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PhD, research and its upshot: How much quality do we produce?
The phd (doctor of philosophy), or the doctoral degree, is considered the highest educational degree in the world. india is ranked fourth globally, producing slightly over 24,000 doctoral graduates each year. but it still lacks quality research..
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A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is theoretically the highest educational degree all over the world. Also known as a doctoral degree, a PhD can be awarded to one after a master's or even an MPhil. A PhD enables a person to use the title ‘doctor’. The PhD research programme is supposed to aim to produce graduates who would contribute to the body of knowledge in their specific fields of study and develop innovative, theory-based, systematic, and practical solutions to the significant concerns of specific issues. Though it is challenging, it is also rewarding.
As per the most recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, less than 2 per cent of the world's population has a doctorate degree today. According to the US Census Bureau, only 1.2 per cent of the US population has a PhD, whereas Slovenia and Switzerland have the highest percentage of the population with a doctorate, at 5 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively. India stands tall in the number of doctoral graduates produced on a yearly basis, according to the recently released OECD report. Producing slightly over 24,000 doctoral graduates, India is ranked fourth against the USA, which produces 68,000 graduates and tops the list. An All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) report from 2019 revealed that the number of PhD degrees awarded has increased by 60 per cent in the last five years. The total PhD admissions increased manifold in the last few years from 1,26,451 in 2015-16 to 2,02,550 in 2019-20. A total of 38,986 students were awarded PhD degrees in 2019, which includes 21,577 male and 17,409 female candidates. 2,881 students enrolled in Integrated PhD programmes, in addition to 2.02 lakh students who enrolled in PhD degrees.
READ | UGC allows extension of up to 6 months for submission of MPhil or PhD thesis
WHY DO PEOPLE OPT FOR A PHD?
Is research necessary in everyday life.
Research is a tool for building knowledge and facilitating learning. It's a means to comprehend issues and increase public awareness. It helps to flourish in business and gauge opportunities. It allows to invalidate lies and support the justifiable truths. Research also develops confidence in many ways such as reading, writing, analysing, and sharing valuable new information and knowledge through nourishment and mind exercise. It is required not just for students, research scholars and academics, but for all professionals and nonprofessionals alike, to determine what the general public may want to know or what researchers want others to realise or think critically about. Thus, research is an indispensable component in producing knowledge. Through research, people get the latest reliable knowledge, build credibility, help in narrowing down the scope and introduce newer ideas, inculcate better judgement and problem-solving capacity, and finally, it can help one reach the common man by providing the best solution to societal problems. Therefore, research is the most reliable way to understand and act on the complexities of various issues faced by human beings from time to time.
DOES RESEARCH HELP HUMANKIND?
Every kind of information is important to humankind and it should be known and available to all. People should be aware of what is happening in and around the world. Research exists for humankind because it helps in understanding our society, culture, ethics, life choices, and newer developments, whether scientific or technological.
READ | Banaras Hindu University launches 'Teach for BHU' scheme to engage PhD students in teaching
Research in education has a very vigorous role to play because it is supposed to provide a systematic analysis, observation, and prediction and development of new theories, models and principles. It also initiates a learning-teaching atmosphere and expands the decision-making process, brings uniformity and motivates others if it confirms the right facts and figures. So, through research, overall improvements of an individual is possible, which ultimately leads to the development of humankind.
From the above argument, it is very clear that PhD research has its dependability and importance in education, especially when we speak about educational institutions. But, in today’s scenario, PhD research is not looked at as intellectual development. Rather, it is done for the sake of doing to earn a degree. That's because a serious methodology is not justified or rationalised and no newness and indigenous knowledge are produced through new models or theories. Therefore, the question is, how robust or actual is our PhD research?
Though research is compulsory in PhD, scholars often do not select or explore tough or new areas. They rather select an ‘easy-going’ area, problem or issue. It is also observed that in India, most PhD findings are not so good, with no newness in knowledge production. Why is indigenous knowledge through PhD research lacking in India? Why does India lack in quality research? That's the million-dollar question today in the intellectual arena, even though we know the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 talks about promoting Indic knowledge through indigenous empirical study.
THE WAY FORWARD?
