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The Quality Assurance Agency’s (QAA) qualifications framework has resulted in hives of benchmarking activity in 42 subject areas focussed on defining acceptable standards of performance exclusively for first degree awards. There appears to be little similar activity nationally around postgraduate awards. It has been suggested by QAA that, for the time being, awards at postgraduate levels should be benchmarked directly by reference to the outcomes contained within the qualifications framework for awards at levels M and D. This leaves something of a significant black hole in efforts to assure equity of standards across the postgraduate sector. Begins to address this situation by identifying the sort of thinking that has emerged from undergraduate benchmarking groups and applying it in the context of attempting to benchmark the standards of the PhD. Identifies and discusses issues emerging from this process and from associated national workshop activity. Concludes by indicating the questions to which clear answers should be sought if the PhD, as well as other postgraduate awards, are to be rigorously benchmarked.

Sets out to discover what makes a great vintage and whether the quality of a wine can be predicted. The ‘en primeur’ market from the 1960's to the early 1990's is reviewed and what the market regards as a quality wine is tested for correlation with longevity. Weather patterns associated with excellent vintages are examined with the conclusion that they occur at random. Vintages of up to ninety years are analysed to establish probability factors and from these factors a pricing method is proposed. Concludes that it should be possible to gain competitive advantage through the use of probability analysis, although this concept should be judged in the long term.

Reports on discussions that took place at a series of specialist seminars and workshops on research degree examining organised by the UK Council for Graduate Education during 2000/2001 at various venues in the UK. Debates the processes and procedures of research degree examination in the UK in terms of variations in practice that exist along with principles that signal a common identity. Takes account of the effects of developments in, for example, professional doctorates and the PhD by published work and on perceptions of the “traditional” examination. Issues addressed include: the composition of PhD examining panels and the roles of individual examiners; the training and qualification of examiners; the purpose and nature of the oral examination; the tension between examination of the process of training and that of the “finished product” (which the thesis may be seen to represent). Argues for the need for more transparency about examination processes, for challenge to common assumptions and for a refocusing on research degree examination as a process of assessment.

Art and design has recently seen considerable growth in PhD studies and in the UK the sector has been at the forefront in developing practice‐based doctorates. There is an ongoing debate about the nature and quality of these PhDs. There are residual confusions about practice and research, and wide variations in requirements across universities. In the UK, design has a long tradition of vocational education arising from well respected art schools, which for the most part have been absorbed into the modern universities. Generally, the award of first degrees across mainstream design dates back only three decades, the award of PhDs less than one decade. There is still a shortage of experienced supervisors and examiners who themselves hold the PhD and have deep knowledge of the process. A model specification defines clearly what is expected for the award of PhD in Art and Design.

This article considers current developments in aspects of continuous professional development (CPD) in the UK, focussing particularly on areas which relate to the development and delivery of an appropriate curriculum. It questions the appropriateness of the traditional concept of continuous professional development in the context of the newly emerging notion of lifelong learning. Some of the major national initiatives and imperatives for change are identified and a range of the typical emerging responses and reactions of Higher Education Institutions are itemised and briefly described. The article was originally prepared for a seminar in Hungary. It will allow the current processes, perspectives and aspirations for continuous professional development in Hungary to be compared against the UK model to assist in the identification and transfer of appropriate practice into the Hungarian context. In so doing it provides a base from which other institutions and professions might consider the development of CPD and lifelong learning.

The Wellcome Trust has reviewed the provision of PhD training from the viewpoint of the students and supervisors it funds; this paper presents evidence from these reviews. A number of factors affect the “success” of the PhD training experience; what is considered good (i.e. fit for purpose) PhD research training may be different for the student and the supervisor. Compares and contrasts the views of PhD students and PhD supervisors on a number of issues including reasons for doing a PhD, the purpose of PhD training and perceptions of the quality of PhD research training. Suggests that to support the different needs of students, supervisors and the science base, a flexible yet quality assured approach to PhD research training is required.

Describes a number of quality assurance issues relating to the award of the degree of PhD on the basis of published work by the University of Hertfordshire which arose over a nine‐year period between 1992 and 2001. Emphasises the importance of ensuring that the academic standards associated with the award of a PhD on the basis of published work are identical with those established for the traditional route to a PhD based on an approved programme of supervised research, and that the quality assurance procedures for the two routes are as similar as possible. Concludes with the view that there are quality assurance arguments for the two routes to a PhD to be merged into a single set of regulations which allow doctoral theses to be an integral mix of published and unpublished research outcomes.

Since the 1980s, the traditional research‐based route to a PhD and the PhD by publication have been joined by practice‐based doctorates, professional doctorates and recently by the new route PhD. The National Qualifications Framework was intended to provide points of reference for the setting, assessment and maintenance of standards at all levels of qualification. Qualification descriptors are intended to articulate the achievements and wider abilities which candidates at any level should be able to demonstrate. Examines the implications of the NQF for doctorates, and reviews the extent to which the various doctoral routes meet its requirements. Regulations, award processes and submission requirements frequently offer inadequate opportunities for candidates to demonstrate the NQF descriptors, and there is considerable divergence in practice as well as in title. There is a need for consistency, which could be achieved with the convergence of doctoral routes towards the new route PhD and the professional doctorate.

In a climate of tightening quality controls and audits within higher education, the transparency of doctoral examination practices is increasingly the subject of scrutiny. Examines quality and standards issues that arise in relation to setting up, and preparing for, the examination of the research PhD. Specifically, the ways in which the examination is organised and the ways in which candidates prepare for the viva are addressed. The discussion draws on three sets of data collected between 1999 and 2001: institutional policy data; questionnaire data from PhD candidates, examiners and supervisors; and interview data with candidates before and after their PhD vivas.

The Jurassic Park film franchise offers a complex portrayal of gender issues within a long-running science fiction action series, although not one without problematic moments. This chapter examines selected examples from the series to explore this complex picture. These include moments in the series that display female characters such as Ellie Sattler, Sarah Harding and Claire Dearing with power and agency and the top of their respective professions, noting that Jurassic Park is unusual among science fiction films for its presentation of such accomplished female characters. The chapter also addresses the sexualisation of the character Ian Malcolm and the role of the more typical ‘action star’ from later films, Owen Grady. Finally, it considers the question of sex-selection for the non-human characters, namely the dinosaurs, as significant plot points advance upon the premise that the entire dinosaur population in the series consists of non-breeding females, a fact that is later shown to be untrue. The chapter addresses each of these examples through key issues relating to the production, presentation, and violation of the human and non-human living body across the full Jurassic Park series.