors or editorial board members for the Journal of College Student Development (John L. Baier), the College Student Affairs Journal (Baier), and the College Student Services Journal of Research and Practice (Baier). Collectively, UNT higher education faculty members have written, co-written or edited more than two dozen books, monographs and book chapters and more than 100 articles in refereed journals. They have presented several hundred invited and refereed papers at national, regional, and state professional meetings and conferences.