The evolution of learning - the next step...

Here at the Centre for Labour Market Studies of Leicester University we have opened the way for HRD professionals to take their intellectual development one step further.

Over the past 13 years we have built a highly successful portfolio of distance learning programmes, which enables training, human resource management, and human resource development practitioners to progress from Certificate through to Diploma, and then to the Master's level of qualification.

However, until recently, one level beyond this remained. A number of graduates from the M.Sc. programme, and advanced professionals, expressed the need to push their development further: to pursue the highest level of academic study and specialise in their chosen fields.

In response to this growing demand, we have introduced the Doctorate in Social Sciences.

With this new, exciting doctorate course, participants are presented with a challenging and intellectually-engaging taught programme, which is informed by the latest research and conceptual debates within the subject.

The centre's aim is to guide graduate learners toward the pinnacle of their scholarly development: to prepare them for the rigours of doctoral research, and further broaden their analytical skills.

Through its doctorate programme, the CLMS is creating a dynamic community of professional research students who are able to develop their knowledge and ideas by exchange with academics from the centre, and through interaction with their peers, facilitated by a hub of professional networking and knowledge resources.

In short, the Doctorate in Social Sciences aims to:

¤ ensure that knowledge gained can be used to inform practice, and that practitioners are empowered to engage critically with the most current developments in their fields;

¤ equip members of the profession to work with the tools and techniques necessary to conduct and evaluate research pertinent to their professional interests;

¤ support the 'remote learner', who is in employment by imparting a thorough grounding of social scientific knowledge, underpinning the training and human resource development profession; and

¤ develop course participants' capacity to specialise in a specific area of human resource development: allowing course members to pursue in depth the issues that matter most.

The overall aim of the Doctorate in Social Sciences is, ultimately, to produce a group of leading-edge practitioners who have mastered the full range of theoretical and practical knowledge necessary to conduct their professional activities at the highest levels.

If you wish to receive more information on our programmes, kindly contact our agents in Malta, the Foundation for Human Resources Development.

Dr Goodwin is the chairman of the CLMS Doctorate Programme Team.