I have done PhD from a prominent esearch insitute in India and now doing postdoc outside. the question raised over here does not have any context. for that matter every professional degree should be then re-evaluated (including his own degree in economics, i suppose). to agree with some of the other replies, i do agree that in many university set up in India (except the self-governed institutes), the standard of research not up to the mark...but that is not a fault of the student...but the mentor, who cannot come up with or guide the student to take up a nice challenging problem. another issue is, in India most of the faculties are fighting to prove their capabilities by publishing in Journals and so a safe-guard project that will fetch a couple of papers is a good-enough criteria to do PhD. Also, why to point out only this class of people, what about engineers, doctors...etc? do they prove their capability...their intellectual growth at all point of their career? so, please think rationally before you suggest something which creates sentimental....intellectual disturbance in the society.
If you are not a Ph.D dont comment like this. Dontlower Ph.D by comparing with orientation courses. You canotget a Ph.D by attending 100 oreitantion courses or passing a 100 exam papers. You have to be a self learned scholar in the subject with proof of a discovery presented in a way that would be carefully supervised by a Guide. This discovery would have paved way for many other discoveries also further. A Ph.D degree or any other degree holder is expected to keep up the standard or dignity attached to the degree as long as he lives with that.If one's work is not deserving for Ph.D degree you can report the matter to the Univeristy prefereably duringor before his defence. The Unversity shall assess it and if agrees with you, will ask him to study more and resubmit it. Oreintation course areacceptable for all whether a Ph.D orNon Ph.D in the respective functionalareas.It is always possible that one,s Professional area of work is different from his Ph.D work. hence they may require external training or to put hard self effort to understand the job activity by themselves.That doesnot mean that Ph.D holdershall stoop downhis quality of output or stipulate a lower standard for others or in his organization. He will definitely know the requirements and as experience goes he will be a better person to evaluate the standard of work in his office than a non Ph.D. According to you a practising C.A, Lawyer, Doctor all need an expiry of their de
I do not understand why the author is talking about the expiry date of the PhD? It is earned after hard effort motivation and time whether it is in India or abroad. If someone in his area is not good enough to contribute anymore he will face problems himself like promotions will be stopped or will find difficulty to arrange funds.
RE:Ph. D - a joke!
by Joseph Abraham on Jan 18, 2008 09:45 PM Permalink
buddy you are standford. i am berkeley :D. dont think that all are from JHOOMRI TALAYA
In this fast track age where the world respects us for our knowledge. The only way we can ensure the credibility of research degrees is to have an Indian Education Service which can deal with such matters in a larger context across India
The author needs to look at the Ph.D.degree in its right perspective. The European concept of a Ph.D. is that this degree holder has made an original contribution to the existing knowledge and has proved himself to be an independent scientific research worker capable of tackling serious scientific problems and later guide research.The Russian equivalent of Ph.D. reflects this spirit more accurately -the degree is " candidate in Science/Technology". Meaning he is just entering the field of research. He is not addressed as a "Doctor", which is reserved for only the "D.Sc." Each one of these have a distinct connotation . It must be remembered that there is no equivalence as how many MTech. projects are equal to a Ph.D. and how many Ph.D.theses make up to a D.Sc. # A Ph.D. dissertation is " defended" and that is the spirit. # The autor may be disillusioned with the spate of Ph.D.s coming out in India after the UGC stipulation- also on trivial subjects ,which do not merit themes for Ph.D.level research. But then the fault lies with the falling standards of Indian Univs. The author has thought of Ph.D. as an examination on current technology topics. # There is a difference in the European and American approach on Ph.D.s. In older Universities like Uppsala (Sweden) there is a tradition of presenting the Ph.D.thesis, since the days when Martin Luther "nailed" the new testament to the Univ.gate!
RE:Ph.D. is not the end of the road..
by on Jan 18, 2008 09:13 PM Permalink
Can't agree more with your comment...spot on !!
Btw isn't true for every profession. You have good doctorates/bad doctorates, good institutions/bad institutions (for medical, engineering and even arts).
PhD however is not a mere degree. The institutions which treat them like that...well, you can assume their state. To take their case and presenting a general argument looks quite naive.
It is ridiculously easy to get a doctorate today in most fields, often based on little work one does in parallel with a full time normal job. The theses tend to be worthless, the guides incompetent and uninterested, and the examiner, a stooge or a puppet. Neither are lower degrees that much better in most universities. Exceptions can be found.
RE:Academic degrees are of little value today and fool no one
by Kittappa on Jan 18, 2008 09:06 PM Permalink
you are describing the status of most of the INdian universities. Same can not be said about the west. There is some quality associated with a PhD from top universities in the west
RE:Academic degrees are of little value today and fool no one
by garg ashish on Jan 18, 2008 09:39 PM Permalink
this agrawal is really amad tell him to start his education from class 1. since his date is expired and now the things and scenario has changed
