The CSU/UC Irvine Joint Ed.D. program is designed to address the needs of outstanding individuals aspiring to leadership and policy positions within K-12, community college, and other higher education institutions who seek doctoral preparation relevant to diverse educational settings. If the required faculty resources are available, up to 16 new candidates will be accepted for admission annually. A special effort is being made to recruit, select, and include a group of outstanding candidates with diverse backgrounds reflective of the K-16 student populations in the Los Angeles and Orange County regions.

Groups of students admitted each year will take a number of courses together. This will allow for several distinct advantages of group membership in graduate study, including those identified below.

1. Groups offer support to candidates and provide opportunities for members to learn from one another.
2. Groups establish professional ties that often last beyond the doctoral program itself; such networks are valuable in terms of continued professional support and growth.
3. Fostering and monitoring of candidates' progress is enhanced in groups. The group carries with it the expectation that all but the occasional candidate will complete the program successfully, including such standard benchmarks as the qualifying paper, advancement to candidacy, and completion of the dissertation.
4. Scheduling an outstanding program of graduate studies can be accomplished more readily for groups that have some courses in common. Enrollments are predictable, and a course of study can be planned in advance in relation to the availability of distinguished faculty.