Over the past twenty-five years, the UK government has implemented reforms in doctoral level provision, led by the Research Councils and especially the Economic and Social Research Council. These have emphasised training in research methodology and also, recently, other employment-related skills. This article considers the drivers of these initiatives (demands for accountability and ‘new public management’) and some of their consequences (including the steering of research in particular directions and a neglect of the scholarship produced and also doctoral studies as a form of lifelong learning). It also examines some of the universities' responses in the form of diversification of doctoral studies, the institution of graduate schools, and the establishment of a National Council for Graduate Education. Throughout these reforms, the diversity of doctoral students and their concerns have largely been neglected.