This FASS-funded project to develop a Nufffield ‘Open Door’ proposal is led by Lancaster University’s Higher Education Research and Evaluation Centre (HERE) in partnership with The University of Cape Town’s Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED). We will deliver a research and development project providing a comparative analysis of doctoral study in the UK and South Africa, with recommendations for actions aimed at enhancement. The project will investigate programmes delivered traditionally, via blended learning, and those delivered exclusively online. It will address issues of equity, social justice, retention, attrition, and the possibilities of technology enhanced learning (TEL) in doctoral study. It is timely given increases in the use of online pedagogies and students taking professional doctorates via non-traditional routes in the UK (Boud & Lee, 2009) and the South African ‘PhD crisis’ discussed by Muller (2012).