With the global trend in which PhD training is considered at least desirable if not essential for university academics in design, the objective of this chapter is to explore as to whether such training is really necessary for a permanent, regular member of the faculty of design at a university. Since the two major activities at a university are development and dissemination of knowledge, the chapter looks into the nature of knowledge in design to be developed and disseminated, and argues that the onus of developing such knowledge lies primarily with the academic community of design. Even when some of that knowledge originates in practice, the generality of such knowledge must be explored, and validity of such knowledge evaluated, with the rigour expected of academic research. These require specialized expertise, which is commonly acquired via PhD training. The chapter argues that conducting academic research is an essential activity at the university level, which pontificates the need for a PhD as a necessary qualification for design academics at the university level.