I thought I would get stuck in with my first controversial topic and open a discussion based around the standards now required to get a PhD. I was initially going to title this post “Discuss: The quality of PhD theses is declining,” but I think that would be entirely unfair as it would suggest that the top notch PhD theses are also declining. However I think the opposite is true and that those at the top of their field have never produced such a detailed and ground-breaking standard of work.
What I have noticed however, is that the minimum standard required to achieve the title of ‘Dr’ is lower. That is, there are students who should never have been awarded a PhD. Is this harsh? Perhaps. But it lowers the value of a PhD for everyone else.
And this doesn’t just apply to PhD level, it also applies to taught Masters. I helped a science student who couldn’t do 3 divided by 2. Seriously, they hadn’t a clue. And we’ve had PhD students who couldn’t work a balance. Some still can’t work a pipette properly in their 2nd or 3rd years. Some don’t understand a calibration graph when they’re writing up. Those of you who are reading this and not doing science may not have a clue, that’s OK, but these are people that are dedicating their life to science and without these skills, the science you do is useless.
Sure, supervisors do their best to improve the work their students do, but as a technician we see the everyday. We have to mollycoddle and teach often the simplest of concepts many times over. We quite often have school work experience students in and they, quite frankly, are at a higher level.
It’s not a particularly new problem – I note this article from 2009 in the Independent.
It is very rare for a PhD student to fail a PhD. Those who do are usually offered an MPhil as a recognition of their work – fair enough.
Part of doing a PhD is not the science itself but gaining the skills required to critically analyse work; to plan; to make mistakes, learn from them and come out stronger; to learn everything in your field, the movers and shakers; to budget and to problem solve. In the same breath, it’s impossible to master everything – statistics I would enter as an example, but you should understand enough so that it allows you to ask (and answer) the questions to the right people.
TBC, I’m sure.
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