Doctor of Philosophy - Value and Criticism

Value and Criticism

PhD students are often motivated to pursue the PhD by the desire for further education beyond the undergraduate level, scientific and humanistic curiosity, the desire to contribute to the academic community, service to others, or personal development. A career in academia generally requires a PhD, though in some countries, it is possible to reach relatively high positions without a doctorate. The motivation may also include increased salary, but in many cases this is not the result. Research by Casey suggests that, over all subjects, PhDs provide an earnings premium of 26%, but notes that masters degrees provide a premium of 23% already. While this is a small return to the individual (or even an overall deficit when lost earnings during training are accounted for), he claims there are significant benefits to society for the extra research training. However, some research suggests that overqualified workers are often less satisfied and less productive at their jobs. These difficulties are increasingly being felt by graduates of professional degrees, such as law school, looking to find employment. PhD students often have to take on debt to undertake their degree.

The Economist published an article citing various criticisms against the state of PhDs. Richard B. Freeman explains that, based on pre-2000 data, at most only 20% of life science PhD students end up getting jobs specifically in research. In Canada, where the overflow of PhD degree holders is not as severe, 80% of postdoctoral research fellows earn less than or equal to the average construction worker (roughly $38,000 a year) during their postdoctoral research tenure. Only in the fastest developing countries (e.g. China or Brazil) is there a shortage of PhDs. Higher education systems often offer little incentive to move students through PhD programs quickly (and may even provide incentive to slow them down). To counter this, the United States introduced the Doctor of Arts degree in 1970 with seed money from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The aim of the Doctor of Arts degree was to shorten the time needed to complete the degree by focusing on pedagogy over research, although the Doctor of Arts still contains a significant research component. Germany is one of the few nations engaging these issues, and it has been doing so by reconceptualizing PhD programs to be training for careers, outside of academia, but still at high-level positions. This development can be seen in the extensive number of PhD holders, typically from the fields of law, engineering and economics, at the very top corporate and administrative positions. To a lesser extent, the UK research councils have tackled the issue by introducing, since 1992, the EngD. Mark C. Taylor opines that total reform of PhD programs in almost every field is necessary in the U.S., and that pressure to make the necessary changes will need to come from many sources (students, administrators, public and private sectors, etc.). These issues and others are discussed in an April 2011 issue of the journal Nature.

Within the research occupations in which a PhD is widely viewed as being necessary, career progression is typically aided by publication in peer-reviewed journals; yet many such journals print research papers without any reference to academic certificates in their author by-lines. The quality of a peer reviewed publication is expected to be self-evident, and letters after authors' names are therefore superfluous. In contrast, applicants for research grants may be required to disclose which academic certificates they hold, leading to the risk that a PhD qualification representing as little as three years' work will outweigh a rival applicant's superior publication record and thus leave academic reviewers (whose employers may have a financial stake in the PhD system) open to accusations of self-interest. Given the need for self-evident quality in research publications, the role played by PhD degrees in research occupations differs markedly from the quality assurance role played by professional qualifications in other fields, and is arguably a form of closed shop.