At the very outset, I must say that quality should not be compromised in PhD research and that favouritism should be stopped at the entry level. Sometimes, preference is given to family members or friends, or to someone who comes with a recommendation from the higher authorities. This must stop. We must also have strong guidelines, both qualitative and quantitative, for an analytical entrance examination because multiple-choice questions in PhD admission are not enough to adjudicate a good scholar who might be a future faculty. UGC scholarship can be fixed to up to 4 years, and scholars must complete their PhD within the 4-year time. Because longer time does not guarantee quality research, and there is no scientific proof of it. I personally feel 4 years is enough for completing a quality PhD in social sciences. My personal Technical Suggestive Model is that the first year should be coursework and examination. the second year should be for tools development, pilot study and data collection. the third year should be thesis writing, while the fourth year should be for going back to the field (respondents) again to re-analyse those findings and outcomes for the development of new models and theories, that can then be presented at a seminar or journaled for exclusive rights or patent. I feel it will be the only way to produce new models and indigenous theories or Indic knowledge in India.
Also, let's look at the scholarship perspective. A one-year reduction means UGC will accumulate more than Rs 4 lakh from a scholar in a year. Imagine the amount of money that can be accumulated in total, and utilised further for organisational support for scholars in case of need in future — for example, a welfare or research organisation to work for a cause. Also, the money can be utilised for free schooling and scholarships for orphan children, and disabled students who lost their parents during the Covid-19 pandemic. Think seriously and realistically, and you may not disagree with me.
As per a Hindustan Times report, dated March 17, 2022, the draft UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of PhD Degree) Regulations, 2022, has proposed several changes, including making undergraduates who have been in the four-year programme with a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 7.5 eligible for PhD admissions, and also removing the mandatory requirement of having the research paper published before the submission of the thesis. It could sooner or later compromise the quality of research. Even continuous changes of regulations may confuse and complicate things for the research scholars. I feel UGC should have long-term — maybe 10 years — robust procedural research regulations and then continuously monitor and evaluate to see the gaps, if any, along with proper checks and balances regarding quality publication.
READ | Jamia Millia Islamia PhD admissions from April 1 to 30: Know details
I sense educational institutions must admit only those students in PhD programmes who have a passion for research and rationality in the area, or want to work at the grass-root level with people’s issues and problems, not mediocre nor having UGC NET/JRF only.
Another observation is that rejection of thesis is very few in India, though it is written in the evaluation form. Let’s have an evaluation system that is very confidential. Supervisors often take advantage by giving the external evaluators names of a known person to easily complete the evaluation without any critical analysis of the thesis. I call it biases in the evaluation system. So, a strict system of evaluation should be developed after examining the areas of expertise of the examiners, even if it is an international examiner. There is a saying in India that thesis submission means it is done. This notion has to be changed now.
I always feel that PhD scholars should be given teaching opportunities at least a few times every semester, as a teacher's assistant or research faculty, to develop their interest in teaching and enrich their teaching capability and competence. Research ethics need to be strictly followed from admissions to submissions in the name of truth and scientific integrity, fairness, social responsibility, and validation of data. So, a culture of research has to be developed.
Strategic planning needs to be developed that can work on academic freedom and flexibility. Centralised planning for quality research has to be given priority as it is limited in India. Industry-partnership building for collaboration and research should be a must because this approach is well known and very successful in Australia and other countries. Strong research infrastructure through international journals, magazines, computing and networking infrastructure, and international collaboration through a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) is also desirable. An E-Research Unit can be introduced like Australia, and Support for Intellectual Property (IP) Management and its commercialisation for filing patents and protecting them should be reinforced. Classic research is not re-visiting or replicating, we have only an exemplar or paradigm of research. Therefore, replication of these classic research is possible when there will be revisiting of those extensively — from a set of examples to an extensive set up of replication of studies, which would help verify replicability criteria of the scientific method that is missing.
The very concept of category by Aristotle and other philosophers now needs to be redefined because it requires certain qualifications and justifications. Because we see that deciding a category does not adhere now. Therefore, researchers are being trapped or following the existing categories available in the literature, which has a gap, yet it has been accepted by many scholars. Today we must develop not only 'helping tools' but also more ‘knowledge tools’ because every social science subject should have their own knowledge tools used in research. Whatever we have now, is old, and indigenous and empirical knowledge tools need to be developed more. A single window system from a research governance perspective, like the passport seva, needs to be developed for a smooth procedural facet of research in India. More academic writing in research must be done and teaching jobs and promotions in teaching should be done based on quality research now.
Finally, impact on society through PhD research has to be ensured, and a rewards system should be introduced for faculty and scholars encouraging them towards quality research, both at national and international levels. Only then can we achieve a level of quality in our research in India, which then would be able to compete at an international level.
(Prof. Sanjoy Roy, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi) READ | IIT Roorkee enrolls female candidates under SAKUNTALA Fellowship for full time PhD programme Published By: Namrata Agarwal Published On: Jun 2, 2022 --- ENDS ---
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India produces 3rd class PhDs every year on an assembly line. It needs an immediate fix
A person who wants to pursue his/her career in Academics can only gain respect if the prefix ‘Dr’ is attached before their name. Being a PhD holder is a prerequisite to establishing oneself as a scholar in a particular subject or stream in India.
But why is PhD a requirement to prove one’s ability? Why all the hype is just about the prefix attached with the name and no heed is paid to the topic of research. How are the doctoral degrees attained? Does it require any rigorous process? Is PhD done to contribute to the field of research or is it a way to get employment through enrolment? Let’s find out.
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The doctoral degree has become the parrot that magician takes out from their black hat in every show. The doctorate which was once pursued to contribute to Nation and its research projects have become a mad rush. The students lacking skill, capture PhD seats to get fellowships.
India stands at the fourth position in producing the highest number of PhD scholars with a toll of 24,000. The list is topped by the USA, which awards more than 64,000 doctorate degrees every year. The findings of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development established these numbers.
The enrolments in PhD are mainly done to satisfy two causes. One as to attach oneself with the sense of superiority and dignity. Second, to gain government fellowships in the name of being ‘scholars.’
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With the changing dynamics and approach, the dignity and respect associated with a doctorate have gone down the drain.
India crippled by the ‘Doctors’
Since the age of civilization, India has advocated that ‘There is no age limit to study and gain knowledge.’ But in today’s era, when there exists a cutthroat competition, it is very necessary to have quality education at the correct age.
India is a destination to gain knowledge, but where do we Indians stand on the scale of knowledge. This question should be directed at us because our country produces as many as around 60 Lakhs Graduates and 15 Lakhs Postgraduates every year.
While many Indians take pride in attaining a doctorate, very less is known about their hustle. Indians are obsessed with ‘titles’, and the prefix ‘Dr’ lies in the same row. People enrolled in a doctorate are not often seen conducting research and contributing to the research fraternity. The ‘doctors’ are no longer seen holding piles of paper bound spirally and there are very less trips to colleges and guides as well.
The University Grants Commission had recently expressed concerns about the quality of PhD research in India. The reason is a 50% hike in the number of enrolments in Doctorate. But the quality of the thesis has fallen constantly. And it would not be wrong to say that PhD is a scam running in the name of quality education.
Dissertations and its constantly deteriorating quality
As mentioned above the enrolment in PhD programmes have increased. But the quality of topics chosen, and the thesis being written is constantly deteriorating. The topics that are said to be chosen after the Board’s nod are no more relevant. The thesis written today is majorly survey-based. As today’s generation does want to conduct analytical research. The topics chosen and the thesis written have no relevance. According to a report published by The Print , the thesis that is majorly written today is more theoretical, repetitive, with no contemporary relevance and use.
The topics chosen are like, ‘Tribal movements of Gujarat in 19th and 20th century’, ‘Colonisation and development problems in Kerala — a case study of evolution and nature of public action 1850-1956’, ‘Widows and widowhood in the colonial Punjab’ and ‘A survey on the condition of working women in the coalfield and steel plants in Jharkhand since 1947’.
Research in the field of Science and Technology, even after investing a huge amount, is not benefitting the nation as the works in this field are not innovative enough. The topics of History, Political Science and Literature are often repetitive and distant from the contemporary world.
After the topics, the thesis is far below the quality as often filled with plagiarized content. The Universities mostly have no mechanism to check the extent of plagiarism and it goes unchecked. The ‘scholars’ of India are no more than ‘copycats.’
