PhD programmes need to better prepare students for careers outside universities, researchers warn.
Archive: https://archive.is/f1YtL
PhD overproduction (and subsequently devaluation) is a real thing. The intention of PhDs was to reward and recognize major original contributions to a specific field of science. It turned into another academic “level” that you have to grind towards by producing a large quantity of articles. Even before AI the academic slop was a real thing.
if you can’t do a job after getting a PhD then explain how a person without one can?
It does sound paradoxal at first but is actually quite logical. The person without a PHD enters the corporate market at a younger age with a lesser degree. He has an easier access because he can get paid less and is more accepting of more menial tasks. PHD candidates are older, expect higher salaries due to their higher education, but actually have less corporate experience. That’s why the article is calling for a better preparation to work outside of academia jobs
“we just want someone who will take abuse for low pay.” - employers
The working world is very different from the laid back, very slow moving world of Academia.
Someone who has worked 8 years instead of studying has more experience and is therefore more valuable as a worker than someone with no experience even if they have a lot of knowledge and a piece of paper that proves it.
laid back, very slow moving world of Academia.
What kind of Academia are you talking about? You publish or perish, write grants to get projects funded, deliver (questionable) results in unreasonable deadlines or you’re out of a grant and therefore on the streets from one day to the next.
Then there’s the usual practice that almost all jobs except for the professor’s are temporary positions and if the project doesn’t get funded, you don’t get the desired results (see above) or you clash with someone in the administration that don’t like you, you’re out of a job when your contract is up for extension. And even if you do a good job, getting a new contract is never a given, therefore stringing temporary contracts together is horrible for your mental health.
When I finally switched from academia to industry because of all that bullshit my new colleagues had to remind me that I no longer have to adhere to these standards, have a permanent position and can relax without working unreasonable hours or unpaid overtime.
I’m getting a PhD because I like to learn and I want to learn all I can about the physical phenomena around me - I would hope we could start thinking of higher education as more than just job training.
Exactly, I went for my PhD because of interest in science and my subject. Never really wanted a job in academia and I am happily employed in the private sector now. We should return to praising science and knowledge for its own sake (and the betterment of mankind) rather than seeing it only as a means to a better paycheck and/or corporate profit.
Yup. Me too.
This is me. Grad school was about interest not work.
The world needs as many highly educated people as possible. The problem becomes when you make higher education a business and attach publication as a requirement for advancement. Then you are diluting the quality of research in pursuit of a “high volume” model. In this model people don’t follow passion they follow the path of least resistance and we all suffer for it.
You might notice that not all PhDs work in academic environments. Actually most of them work in businesses.
