Higher Education PhD

Earning a PhD in Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst helps prepare graduates for careers as administrators, policymakers, researchers, and faculty members. Most importantly, our emphasis on scholarly practice helps graduates to support student success via evidence-based policies and interventions as well as rigorous empirical research. 

Our doctoral program is research and writing intensive. You'll complete 42 credits of coursework and 10 dissertation credits. Along the way, you will develop a mastery of research methods and key issues and concepts in at least one major area of study within higher education (e.g., student learning and development; social justice, oppression, and diversity; assessment, evaluation, and research methods; policy, politics, and economics). You will also develop new methodological, theoretical, and analytical skills that will support you as you complete a comprehensive exam and then write a dissertation.