MP3 and GPS would not have been a part of lives without the contribution of PhD scholars. But with constantly deteriorating quality, there is a debate on the value that the Doctorate holds. Is Doctorate really beneficial for Nation? Or is it just a wastage of resources?
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Comments 32
Well written and so apt! Its a harsh truth!
We can’t generalize in this way. There’s no dearth of quality research in India. It’s also true that some PhDs are below standard. UGC may take necessary initiatives to ensure quality.
Dear sir, sorry to say, but I am not agree with your word ” third Class”. When we are talking about research, how much % of funds reserved in our higher education budget? Pl compare with other nations. Our UGC funds for major and minor research diverted to ‘Swachha Bharat Abhiyan’. we will clean our roads, but mind cleaning is more important also. The facilities given by foreign universities are better than our state govt universities. Majority researchers of ph d from asain countries in USA and Canada, UK and Australia. The Research Scholars from india facing many hurdels, problems compare to foriegn universities like infrastructure, communication, guidance, lazy administration in govt universities, etc. Even though the quality of research is better than other countries. I seen hundreds of foreign students taking admission for ph d in indian universities, I Agree 10-20% research scholars are not good, but it is not means all are third class. As I worked as a ph d guide in foriegn universities and working in indian University.
How could you say this? Two years i didn’t get funding from UGC. In India, research is given least priority. Only because of the love of science we are doing research. Our condition is worse than a beggar. How can people write something with out any proper research.
Well written but i don’t believe with the statement “Indians are copy cats”. Totally disagree.
There should be an entrance like GATE for PhDs..Third class Doctorates delivers 😭😭😭😭 Pathetic graduates ..it’s not good for economy and education development.every university should conduct entrance and Interview for Ph.D aspirants..
there is a tough entrance test followed by an interview at IITs
The subject of article is good but content is hollow. All PhDs have been painted with the same brush. PhDs in India are doing really well in abroad. They are leading in cutting edge science and tech. Mention it. There should be a balance.
This is reality…..You can buy a phD degree just for 3 to 4 lakh….This is the condition of India
Totally disagree with biased and generalized statements without sufficient empirical support , I challenge the author to empirically prove his or her claims
Have you any Documents Or support for the disapproval?? What do you think What would be the impact on the society and development of India if India suddenly stopped awarding PhD degree except unemployment?? NOTHING.. Don’t say anything vaguely, give your argument with support
70% of Indians are doing well on YouTube 😀🥂 They should be called Doctors ✌️
I can’t totally disagree but to some extent agree with the content in the article. Reasons are many if we examine as given below. 1) mushroom growth of educational institutions and UGC regulations insisting on PhD to teach in the institutions have driven the people to register and get PhD degree from somewhere. Whom we can blame in this context? 2) unemployment and underemployment of youth tempt them to register for research degree for their existence. 3) quality of education is not strictly monitored by the regulating authorities, so deterioration of standard is a natural outcome. 4) incentives to do quality research in academic or industrial context is absent. There is not many sponsors to encourage research in India. If sponsored research is encouraged there could be checks and balances. 5) Indian industries are not reckoning research for their existence, in spite of they know very well that they can’t compete at global level. 6) there are many well established institutions in India like IISc,IITs etc.where quality research is going on I wish to stop here
While some points in this article are agreeable, most of them are arguable. The low-quality PhDs, as referred to by the author, are a result of socio-economic and political setup of India. There is neither an easy defense for (or against) this article, nor an easy fix. Once we successfully introduce self-correcting/self-accountable mechanisms and mentality in ourselves, this will be fixed automatically, albeit in 2-3 decades. The so-called PhD scam has existed for decades, and is not a new thing.
We can either keep playing the blame game, deny dignity of work and merit, and wait for a trigger to arrive, or start somewhere. After the US, Europe and China (+ east Asia), we will soon have competition from African nations, in large numbers!
Most of the PhD holders who have a say in this matter are already busy in their own research/academic/industry work and other aspects of life. Maybe one can pursue a PhD on this topic, and produce a high(/low) quality (ir)relevant dissertation, to be stacked in some shelf somewhere, to be cited by similar dissertations in future.
Author is not having Ph.D (as per the name given here). This is my observation.
