The notion of "quality as transformation" has been widely used in the higher education sector. However, both quality and transformation are elusive terms. There is little research exploring how quality could be equated to transformation in the learning process. This paper will provide an insight into the relationship between quality and transformation at doctoral level. Using data from interviews with 32 PhD supervisors and students in two English universities and the outcomes of a collage-making workshop, this paper will reveal how student transformation was perceived as relating to quality learning. Transformation was described as involving five forms of development: intellectual, critical, personal, emotional and physical. Quality was perceived as goodness and interviewees used the term "value" to express their expectation of something valuable and meaningful.