Lee, you bring up an interesting point.  Often I forget that the list is global and mistakenly assume that everyone reading it is located in North America.  As someone who applauds the use of technology to make our world smaller, I was being a bit myopic in my analysis.  I will clarify my response.  

 In the US I am unaware of a University, which offers the PhD degree in museum studies.  When I was getting my MA, I had a prof make me prove that there actually was such a thing as a museum profession.  A rather bright sociologist (or so I thought), this gentlemen was the first to let me know just how low museums, their work, and those whose career entails the museum is viewed by academia.  That is how I became familiar with the terminal concept. When I finished the paper I was able, to his surprise and dismay, conclude that there indeed is such a thing as a museum profession.  While not as entrenched (perhaps younger in the US) as medicine, engineering, or law, a definite profession all the same.  Had I included the information on the UK and the University of Leicester I suspect he would have been even more distressed.  Academic types often don't like to be threatened. 

     In my experience, here in the US is that the PhD is completed almost without exception by those wishing to go into a career in academe.  Sure, there are occasional students who desire careers on the "outside" but mostly the doctorate is used for teaching at the university level.  What is your experience with your degree in the UK? Does the Leicester program cater to all types of museum disciplines, (history, art, natural history, mixes of those)? I am interested in how long the program has been established as well.  

I agree with others on the list that the MA is perfectly capable of standing on its own. 



 Bill