I agree to a larger extent. YES you are correct. Nowadays PhD has become an entry into teaching minus the degraded quality that one has “researched”. People are running after the API to get a PhD with no stuff in it. A young PhD who has just entered the system is offered a guideship. Enamored by this he/she just forces mediocre students to do any rubbish within 3 years so that he/she gets promoted to the next level. They don’t even know the depth of research What quality can you expect? The research work is shunned by the industries. They just put it in trash especially in social sciences. One can get thesis written within 3 years. This is what is happening today. Speaking with evidences. I believe that even in order to be a researc guide, there needs to be written test. Any one can’t become and hence this deterioration.
The problem started when the government permitted private investment in primary and secondary (and higher and professional) education. The quality of graduates and post graduates, whether in social sciences or in science, technology or medicine, deteriorated rapidly with politicians and builders taking over higher education, and making it a money spinning business. Compared to them (graduates and post graduates), perhaps the Ph.Ds are better. There is no short term, medium term or long term solution to this situation, unless government starts making primary and secondary education it’s business, and ousts the business controlled institutions. Please read a book “The Guest Favulty”, which, though not very well written brings out the corruption in government (and private!) colleges. I should know a little about PhD since I have guided or mentored 45 scholars. I found most of them lost and somehow want to complete the degree of three letters. 80% of them did not pursue further research or take scholars under their guidance, which was a terrific waste of talent, however small. Thanks for reading.
I don’t know what what kind of the research the author has put into for coming up with this content. The primary purpose of phd is not to improve or change the fate of country. If it happens in the process it can be considered as a good outcome. The scientific projects awarded to the research community by the committee’s and the evaluation should be judged in that case. The primary criterion of awarding a PhD is to infer that candidate has possessed substantial knowledge on a given topic and is capable of advancing the current knowledge in the area or has identified gaps in the current knowledge and has improved methods to overcome those. Totally 3rd class article if I have to point out in the language of author. Yes there are institutes which does provide poor PhDs , but the problem is not with the researchers who toil around the clock to get forward. One should get into the water to see what is the depth of the lake. Many phd students are awarded after 5 years or ever more number of years of hardship. There is no funding towards the publications. No control over fake journals. Further, obvious underlooking of reviewers occasionally. Very disappointed to see this article. The phd fellowship and facilities awarded in US and European countries is far higher than in India.
The points raised on research quality are not appreciable. One should see how much Govt. Of India is funding on research it just not enough.
The authors generalization and arguments proves that he is the very byproduct of Indian education system. He can’t even write and essay journalistically.
Indian University non net fellowship grant is 8000 and fellowship of jrf is 30000. According to author to get this tiny amount also with time limitations one enrolled himself as a PhD. The Indian government didn’t provide any funds to the university for the research except limited number of project funded by various body so how one can ask for quality research in limited resources. If our scholars are getting more money as a fellowship then why there is a brain drain. Numbers of scholars after getting phd everyone wants to go to foreign countries for future study and job.
Though I did my PhD in India’s current foreign policy, in case the writer of this article wonders if my work has any contemporary relevance, the one thing I want to express that in social science and humanities historical studies are always necessary to determine the evolution of a society/nation/subject and the impact that these changes have on that particular field of study. This constitutes the methodology of the research. So, by judging the title of a thesis you should never disregard the impact of the study. Now, regarding the standard of the thesis, even a contemporary work might lack the quality. So, don’t attack the subjects or fields based on some outside presumptions, instead try to analyse how the scope of guidance and world class library facilities, lack of funds and other incentives work as factors producing poor PhDs in India.
Mihir Saha rightly says even after 75 yrs, our so called IITs who a take lion share of HE funding have not produced a Nobel laureate.
Focal theme is relevant. Unfortunately there is no clear premise in the article. The author does not have the understanding to identify good or bad due to lack of information. It seems to represent a biased opinion. The article lacks originality and is clearly not proven. When everything is corrupted in the eyes of the author, it is hard to accept for him belonging to same feather.
“Third Class Ph D” such word should be refrained to use. The quality of Research mainly depends upon the Ph D supervisor.
