PhD system: American, British, Australian, SA Which one is better?

Can you give advantage or disadvantage for each system?

American system Need 4 year
1st year: Coursework to fulfill major
2nd year: Complete coursework to fulfill major, Submit proposal for supporting program or minor to faculty, Begin coursework to fulfill supporting program/minor, Complete coursework for supporting program/minor, Complete written preliminary examinations, Submit Preliminary Written Exam Report to Graduate School, Conduct research, Complete Degree Program form, Submit Degree Program to Graduate School
3rd year: Select examining committee for oral exams, Schedule oral prelim exam, Submit Preliminary Oral Examination Scheduling form to Graduate School, Preliminary oral examination, Submit Preliminary Oral Examination Report to Graduate School, Submit thesis proposal to faculty, Submit approved Thesis Proposal forms to the Graduate School, Obtain Graduation Packet from Graduate School, Conduct research and write thesis
4th year: Write Thesis, Submit Examination Scheduling Doctoral Final Oral form to Graduate School, Complete final oral exam
(defend dissertation), Submit Final Oral Examination Report to Graduate School, Submit thesis to Graduate School, GRADUATE!!

British system Need 3 year
"learning process look like american system but no coursework in 1st year"

Australian system need 3 year
"look like British system but NO!!defend dissertation but need to send dissertation to external examiner"

South African Technikon need 2 year DTech(only research)
1st step: 6-9 month for preparation a thesis proposal
2nd step: 2 year for research and defence Doctoral thesis

European system need 4-6 year
"look like british system but student alway hired as a researcher(have salary)by university"

Can you give advantage or disadvantage for each system?

 

European system need 4-6 year - "look like british system but student alway hired as a researcher(have salary)by university"

not necessarily,
in many countries (and universities), it´s also possible to write your disseration "externally", i.e. next to a industry job.

besides, subject areas differ very much in time, e.g. a PhD in Business can take 3-5 years in Germany, whereas a PhD in Jurisprudence can sometimes be achieved in 1-2 years after your Master´s degree...

 

In my case the decision was relatively easy to make. After some fairly exhaustive research I was able to determine that there was not a single US school (that I could afford) that offered a program that fit my interests. By the way, my own estimate is that the "time for completion" figures you've listed would generally be considered ambitious, even for a full-time student.
Jack

 

IMO in the study of Theology (not pastoral theology) going only from a coursework MA into a research only PhD does not provide in the MA in many cases a sufficiently broad foundation for doc work. I know this is done, I just question it. But I'm looking at this from the perspective of wanting to know the subject not just wanting to get the the degree. If entrance exams for the PhD were sufficiently rigorous that might show a sufficient foundation.

 

IMHO, the US PhD´s are the best programs, better than anywhere else. European Schools follow right after, with exceptions, of course. It is not the same a degree from the Sorbonne than another one from a XXX State University.

 

The american system is more structured
and better suited for part time study. The problem with the UK , SA or Australian model is that it is hard to manage for part time study since you don't have milestones so it is all or nothing. Also, american dissertations are normally completed in a shorter period of time because they only account for 50% of the program.

Australian and UK universities have also
american "type" doctorates but they call them "DBAs or Dtech" that are more suitable for part time study. They have course work and dissertation as the american PhDs.Also, the research can be completed in a topic aligned to the work place.

 

I believe you are making out the UK, OZ, & SA systems to be easier then actual. The work you list in years three and four for the US are very similar to the work in the others. The big difference being that you need to develop all the research tools (statistics, etc.) your self in the non-US programs.

Also you have to develop the topic fairly well BEFORE you get started, and if you change direction (i.e. change topic) you may have trouble in the non-US programs.

The main advantage I see tot he US method is that you delevop all the tools before the research portion, get to know the professors better, and get up to speed on the current trends in academia, before you commit to a research topic. I know in my case I have fine tuned my topic quite a bit in the last year. I also found out that my research tools were some what lacking.

I agree to what others said above, that the US system is better suited to DL, and I also think it is better suited to late career starts.

 

Personally, I think the doctorates from South African universities are in general extremely dubious. All my peers who sought PhDs pursued their degrees through U.S. programs or, in a few cases, through Israeli or U.K. programs. This indeed is how I ended up in the U.S.