Professional HRD education in China, Korea, and the US: Institutional and curricular characteristics of university‐based graduate degree programs

University‐based graduate programs serve important functions in preparing advanced‐level professionals and future researchers in human resource development. Yet, despite this critical supplier function, there is little systematic knowledge about the characteristics of such programs. This paper begins to address this research need by presenting profiles of selected graduate programs in China, Korea, and the US. The results indicate diverse educational settings, institutional linkages, and identities. Curricula in the three countries cover a different of range of subject matter areas and appear to address only in a limited sense the more challenging areas of HRD practice in local, regional, national, and global settings. The paper concludes with recommendations for continuous improvement of graduate education to meet the evolving and complex needs of organizational practice and to prepare students to assume leadership positions that reflect the promise and potential of comprehensive and progressive human resource development.