About Martin's note: economic analysis also allows for market failure and organizational failure.
That is not discussed in his note.
A solution for these problems in educational markets exists: accreditation. It solves both (1) and (2). Accreditation provides the information the candidate needs and accreditation forces program changes for the better. Of course, Accreditation is similar to the EAA actively promoting a preferred design for a Doctoral/PhD program.
What is interesting is that Doctoral/PhD accreditation already existed in 2015. It had just started. By the EFMD; the organization offers the EQUIS label for MBA programs.
EFMD offers, what they call, an EPAS label for Doctoral/PhD programs in Business; Accountancy included.
What is also interesting, and perhaps even more so, is that since 2014 EIASM has had on its website a link to the "European Code of Practice for Doctoral Education" in Business. Very interesting, because as I explained earlier the EAA is a 'member' organization of EIASM. The name of this Code was more recently changed to 'Guidelines for Doctoral Programs in Business and Management'.
Both the Guidelines and the EPAS requirements 'design' a Doctoral/PhD program, that is very much like the MRes design (using the Tilburg example) that I sketched above. Indeed, both also conform to the 'world' standard, i.e. the North-American standard, for the design of such programs.
Do read the 'Guidelines' here on the EIASM main page: http://www.eiasm.org/r/about-eiasm .
The EPAS Doctoral Program in Business accreditation guidelines are in this document in Annex 11, so you have to scroll down: http://www.efmd.org/images/stories/efmd/EPAS/2017/EPAS_Process_Manual_Annexes.pdf
Hence the EAA need not look far to find inspiration when it decides, which I hope, to play a more active role in all of this. The EAA is based in the EIASM offices in the Hotel Métropole in Brussels; the EFMD has its offices in street off the Avenue Louise in Brussels.
