Stakeholders' Perceptions of Institutional Readiness to Offer Doctoral Programs: A Case Study.

Seminaries and graduate schools of theology in many non-Western contexts are launching new doctoral programs. Many of these schools are younger and smaller than their Western counterparts and function in contexts with less developed infrastructures. Are they ready to offer doctorates? This case study seeks to answer that question with regard to the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School (NEGST) in Kenya. It focuses on perceptions of readiness of key stakeholders outside the institutions. The discoveries revealed in this study are significant not only for the designers of NEGST's doctoral programs but also for those at other institutions, both in Africa and other non-Western contexts. Issues of importance to NEGST's stakeholders are likely to be deemed noteworthy by those of other seminaries and graduate schools around the world. The study serves as an example of assessment of institutional readiness. The study concludes that NEGST has the potential of offering high-quality, internationally credible doctoral ...