The UVa PhD program in Buddhist Studies has been preparing young scholars for research in Tibetan Buddhism using both Western academic and Tibetan monastic methods. Several Western Buddhist organizations have tried to develop similar kinds of training programs for Westerners, aiming to produce a new generation of Buddhist teachers for Western Dharma centres. The New Kadampa Tradition and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition base their teacher training curricula on the Sera Je model. It is interesting to reflect on why these programs differ from their Tibetan model and why they differ in turn from the approach of the UVa program.