This article reports the results of a survey and analysis of the professional doctorates that have been developed in England over the last decade. Its aim is to identify the extent to which professional doctorates have been adopted by English universities, the rate of growth of professional doctorates programmes, and to clarify their distinctive features. By the end of the decade, professional doctorates could be found in the majority of the country's universities and in a wide range of subjects. The number of professional doctorates was still rising at a rapid rate. The article identi es 20 distinctive features that are common to the professional doctorates that together could reasonably be said to comprise 'professional doctorateness' at least as it is interpreted in English universities.

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In 1993 the Government expressed its concern that: 'the traditional PhD is not well-matched to the needs of careers outside research in academia or an industrial research laboratory' (OST, 1993, p. 3).This government concern appeared to encourage innovation in developing the doctorate to meet a wider range of career needs.By contrast, in 1996, the Harris Committee Report recommended that standardisation of the forms and nomenclature of postgraduate courses, including research degree courses, 'could bring national coherence and hence clarity in an international marketplace' (Harris, 1996, p. 38).In this article we have developed a national profile of research degree awards using data from individual universities. This profile allows us to explore empirically issues of variety and standardisation in research degrees and seek ways of reconciling the need for innovation with the need to protect coherence and clarity.

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This paper reviews the three QAA subject benchmarks in Art and Design; History of Art, Architecture and Design, and Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies by comparing and contrasting key subject definitions from each statement. It looks first at the use of the key terms, 'creativity', 'professionalism' and 'culture', then notes some distinctive features and absences of each statement and finally turns to the core rationales offered for the contemporary social purpose of each subject. It concludes that such comparative analysis of the benchmark statements can create the conditions for serious cross-disciplinary debate, which may ultimately prove to be the most valuable outcome of the QAA benchmarking exercise.