PhD Digital and Dual-Pathway Higher Education

Academic Overview

Doctoral education in this field fails when it becomes a collection of ed-tech evaluations with no theory of the award. This PhD starts with dual-pathway parity as a researchable object: assessment, library licences, identity checking, storm continuity, and the political economy of tuition-free online beside a campus in a capital city. Candidates may be campus-based in Warsaw or primarily remote; the doctorate itself must exemplify the standard it studies. Vivas are online-capable and recorded under published rules. Faculty will not accept a thesis that treats ‘online’ as automatically inferior or automatically innovative. The award is a research PhD. It is not QAA employment, not OfS, not GTCS. Capstone is the thesis and viva, aligned with stated faculty areas: dual-pathway quality, digital assessment integrity, Polish HE policy, and related inquiries. Dual-pathway candidature logistics must not become a lighter doctorate: the viva standard is one standard. IU International University of Applied Sciences will not use QAA logos or promise a quality-agency post. Candidates study library parity, identity-checked assessment, storm continuity, and the political economy of tuition-free online beside an Warsaw campus, with ethics that refuse covert student surveillance as a method. PhD Digital and Dual-Pathway Higher Education is taught as one award, not a list of unrelated modules. The published length is 3–4 years, and the credit total is 60. Students move from The Award as Object: Dual-Pathway Theory through The Award as Object: Dual-Pathway Theory; UK and Polish HE Policy Literacy for Researchers; Research Ethics, Identity, and Remote Participation; Qualitative Inquiry in Universities as Organisations; Quantitative and Mixed Evidence of Parity; Document, Legal, and Policy Analysis, and finish on Confirmation and Progression. Each course has a question, a method, and a submission. In this field, students design a short sequence for a named group of learners and the criteria that would mark it fairly. Reading is a curriculum extract, an assessment specification, and an evaluation summary. The artefact a marker expects is a plan with outcomes, a task, criteria, and a note on bias. The award is built so that a graduate can do the following in practice: Produce an original thesis on digital and/or dual-pathway higher education Defend methods in a timezone-aware viva Situate Polish and UK policy without claiming agency staff status Teaching assumes the student can read a source, attempt a problem before the seminar, and revise after feedback. Attendance at live seminars is part of the design. The capstone or final course must use the methods of the earlier courses; a project that ignores them does not pass. This course does not confer a teaching licence, QTS, or equivalent registration. The pages for each course name the topics that are examined. Those topics are the syllabus. A brochure line is not a substitute for them.

The degree is awarded directly by IU International University of Applied Sciences, seated in Warsaw, Poland. Studies are conducted in full alignment with Polish and European academic standards.

Curriculum & Core Modules

The curriculum comprises 60 ECTS credits structured across progressive academic modules:

Teaching & Assessment Methodology

Career Trajectories

• Higher-education researcher
• Academic (research and teaching) after competitive appointment—not conferred by the PhD alone
• Policy analyst (HE digital and quality)
• Institutional research lead
• Doctoral-trained quality or digital-education specialist

European Campus & Academic Facilities

Seated at Prosta 20 in Warsaw, IU International University of Applied Sciences offers state-of-the-art academic lecture halls, digital research repositories, and vibrant collegiate spaces for both on-campus and international distance scholars.

Main academic building at Prosta 20, Warsaw.

Collegiate courtyard and research study spaces.

Academic facilities and faculty laboratory suites.