Learning From Failure for Doctoral Education

ABSTRACT Failure in doctoral education is a taboo topic for many supervisors and doctoral candidates. Failure in thesis doctoral examination is hard to admit to or explain and has not been deeply investigated. We aim to disrupt the silence around failure in the doctoral context and generate new discussions relevant to doctoral education. We conduct a theoretical integrative review (TIR), which allows for the inclusion of primary research studies, along with other documents (such as policy documents), in the international context. We seek to explore the learning potentials presented by a better understanding of failure to influence the broader debates about the future of the doctorate in times of uncertainty and crisis.

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Publication Details

Journal
Higher Education Quarterly
Published
2026-03-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70114
Primary Topic
Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Learning From Failure for Doctoral Education

Allyson Holbrook, Elke Stracke, Rachel Burke, Vijay Kumar et al.
Higher Education Quarterly
Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions
article

Learning From Failure for Doctoral Education

Allyson Holbrook, Elke Stracke, Rachel Burke, Vijay Kumar, Jen Webb
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Failure in doctoral education is a taboo topic for many supervisors and doctoral candidates. Failure in thesis doctoral examination is hard to admit to or explain and has not been deeply investigated. We aim to disrupt the silence around failure in the doctoral context and generate new discussions relevant to doctoral education. We conduct a theoretical integrative review (TIR), which allows for the inclusion of primary research studies, along with other documents (such as policy documents), in the international context. We seek to explore the learning potentials presented by a better understanding of failure to influence the broader debates about the future of the doctorate in times of uncertainty and crisis.

Higher Education QuarterlyVol. 80(2)
University of Canberra (AU), Quest International University Perak (MY), University of Newcastle Australia (AU)
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 34%
Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions
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Learning From Failure for Doctoral Education — Allyson Holbrook, Elke Stracke, et al. · Higher Education Quarterly (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS