Need Help on Deciding between Universities

Thank you guys. It's certainly turning out to be an interesting discussion. RF, thanks for the list of Universities. What I am planning to do next week (starting tomorrow) is to contact my 2 UK universities, UNISA, as well as the Australian universities mentioned in RF's email. I will also contact UofT, and York to see what they have to say about this subject.

Stay tuned, I will post my findings as I make progress.

Regards,
J.

 

Thanks Randy,

Some how I doubt the University of Toronto would give to Javad a letter of accreditation for such a degree.

The PhD from UNISA is the cheapest DL degree you can get, even the PhD from KWU would cost you much more than a UNISA degree.

 

But it's State Licensed... hee, hee.

It's either hangout here and appear busy or work on the dreaded honey-do list. Ooops, here she comes now; time to put on my most perplexed, save-the-world face. Yes, it’s working, the danger has passed...

Have a great week gents!

Cheers…R

 

Javad, you never posted your contact for UNISA in Canada, was this it?

http://www.iaci-canada.com/

John Roberts Ph.D (London ICST)

 

Hello. Here's a reply from UW (some Dean who shall remain nameless) :

"When it comes to evaluating faculty candidates, the university where he studied is not as important as the quality of the candidate's research and, secondly, the stature of who the reference letter writers are. I would focus less on the reputation of the department you are considering and more on the reputation of the individual researchers you'd be working with there."

 

Yes, my contact in Canada was Dr. Esselen of IACI-Canada. He was very helpful.

 

Could you technically complete your Ph.D/DPhil and have it ready to go to examination in less than 24 months, given your work, publications, experience etc?

My guess is, with what you've done you may already have it written, and are about to embark on the process to go through the motions with whichever university and submit the Thesis in 12 months, if allowed..Only a stab in the dark?

Given your earlier comment, 40 hours per week to do it, working as well, family man and all that good stuff, you must be a budding genious or ironman?

John Roberts Ph.D (London ICST)

PS. Thats why I posted the new thread..Doctorate in 44 weeks, I thought you would catch me out when I posted it.

 

I work from 8:30-5:30 apx. My topic for my PhD research is new. And it's something I am beginning to work with at "work". Half of my work hours is well spend working/learning/researching the topic of my PhD. I usually spend 3-4 hours at home as well. Add several week-end hours, sure it's possible and you don't have to be a superman either.

Sorry, I have not read your other posting. I will do so.

 

Yes, a doctorate in 44 (well 52!) weeks is possible!

It is possible to gain a full 'accredited doctorate in one year (or less) from a UK university that offers the PhD by 'published works'. You can construe 'published works' relatively loosely in that unpublished works and other portfolio materials may be accepted as part of the submission. The universities that permit this approach usually also require a 3,000-8,000 words summary of how the submissions relate to each other. In many cases you can only submit in this way to the university from which you originally graduated but there are other UK institutions now offering this pathway (Luton being one) to anyone.

However, don't see this as an easy option, because it is not. In one sense, it is the most dicciult PhD to obtain in that you have no one on your side - no supervisor(s), committee, etc. So, so many people come to doctorate work simply not understanding what is involved. You can have help the most prestigious positions, be an expert in yuur field, have spent your life involved with the topic/discipline and still not be up to doctoral level standard - academically! Remember, a degree is about your expertise as an academic! I was going to give an example! Perhaps I'll do so later!

Doing a doctorate is about the 'struggle' not the ease of completing set modules! If anyone is still in the 'lets complete the module(s) frame of mind, then forget about a doctorate! if you want to wrestle and struggle with ideas until it hurst and, at times, you think you just can't see the way forward, then do a doctorate!

'telfax'

 

I agree with the statement, however, I have heard many times from my chair of the department of the university where I teach part time things like "We finally got this guy from Cornell" or "We are getting a new guy from Waterloo" or sometimes it is the place where they work like "we are getting this researcher from IBM or ORACLE". They probably won't admit it, but they get very excited when they get people from top universities or research institutions.

 

Hi. Just heard from Deacon. See below.

"The tuition fees for the Doctor of Philosophy in either Engineering or Computing and Mathematics is A$18,000 per year. The course duration is 3-4 years but you may be able to discuss with a supervisor a shorter duration. The next semester intake is in February 2003.".

So 2 out of the 3 Universities above have turned out to be quite expensive. FYI.

 

Sorry, make that Deakin.

 

That is quite expensive, do they require residencies? I know Charles Sturt is cheaper but it is nor as prestigious as Deakin

 

Charles Sturt is $12,500 per year. 3 Years Min full time.

 

Howzit Javad. A couple of observations from the Carpathian peasant--

UNISA can be impenetrably bureaucratic (not always, but be aware of this)

If you want e-mails answered and clearly worded responses to your questions, the Australian universities have the SAns beat hands down. Since foreign students are fee-paying, the Australian universities want them. Some SA unis are not so clear in their attitudes.

I talked yesterday with someone at Windsor and he was scornful of SA degrees as not nearly as good as UK degrees; bear in mind this was a typical Cdn uni PC wine-snob type (tweed for brains).

The top-level SA universities do not appear to be under threat from the restructuring currently being developed by the minister of education in SA; the exchange rate for the rand makes an SA degree a tremendous financial bargain.

Hope things work out for you.

 

Javad, how ws your week checking out those Canadian/Brit/Aussy/USA and SA universities?

Did you finally find a DL program that you like, with the study hour workload and the cost?.

Would you mind letting us know what the outcome was?

J.R (ic)

 

Thank you for following up. I posted my msg to a dozen or so high ranking faculty members (Deans) at different universities around Canada. I received only 1 reply. One from UW which I posted already. Her comment was "University did not matter, quality of research + advisor + advisor's research" mattered.

So, since I never heard back from UofT, out of curosity, I sent my question to a friend at UofT research centre. His reply was "UofT sends the research thesis to several Profs (who are working on the same or similar topics) for evaluation". He also made a comment on UofT faculty being very strict.... and confirmed what others had already mentioned in previous posts.

I still have not decided between universities. Australia is out since they are too expensive. I talked to UW, they want me to attend classes in MMath, then transfer to PhD, also be present at U for certain hours per week... which does not work for me. I have a job.

I am still undecided between UNISA and UK. I'd like to hear comments about UNISA and also talk to someone at UNISA. I called them today but they simply said they will email me. It's very hard to get a hold of somebody at UNISA. On the phone they're nice, but getting info is like pulling teeth.

There you go. That's it in a nut shell. I will keep you/everyone posted.

 

Just to mention another SA option: there was a fellow by the name of Mahamed from Kuwait who posted here a while ago. He decided to do a PhD in Computer Science through the University of Pretoria.