Executive PhD in Leadership Degree Requirements

The Executive PhD track in leadership is generally seen as more theory and research intensive than a practitioner’s degree such as an EdD; students pursuing the executive, doctoral in leadership degree must complete the curriculum established for the EdD in educational leadership plus six additional hours distributed as follows: one executive graduate level course in which leadership theories and concepts in a non-academic environment is a central theme and one course in which non-academic statistics or research methods is the focus. The international, Executive PhD in leadership, therefore, requires a minimum of 66 hours beyond the master’s degree. Although an executive  PhD student may pursue applied research as a dissertation topic, it is expected that an approved dissertation will be built upon a more thorough theoretical foundation than a similar project that culminates in an EdD dissertation.