In June 2005, the Board of Trustees of The Higher Learning Commission, in keeping with the Commission’s bylaws and past practice, voted to establish a Task Force on the Professional Doctorate. 

The Task Force was asked to study the current trends and growth in creation of professional doctorates, become familiar with the common and most effective responses of graduate schools and colleges and universities to these degrees, and to create a report for broad distribution with recommendations to the Commission’s Board on how the Commission should best respond to this new trend.

Drafts of the Task Force were posted on the Commission’s Web site for several months, and the Task Force process took into account comments received from those who read the report as well as those who participated in a 2006 Annual Meeting session devoted to the project.

Report of the Task Force on the Professional Doctorate (173K PDF) – accepted by the Board of Trustees, The Higher Learning Commission, June 6, 2006

The listing of Task Force members does not mean that each member agrees with each recommendation.

Comments on the report should be sent via email to scrow@hlcommission.org