Doctoral Degrees at HPOC University

Write what the next generation needs to know.

Healing knowledge has long been carried through families, communities, teachers, and practitioners. Too much of that knowledge has gone unrecorded or has been told without the voices of the people who preserved it.

HPOC University’s doctoral pathway invites students to leave a record of their learning. Rather than completing a traditional dissertation or taking a comprehensive exam, doctoral students write a book that is culturally relevant to holistic health and connected to their field of study.

The goal is to contribute something future students, practitioners, and communities can learn from.

 

How the doctoral pathway works

The doctoral pathway builds on the bachelor’s and master’s coursework in a student’s chosen major. After completing the required coursework and meeting the program’s admission requirements, the student develops and writes a book related to that field.

 

Doctoral students should plan to spend approximately 8–10 hours each week on their work. Students have three months to complete and submit their book under the program’s requirements.

HPOC University does not offer a dissertation option or a testing option for this pathway. The book is the required culminating work.

 

What could your book explore?

A student’s book should be grounded in their degree field and offer a culturally relevant contribution to holistic health. Depending on the major, a topic might explore:

• Ancestral plant knowledge and responsible herbal education

• Culturally rooted approaches to whole-person well-being

• African spiritual perspectives and contemporary community life

• Energy practices and the traditions from which they come

• Spiritual growth, consciousness, and metaphysical thought

• Community care, collective healing, and health justice

These are examples. Students develop a topic that reflects their area of study and the contribution they want to leave behind.

 

A book with a purpose

Your book is an opportunity to gather, examine, and share knowledge with care. We encourage students to identify their sources, acknowledge the people and traditions that inform their work, distinguish personal or spiritual interpretation from established research, and write with respect for the communities represented.

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A doctoral book can be practical, reflective, educational, or grounded in research, according to the approved project requirements. Its purpose should be clear: What will this work help others understand, preserve, or do?

 

Continue in your field of study

Students may pursue the doctoral pathway in an available HPOC University major after completing the required earlier degree coursework and satisfying doctoral admission requirements.

Current fields of study

• Holistic Transpersonal Counseling

• Metaphysical Herbalism

• Holistic Health

• Natural Health

• Holistic Energy Systems

• Metaphysical Science

• Metaphysical Biblical Studies

• Social Justice and Community Healing

• African Spiritual Systems 

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Understand your credential

Before enrolling, review the exact degree title, HPOC University’s accreditation information, and the professional scope of your credential. A doctoral degree from HPOC University does not, by itself, grant a state license to practice medicine, professional counseling, or another regulated profession.

Read: Accreditation, Credentials, and Professional Scope