Northeastern University has partnered with global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline to launch a first-of-its-kind, joint experiential doctoral program. GSK employees enrolled in the program will conduct pharmaceutical research projects jointly developed by the company and Northeastern while completing their doctoral studies at the university in the fields of chemistry and chemical biology.
The new experiential program, launched this month, combines rigorous academics with real-world research experience at GSK's state-of-the-art laboratories in Philadelphia and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Each student will be supported by a Northeastern faculty advisor and a GSK scientist who will serve as an industry mentor. GSK will cover the program tuition fees as well as all research costs.
Northeastern's vision is bold and simple: to be truly experiential in all of our programs — from the undergraduate to the doctoral level. This partnership is an excellent example of Northeastern disrupting the status quo in higher education and being at the forefront of this transformation.
Kenneth Henderson
dean of the College of Science
Northeastern is piloting the collaboration with GSK in the College of Science's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology with plans to expand it to other schools and colleges of the university in the future.
“GSK is an excellent partner for us and is a company known in the pharmaceutical industry for being innovative and advancing knowledge and new ideas in the discovery process,” said Kenneth Henderson, dean of the College of Science. “Northeastern's vision is bold and simple: to be truly experiential in all of our programs — from undergraduate to doctoral. This partnership is an excellent example of Northeastern disrupting the status quo in higher education and being at the forefront of this transformation.”
The integrated experiential PhD model provides myriad benefits to both GSK and Northeastern. The partnership allows GSK to attract and retain top talent while gaining access to Northeastern's specialized instrument facilities and faculty expertise. For Northeastern, the model enhances the recruitment of top doctoral students and helps the university develop its global network of industry partners.
Photo by Adam Glanzman/Northeastern University
“I am delighted to be working with Northeastern University on this important project,” said Dave Allen, GSK's chief chemist, senior vice president and head of the Respiratory Research and Development group. “It is a testament to the leadership of the university and the scientific excellence of our chemists that we have been able to create such an innovative program.”
The partnership with GSK adds to an expanding portfolio of innovative learning initiatives between the North East and the world's major employers. Northeastern has recently formed partnerships with General Electric Co., IBM and Major League Baseball and is quickly becoming the primary university companies turn to for expanded employee learning opportunities.
Henderson emphasized that the partnership with GSK also reflects the university's broader strategy as part of Northeastern 2025, the new academic plan, to transform doctoral education by integrating experiential learning into all of its doctoral programs. He said this institutionalized approach to experiential doctoral education is unique in higher education in the United States. It includes not only Northeastern's new integrated experiential doctoral model but also the fellowships and corporate fellowships currently completed by doctoral students.
This approach to experiential doctoral education, Henderson added, also breaks the mold of the traditional graduate education model based on a dyadic mentor-mentee relationship between a professor and a student. Through experiential learning, he said, doctoral students not only gain real-world work experience but also expand their professional networks beyond academia to include mentors and industry partners.
