Tom Head Selects Ph.D. Program

question: don´t the Australian / South African universties require something like an oral disputation/defense of the dissertation thesis? (most European universities do) - which would mean that a residential stay in that country would be mandatory?

 

Dear Bill,

Thank you for your support. Also, I really wish you all the very best during the undertaking of your Ph.D.

Cordially yours,


Karlos Alberto Lacaye
[email protected]

 

Mmmmm,

My next question would be:-

"What is it about American DL doctoral programs that makes them so expensive (more than twice the price) compared with equal-status ones from foreign universities (UK, Australia, South Africa) ?"

Regards,

Neil

 

From what I've seen...UK, Oz, and SA doctorates require pretty much the dissertation only. The US RA program I'm going to be applying to requires core coursework, elective coursework, a comprehensive examination, a seminar paper (major paper that reviews the prominent literature in your field), the dissertation, and an oral defense of the dissertation. Very simply, the faculty who are teaching the courses, administering & grading the comps, reviewing the seminar papers, and sitting on the dissertation committee aren't going to work for free. Faculty at US universities are compensated pretty well (as they should be), so all this is going to drive the price up.


Bruce

 

Neil Hynd asks: "What is it about American DL doctoral programs that makes them so expensive (more than twice the price) compared with equal-status ones from foreign universities (UK, Australia, South Africa) ?"

Average faculty pay in the US, as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education, July 2001:

Business/management: $76,000
Economics: $70,000
Law: $108,000
Electrical Engineering: $79,000
and so on.

And this is the average from brand new instructors to full professors. For senior faculty, six-figure salaries are very common. And this is for the academic year of between 8 and nine months.

Once a friend (who teaches business at a California State University) and I were offered a contract to write a computer textbook for Holt, Rinehart. We were each offered a $10,000 advance, which I thought was swell. His reply: I've just been offered the opportunity to teach at the summer session on my campus. Three classes for 12 weeks, perhaps 10 hours a week in class, two graduate assistants for paper grading, $20,000. And you want me to work hard for a year on this book for half that amount?"

 

Yes.

Out here the Universities are funded by the Government and any foreigner provides the cream.

Our salaries are roughly in the following ranges:

Associate Lecturer [tutor, slave] $36-49K
Lecturer $52-62K
Senior Lecturer $64-75K
Assoc Professor $75-83K
Professor $97K ->

All are plus 17% superannuation contributed by the employer. As a guide a SL teaches say 9 hours a week. Remember, that 'professor' in US in not 'professor' here but a level of lecturer. You'll get about 26 weeks student contact a year.

Private Institutions and Colleges pay similarly although titles/responsibilities are different.

So come down here for your PhDs - we'll make sure that you pass 'cos we need your bucks ) . Well sadly, in some cases, people in responsibility may have quite a hard time proving otherwise.

Peter French
Australia

 

Do I assume correctly, Peter, that your figures are in Australian dollars -- which, today, are at exactly 50% of US dollars. If so, that A$97,000 for a full professor would be US$48,500 dollars.

 

Peter,

Does this PAY-n-PASS opportunity guarantee me a Ph.D. with minimal work? If so, I'm on my way down there. See you in Sydney on the 17th.

Russell

 

Keep in mind that these are among the very highest paid fields. Law and engineering professors receive high salaries due to market demands. Many, many faculty members in other fields are receiving salaries in the range of 40-60K. Technically the appointment is nine months, but if you don't write, do research, etc. during the summer (even if not receiving a summer salary) you won't get tenure. And many institutions now have post-tenure review.

Many (probably most) faculty members put in far more hours of work than the classroom clock time. Research and service consume much time. Class preparation can easily take three to four hours for each hour in front of the class. Not all universities provide teaching assistants to do the grading, leaving the faculty members to grade stacks of papers themselves.

Just want to set the record straight. In most cases, being a faculty member is hardly the best path to riches.

Alex

 

Hi,

My experience of UK education and overseas students is that overseas students pay the fully economically-costed price. No "cream pricing" at marginal cost.

Here in the Middle East I see that on $ prices, US first degree programs are lowest price, then Aus then UK. There is an annual "world market" education exhibition in Dubai where price lists are on display to a buyer's market.

US doctoral DE programs (RA) would appear to be "loaded" - signs of a "closed shop", cartels, price fixing ?

What else could it be ?

