This article proposes conceptual frameworks for reforming doctoral education to better train research and development (R&D) professionals ("knowledge professionals"), while also training for the academic profession. Knowledge professionals represent personnel who are involved in R&D activities, including researchers, support staff, and others. Doctoral education is experiencing rapid changes, both structurally as well as within academic programs, and recent reform initiatives emphasize competency-based doctoral education as a response to the societal demands of the knowledge society. This paper briefly overviews the competencies for doctoral students, and proposes how to implement the concept of competency in doctoral education practice.