Doctoral Coursework is Needed in Australasia

Abstract

The formal structure of most Australasian marketing doctoral programs is still thesis-only. This Commentary presents the perspective that this structure is not ideal for today's academic environment. We argue for the importance of coursework in a doctoral student's education. The argument should be relevant to all thesis-only social science and business doctoral programs, but our focus is on the case of marketing in Australasia. Students having coursework may develop stronger research skills than thesis-only students, thus thesis-only students would generally be at a disadvantage in terms of achieving publication in higher-ranking international journals. Coursework clearly helps to broaden and deepen a student's knowledge of research methods, but it also helps with the subtle and tacit skills of judging research quality.