Question, Considering a Phd in religion / philosophy area (no faith-based institutions). This will not be a lucrative endeavour, so am looking for something relatively inexpensive but reputable. UK schools are of great interest but the few I've found tend to have two sets of fees, one for home students and the other international. International fees tend to be beyond my budget. Anyone aware of opportunities in this area where tuition is closer to "home" rates for international students?
Harrison Middleton has a Doctor of Arts that looks like it could be tailored in that direction. http://www.hmu.edu/doctor-of-arts Are you wanting to teach with it? Obvious suggestions in the affordable and credible would be to look at South African Institutions like the University of South Africa, University of the Free State, and North West.
Would be looking to teach but I use the term very broadly. May be adjunct or conference speaking, etc. No expectation of significant remuneration. ~$4K USD/ year would be doable (i.e. ~$20K for a 5 year part-time program). The Harison program looks interesting but Regional Accreditation is a minimum for US accreditation for me (Royal Charter for UK). Would probably limit my geographic focus to Canada, United States, and the UK.
...and, probably, India (if the Universidad Azteca / Central University of Nicaragua - thing is out of question).
UK/EU £20,825 International £24,930 Just found this for a DocSocSci at Leceister; this is a smaller spread than others I've seen and just a bit over budget. They do have a professor with an interest in certain humanities topics. Does anyone have experience with Leceister or this program?
So, for someone with my interests... on a scale of 1-10... 10 being best program ever and 1 being run for the hills... what has been your experience?
I have no idea how to answer that. Unless there is a DSocSci program at Leicester I don't know about, the one I did does not at all line up with your original post. The DSocSci is a "taught" program, although there is no actually teaching. It means it has a curricular component (like an American PhD), instead of the degree being based entirely on the thesis. That curriculum was based on labour market ideas of human resource development. Sort of macroeconomics applied to human capital. This is hardly what you described in your post.
One of the professors has a research interest in spirituality and ethics. Agree that the research proposal would probably need a labour or "workplace" angle but if she were my advisor there may be something we could agree on.
You did read my response, right? You'll have to complete three years of irrelevant study AND convince the school that your research topic is one they'd be willing to supervise. And it won't be up to your supervisor, even if she is assigned to you. Sorry, but that decision is made much higher up than that. In fact, it is made outside the school, at the university level. I wanted to do research on the Chief Learning Officer, the pinnacle of HRD practice. I made my case, showed why it was an important concept in the field of HRD, etc. They declined my request. I beefed it up and they declined it again. Finally, I got someone I knew at the school (at the time it was the CLMS; now it would be the School of Management) to intervene on my behalf. The university's compromise: I had to write a scholarly paper demonstrating that the CLO was a subject that could and should be the subject of scholarly research. Those almost-30 pages got my topic approved.* Here in the US my proposal to study the CLO would have been a no-brainer, but not with these guys. I just don't see how your topic fits into their paradigm at all. My advice would be to make sure--very sure--it is AND WILL BE several years later when you go to write up the thesis proposal. Oh, and if cost is an issue, be sure to factor in the expense of traveling to Leicester to defend your thesis, which must be done in person. Air fare, hotel, meals, trains, subway, cabs, and the thesis defense fee. Be sure to get a first-class ticket on the train--the cost isn't that much and it's nice to have a reserved seat instead of (perhaps) sitting on the floor all the way to Leicester from St Pancras Station. And stay at the Belmont Hotel. Nicely appointed, not terribly expensive, old-school, and within walking distance of the university, Granby Street, New Walk, and everything else you'd want in Leicester. Have a pint at the Walkabout (an Ozzie pub) and let me know what they're putting in the place of The Last Plantagenet restaurant and pub. Oh, and try some Hobnobs. Finally, have a KitKat bar and tell me how much better it is than the US version. (I made 6 trips to Leicester during my program.) *(I re-purposed that paper as part of Chapter 1 of my thesis.)
20k gonna be tight to find something in the US/UK only PhD in philosophy that comes to mind that's affordable is Sofia University's program. but they're not NA/Royal Charter https://www.uni-sofia.bg/index.php/eng/the_university/faculties/faculty_of_philosophy/degree_programmes/phd_programmes/phd_programmes_in_philosophy
Rich, Seems like your experience was less than stellar. You are probably right regarding the obstacles in finding a topic they would support and I would be interested in (not really interested in labour market studies). Good on you for sticking it out; Leicester may not be a "Russell Uni" but is highly regarded.
Impressive group. Leicester is higher-ranked than three of the 24 Russell Unis and comparably ranked near another three. A bit of a scrappy outsider, and that's how they promote the school. I'm glad to be a small part of that. (I'm a little scrappy myself.)
Oh, no. Not at all. It was just very, very rigorous. Everything. Papers, proposals, the thesis, everything. EVERYTHING. Here's an example: at my viva, my external examiner (from the University of Limerick) ask an extremely salient question. That question cost me a year of extra research and writing. But it was a fantastic question and really forced me to bring my grounded theory to life. You paid the price, then you got what you paid for.
