By Jim McFie, a Fellow of ICPAK
The Disconnect Between Doctoral Training and Employability
What is the purpose of doing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree or its equivalent, for example the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree? It is generally agreed that doing a PhD has several purposes. The first and most important is to train the candidate as an independent researcher, enabling them to make an original contribution to knowledge that expands the boundaries of human understanding in a specific area. A second reason is that the candidate develops deep, nuanced expertise and critical thinking skills within their chosen discipline and understanding its theoretical foundations and current gaps. A third reason, almost synonymous with the first reason is to learn to design, conduct, analyze, and report high-quality research, becoming a skilled professional in the research process itself.
James Tippett, a Senior Content Creator, is passionate about all levels of education and works for the University of Technology in Sydney (UTS), Australia. UTS takes a different view about the PhD. There, a candidate’s PhD research aims to make a significant original contribution to knowledge but it does not have to end with a thesis; the research can become a patented product, a software algorithm, a film, or a policy proposal or a lot of other things. James points out that a PhD adds confidence and credibility to one’s career and marks one out as a leader outside of academia. At UTS, many PhD students focus on creating solutions they will be able to directly implement in their professions: some employers even pay the PhD candidate to do it. James states that a research degree is one’s opportunity to be mentored by experts connected to a passionate community of innovators, and be transformed in the process.
It is difficult to know how many people in the East African Community (EAC) have a PhD. National statistics are not kept for this number, but the estimates are
5,000 to 10,000 (not all of the 10,000 have completed the thesis) in Kenya, 2,200 in Uganda, unknown but estimated at a few thousand for Tanzania, and the DRC, hundreds for Rwanda, and very low numbers for Burundi, Somalia, and South Sudan. At the number 178 as of May 2025, there are fewer Chartered Financial Analysts in Kenya than PhDs. The Kenya Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA) has over 1,000 members, again a small number compared to that for PhDs.
Having a PhD does not necessarily enhance one’s job prospects. Kenya produces between 300 and 400 PhDs annually but many struggle to find meaningful work, even in academia, where few permanent, well-supported roles exist. Kenya’s target is 1,000 PhDs annually, but often these targets are set by persons who do not know the reality on the ground. The job market increasingly demands specific skills (tech, analytics), while many PhD programs focus on traditional research, leading to a gap and potential overqualification for available roles. Similar to global trends, especially in the US and the UK, there is a documented shortage of qualified accounting faculty, yet the pipeline is not filling due to market issues. Often, when a graduate cannot find employment, the graduate decides to do a master’s degree. Having completed the master’s and still unable to get a job, the master’s graduate decides to do a PhD. In accounting, the vast majority of the exceptionally clever students get employed by an audit firm or a multinational. So it is often the second tier of talented students who go on to do a PhD. They have no experience in actually doing the work of an accountant and often they are unable to deal with real problems encountered in the workplace.
PhD holders in Kenya often find themselves teaching in multiple universities with no security, a situation described as “intellectual casual labour”. The rise of automation and AI changes accounting, requiring new skills that traditional PhD programs may not adequately cover, creating pressure on academics to adapt.
In Australia, manufacturing’s share of GDP was at 25% in the 1960s. In 2025 it was around 5.5%, lower than that of Kenya. The reason is the rise of China: Australian manufacturers are unable to compete with goods imported from China. The Health and Education sector in Australia combined accounts for roughly 13.9% of the economy’s output, with education standing at 5.8%, which is above the OECD average. Australia hosts more than 50,000 doctoral candidates at any given time, including a large and growing international student community. I know a number of Kenyans who had done there PhD in Australia: Australian universities offer globally respected PhD programs that emphasize original research and innovation. But it is not just about academics. Australia is famous for its outdoor lifestyle, vibrant multicultural cities, and a student-friendly environment.
Vivien Beattie is the Professor of Accounting at the University of Lancaster in England. She has an “h-index” of 49, meaning she has published at least 49 papers, and each of those 49 papers has received at least 49 citations, indicating significant productivity and impact in her academic field. It is a metric combining publication count and citation impact, with 49 being a very high score, often considered “outstanding” or even exceptional for established scientists, especially after years of research. A few years ago, she and an S. J. Smith published “Today’s PhD Students: Is There a Future Generation of Accounting Academics or Are They a Dying Breed? A UK Perspective”. This UK-focused study emerges against growing concern within higher education and the accounting profession: will there be enough well-qualified doctoral graduates to sustain accounting and finance academia in the coming decades? A decline in the pipeline of high-quality accounting PhD graduates, or a mismatch between doctoral training and academic employment demands, could weaken the intellectual and professional foundations of the field. Beattie and Smith obtained over 500 questionnaire responses from PhD students and recent graduates across UK universities, focusing on experiences, satisfaction, career intentions and future plans. They carried out more than 100 in-depth interviews with students, supervisors, academic staff, and professional stakeholders. The idea was to obtain rich insights into both the structural dynamics of doctoral education and the lived experiences of doctoral candidates in accounting and finance. One of the main findings was that the number of accounting PhD students in the UK was relatively high, compared to earlier decades. However, this superficial numerical strength masked deeper issues: many students were international candidates who pursue PhDs on UK campuses and later return to their home countries; and the number of students of British domicile entering accounting doctoral programs is comparatively low. Questionnaire responses reveal that some of the UK students were driven by genuine interest in research and academic life, and others pursued a PhD because of lack of alternative job opportunities or as a hedge against a volatile job market. A significant number reported that academic careers were less financially attractive than professional careers in business, consulting or major audit firms, particularly when considering the opportunity cost of several years of doctoral study with relatively low stipends.
