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Describes the newly established California State University, Fresno and University of California, Davis, joint doctoral programme in educational leadership which prepares students to conduct and interpret enquiries for which sound educational policy and practice are anchored. The unique features of this programme are: (1) an intercampus “graduate group” of faculty that offers group membership to qualified faculty from several campuses of the University of California and California State University, Fresno. Graduate groups follow the University of California tradition of faculty governance in matters of group membership, student admission and curriculum; (2) no other joint doctorates in the state of California are multi‐campus; (3) the planners of this doctoral programme recognized that admitted students would probably be full‐time employed, experienced leaders. This programme requires the employers of applicants to commit to release time as a condition of admission; and (4) all core courses are co‐written and co‐taught by UC and CSU, Fresno faculty. Notes the benefits of this programme to the institutions, faculty and students.

Today higher education in the USA is faced with rising enrollment demands. As a means of efficiently and creatively meeting graduate education needs, universities are collaborating on doctoral programs. In California, although the sole authority for granting doctorates in the public sector belongs to the University of California (UC), joint doctoral programs may be developed between UC and the California State University (CSU), and between CSU and independent private universities. Currently there are 16 joint doctoral programs in existence in California. Development and implementation of these joint programs frequently involve lengthy, complex collaborations between universities. In order to gain an understanding of the challenges and factors that influence universities’ collaborations on joint doctoral programs, a study was conducted in spring 2000 using interviews with 14 university leaders. The article discusses several critical issues and factors that were found to influence effective collaborative planning and implementation of joint doctoral programs.