Doctorate in Educational Sciences
Syllabi & Program Structure • Total Workload: 1,770 hours
Branner Global University

3-Year Learning Pathway — PhD in Educational Sciences (BGU)

Year 1 — Theoretical Foundations, Research Methods, and Scholarly Writing (~600h)

Focus & competencies

• Educational Theories & Curriculum: critical pedagogy, constructivism, pedagogical processes, and educational thought.

• Education Policy & Leadership: systems, governance, and critical policy analysis.

• Culture, Society & Inclusion: education and culture; work & gender; sexuality & teacher education; inclusive education (concepts and theories).

• Research Methods: qualitative/quantitative methods; epistemology and theoretical–methodological elements; study design.

• Scholarly Production: procedures and preparation of scientific articles (standards, literature review, methods section design).

Reference courses from the model

• Theories of Education; Education theories and (pedagogical) processes; Educational policies; Educational policies and school management; Education and culture; Education, work and gender; Education, sexuality and teacher training; Educational inclusion: concepts and theories; Research methods in education; Epistemology and educational research; Theoretical and methodological elements of the research; Procedures and preparation of scientific articles; Didactics; History of education; Foundations of education.

Year-1 deliverables

• Seminar I: pre-proposal with problem statement, objectives, theoretical framework, and methodology.

• Article 1: systematic/narrative review mapping gaps in the field.

• Methodology portfolio: instruments (protocols, questionnaires) and data-collection plan.

Year 2 — Line-of-Research Deepening and Data Collection (~600h)

Focus & competencies

• Thematic specialization in one line of research (Technologies & Innovation; Teacher Education & Practices; Education, Society & Diversity) with guided reading and Advanced Studies.

• Study operationalization: field access, sampling, ethics, data collection and logging.

• Data analysis: qualitative procedures (coding, thematic analysis) and/or quantitative procedures (reliability/validity, basic modeling).

Reference courses/activities

• Seminars II; Advanced Studies III/IV; Methodological–theoretical elements; Subject and society; Assessment and feedback-oriented didactics (content present under “Didactics / processes”).

Year-2 deliverables

• Field report with collection evidence (field notes, transcripts, datasets).

• Article 2 (empirical): methods and preliminary results.

• Seminar II: qualifying/comprehensive exam (project qualification) with internal committee.

Year 3 — Integration, Writing, and Thesis Defense (~570h)

Focus & competencies

• Theoretical–empirical integration: discussion, implications, and field contributions.

• Scholarly communication: final writing, formatting, copyright management, publication strategy.

• Academic management: public presentation, defense, and response to committee.

Reference courses/activities

• Seminars III; Advanced Studies (completion); Scientific writing (based on “procedures and preparation of scientific articles” as support for final writing).

Year-3 deliverables

• Completed Thesis (introduction → results → discussion → conclusion).

• Article 3 (thesis-derived) submitted to a peer-reviewed journal or book chapter.

• Public Thesis Defense (minutes and approval with any required revisions).

Typical Semester Distribution (illustrative)

• S1: Foundations (theories, policy, culture) + Methods I + Seminar I.

• S2: Epistemology, Didactics/Processes + Scholarly Writing + revised proposal.

• S3: Line-specific modules + pilot data collection + Seminar II (qualification).

• S4: Line-specific deepening + main data collection + begin analyses.

• S5: Advanced analyses + Advanced Studies + write results/discussion.

• S6: Final Thesis writing, article submissions, Seminar III and defense.

Program Learning Outcomes (by the end of Year 3)

• Mastery of core theories and epistemologies in Education and their applications.

• Ability to conduct ethically robust research with methodological rigor.

• Completion of an original Thesis contributing to the field, plus three scholarly products: one review article, one empirical article, and one thesis-derived article.

• Readiness for higher-education teaching and research supervision.

• Competence to intervene and evaluate (policies and pedagogical practices) in complex, diverse educational settings.

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