Consequently, many doctoral candidates planned to work in professional or private sector roles rather than pursue academic posts. The authors explored students’ satisfaction with their doctoral programmes, supervisors and institutional support. The quality of supervision varied widely, from highly supportive and stimulating mentorship to periods of isolation and unclear guidance. Effective supervisors were characterized by availability, constructive feedback, and integration of students into research communities. Poor supervision was linked to delayed progress, lower confidence and a diminished sense of academic belonging. Many PhD students felt that training was heavily focused on academic research outputs, such as journal article production, without sufficient preparation for the full breadth of academic responsibilities: that is, teaching, service, and outreach. Institutional pressures to increase PhD enrolments sometimes resulted in students feeling underprepared for the rigour of academic work or lacking opportunities to develop broad disciplinary competencies. Despite evidence of capable students and vibrant doctoral cohorts, several systemic barriers limited the transition from PhD to academic appointment.
A common belief among graduates was that academic posts were scarce and highly competitive, especially in research-intensive institutions. This perception discouraged some students from even applying for academic roles, reducing the effective pool of future academics. Many doctoral candidates had professional accounting qualifications, e.g., CA, ACCA, or CIMA, credentials that were highly marketable in industry but not always leveraged for academic recruitment. The financial and lifestyle incentives of professional practice often outweighed academic career paths, especially given the relative pay differential. In the UK, as is the case in Kenya, institutional strategies often emphasized the quantity of PhD completions over quality or fit for academic careers. Some faculties admitted students for revenue generation rather than strategic academic pipeline development. These structural factors undermined efforts to cultivate a robust community of future scholars. The report raised hard questions about whether current PhD programmes in accounting were producing graduates who were “fit for purpose”. These concerns included whether doctoral training equips candidates with the research capabilities and pedagogical skills expected of modern academics; whether research topics and outputs aligned with evolving disciplinary boundaries and employer expectations; and whether doctoral education sufficiently prepared candidates for careers beyond academia — an increasingly important consideration given the constrained academic job market.
The authors offered a series of recommendations aimed at colleagues in academia, policymakers, professional bodies, and higher education institutions. For academic institutions and faculties: they should improve supervisory training to ensure consistency and quality across programmes; integrate broader career preparation into doctoral curricula, including teaching skills, research impact, and transferable competencies; balance quantity with quality in PhD admissions, aligning recruitment with strategic disciplinary needs rather than institutional financial incentives. For Professional Bodies, e.g., ICAEW, ICAS, ACCA, and CIMA: they should strengthen partnerships with academic institutions to promote doctoral careers as viable and valued options and offer scholarships targeted at domestic candidates to improve retention. For the Accounting Discipline: Clearer pathways from professional practice into academia should be provided, including joint appointments or flexible entry routes for experienced practitioners; and foster research communities that span institutions and countries, mitigating isolation and enhancing collaborative opportunities. For Policy and Funding Agencies: they should promote funding instruments that recognise the multi-dimensional nature of academic work, including teaching, research and public engagement.
The implications of this study go beyond accounting. Although the report focuses on accounting and finance, its insights resonate across disciplines grappling with doctoral education renewal, such as the balance between professional and academic career attractiveness, the systemic pressures of institutionally driven PhD recruitment, and the need for doctoral training to evolve with changing disciplinary expectations. These issues mirror broader debates in doctoral education research globally about the purpose of PhDs, career mobility, and evolving academic labour markets.
An exceedingly clever past student of mine, Emma Alem, does voluntary work, part of which is mentoring young students. She once remarked that many young Kenyans have been brainwashed into thinking that the best career that they can possibly aspire to is to be a “neurosurgeon”. An extraordinary desire for many Kenyans is to be the envy of their fellow Kenyans. Emma tells me stories of young graduates who join her in the bank where she works who immediately live in an expensive part of town and buy a huge car on a loan; they run out of money and turn to Shylocks. Soon their whole world comes crashing down. Status, for the majority of Kenyans, is the be-all and end-all: that is, a feature of life that is of greater importance than any other. And some CEOs ensure that they have the abbreviation “Dr” in front of their name. They probably deserve this “accolade”. If they studied for their PhD at the University of Technology in Sydney (UTS) they could produce a thesis on their work. Even our President did research on the impact of human activities on the environmental quality and land use changes in the Saiwa Swamp watershed area and wrote a thesis entitled “Influence of Anthropogenic Activities on Land Use/Cover Changes and Environmental Quality of Saiwa Wetland Watershed, Western Kenya”. He earned a PhD for his efforts.