Regards,

Neil

 

I can give you 2 good reason.

a. The Australian Uni system is very much based on the British uni system (which is highly regarded, - lets not forget Oxford uni, Cambridge uni, etc. . .)

b. With 1 USD$ worth 2 AUD$'s it also makes perfect economic sense. (get your top shelf MBA for well under USD$10K !!!)

CFr

 

Ozzie dollars of course! - what other typre of real dollars are there? )

But taking it all into account, locally the buying power overall does not differ much from the same number of dollars in US.

Our salaries generally do not vary with the disciplines except in e.g. Medicine or Biological research - definitely NOT different in Law, Accounting, Engineering as in my area. However, you do get some juicy side contracts - right to private practice (Medicos, Law), share in discoveries (Bio, Engineering); consultancies ... all of course if you are in the right place at the right time and know the right people - otherwise you become/stay a colourless insipid drone like some other high IQ morons who have learned everything about nothing and have a PhD to prove it ))

Peter French
(no PhD - not even from CEU)

 

Well Rev Fr Dr Morris, even if you only speak and write Calathumpian, but your money is convertible into stuff that buys wine, women or song - we will almost make you a diety (small"d" of course) at some places.

Some places (that will remain unnamed) are going to have to do some fancy talking and some even fancier footwork, under the new quality assurance process that universities are about to undergo, unless of course that all beocme a ruse. There is considerable unrest in some areas - graduate students without any faculty for 6 months, and then a 'soft' assessment which they then all failed; students who failed in undergraduate who were then passed an honours level by another bank of examiners; an institution that has been late (like in monthS)with their financial statements and when they are presented they get tossed out because they don't balance, can't be reconciled, don't relate to what really happened, and there is nothing to substantiate most transactions; student teachers doing their practicum at a remote location without any supervision or contact between the university and the training school; studnets doing undegraduate work who can't converse or write in English graduating with honours degrees, and the academic who blew the whistle losing tenure ...

However, these are the exception rather than the rule, and there is always the possibility of another side to each story but neither George Brown nor I could guarantee you absolutely that you would not get a 'soft' course and pass.

Yesterday, I failed a foreign student for entry into a 2 years Advanced Diploma college course. He was not happy, but his English scores alone failed him, apart from his wanky degree. In the afternoon, I found that he had gained entry to a Masters course at a University in the same discipline - when i phone up about this, I was told that "...entry doesn't translate into graduation..." - well in this one we'll see, but if that is the case for him, he'll truly be the exception there.

If you get given the 'hint' to go to another school from any Ozzies, TAKE IT! but don't ask for detailed explanations as some of us don't like being sued.

In all sincerity

Peter French
Melbourne, Australia

 

Just always make sure that you fully understand what the PhD thesis requires out here. It is the belief of some faculties that overseas PhD students, particularly including those from US, won't necessarily complete their degrees.

Our completion rate is of national concern, and varies between 20% and 70%. Of those who started in 1992, only 36% completed their courses within 4 years of full time study. For masters students, only 18% completed their course within 2 years of fulltime study. By 1999 53% of doctoral and 31% of masters studnets had completed their studies. The rate clearly varies from university to university, but those detail are under wraps. Humanities fare far worse than Science which I would have thought would have been the other way around.

I am not doing a PhD or EdD because (1) we traditionally operate 1 level of degree below that in US and (2) it would scare people away from hiring me in my position as they would regard me as too specialised and having lost the broader approach needed. Even the VC position at Adelaide Univerity doesn't stipulate a PhD.

So I am doing a 2nd Master of Education at UNE, this time as Honours level [2 semester and 1 year long coursework subjects, a 55K thesis with 4 external markers including international, and it must be progressively published]. Imagine the additional requirements for a PhD!!! My research area revolves around quality issues of teachers in post secondary education. In contrast to do a EdD at Latrobe, requires 2 year long subjects assessed by 1 12K paper each, and a 50K thesis. An EdD at UNE requires 4 coursework subjects at about 15K each, then a 100K thesis or series of progressively published papers arising from supervised research within a defined and agreed area.

As degree requirements vary so much between universities, there is NO way that they can be regarded as equal to each other. My comfort is that most University faculites of Accounting/Business and Education in Australia, has senior academics with UNE post graduate credentials.

Peter French
Melbourne, Australia
MAc MEd (UNE)
MEd [Hon] Candidate 2002-2004 (UNE)