To some extent I am agree with the statement. Not all but we have seen a number of commercial institutions and some commercial mentality people are existed in our society they are doing the same. I have gone through the different comments but who is going to bell the cat. ? Let us join our hands together to suggest and extend support to maintain quality from 3rd class to first class to UGC…Can’t we..? Manorath Dahal Sikkim
First of all getting a PhD is not easy as it requires you to do something new and demonstrate the results via a device/prototype along with simulation/equation/analytical modelling results. Unless the novelty factor is not met it would be difficult to produce outputs such as reputed paper publications and patents. Even after you do all these there is no guarantee of jobs in India as there no-alignment of academia and industry. To do relevant reseach we need to have proper industry-acd tie ups and phd/projects should be based on that. Also our schooling is all based on comparisons so Indians tend to be bad in terms of collaborating within departments as they have fear/anxiety of first authorship.
1. Most of the old prof in many IIT/NIT have become lazy as they are getting salary and don’t care about the struggles and mental hardships of PhD student. 2. Unhealthy atmosphere in most of the labs as each student is trying to get there results publish fast and move up in ladder/graduate/try postdocs etc 3. Lack of faculty jobs in India. Although the number of PhDs coming out is high, recruitment is extremely slow and based on god knows what references. 4. In general the ROI of a PhD scholar is very low. He spends 5-6 years of as PhD and 3 years as postdoc but no faculty position or relevant industry job. In comparison someone working in IT will be much more richer in terms of money and social life (considering 10 years span). 5. In general PhD is an overkill. A three year Masters MTech is good enough to gain knowledge of the working tools/software/machines to work in industry but hey there are less relevant industrial jobs! 6. Phd–> postdoc1–>posdoc2 keep doing and dreaming about the job that never arrives and by the time you get the job you are a spent force!
PS: I am already 36 year old! I have PhD from IIT and postdoc from abroad and now have moved to industry in foreign nation. I am contributing to a foreign nation. Cannot find any relevant job in India and tired of applying. Most of the phd scholars they just do any teaching in any private college and keep the tag “open for employment” in linkedin.
This article carries mostly true facts. Actual research work carried by some scholar based on its guide. If easily Dr. Title can achievement, why a scholar will go for hardship.
I think this is a ‘third class’ article. Are we provided enough funds for research in the science and engineering fields? The answer is ‘No’. Are PhDs paid? The answer is ‘No’, but yes we are assigned extra TA works. Indian institutes are still struggling to arrange funds for high-end equipment. It is very easy to comment but very hard to survive in Indian research circumstances. So, don’t generalize everything.
Quality is always a mixed bag. To generalise any thing like this is quite stupid. The PhD scholars are anyway mistreated and many of them do excellent work inspite of the constrains. The University standard is going down because many meritorious students are deprived because of that dreadful reservation system. This is true for both scholars and faculty members. Lastly, thoughtless articles like this will do immense damage to the already deprived academic community. It is better is an important subject like this is written properly.
Surely it is debatable issue and needs immediate attention and a holistic solution. But article itself is an evidence of poor research mind. Author should have studied the issue more rationally and point out the real issues. Just naming as 3rd degree etc is all for sensations, seeking attention and cheap popularity. Author claims avid reader but write up does not show this up. Indian Journalism is poor, shall we generalize?
Hi Apoorva, I am happy that you are really concerned about the quality of PhDs in India. But just by writing about the problem and that too very vaguely and without facts will not help solve this issue (like Kejriwal, who only raises the issue, never solves it…….On a lighter mood). Looking at the population and the proportion going for research, we are still at a very lower end. If we think of positive aspect of it, we have so many people who want to do research in their areas of interest. Now, let’s talk about other courses, MBA, B. Tech, M. Tech, LLM and so on. Are we creating quality graduates? Same situation as of PhD. So, where is the problem? Problem starts from top to bottom and not the other way. Our education policy, our education system, our education grants, our inability to provide strong leadership, our inability to benchmark, our inability to dissociate education from politics, our inability to link education with the practicing industry, our inability to be more transparent and so on and so forth are few reasons for substandard quality of our PhDs and other higher education programmes. The UGC, which claims that the quality of PhDs is not up to the mark, is the one who is to blame. What can I say about UGC at this point? However, in comparison to past years, the quality of our PhD thesis has significantly increased, as more and more research papers have been published in reputed ans peer reviewed journals indexed in Web of Science and ABDC in the recent 4-5 years.
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