The headlines making rounds is that 250 Ph.D degree holders are applying for a peon's job in UP. Of course there is lot of head-beating bout lack of jobs etc. My take is little different. I am not denying that jobs are difficult to get after Ph.D. Academic jobs are few and you need really good papers to get a post-doctoral position. A big debate is going on in the US on this issue.
That said, I would also say that majority of the Ph.D. degree holders in India are unemployable. Ph.D. has become some thing to do while waiting for a job. The fellowships, at least in Science, is more than enough to survive (considering that most will stay in a hostel for peanuts and have only mess bills as their major expenditure and that they do not have to pay any income tax). So after M.Sc. students are now drifting into Ph.D with no thought as to why they are doing it. In fact I will be brutally honest and say that of all the student who have graduated from my lab only two really deserved it and one student should have been thrown out. However, the system is such that I have no powers whatsoever to throw a student out if he/she fails to perform. The fault, of course, rests with the faculty as much as it does with the student. In the doctoral committee meeting, this time, there were two really bad presentations and it was very obvious that the student had not read. However, the supervisor for one of the students was scared to tell the student to present again even though I said I would support him. In case of the other student, I put my foot down, and said that the student will have to present again (it is a different matter that I had to then work with this student, in absence of his supervisor, and improve his presentation). The student still did not read anything and I doubt if he is going to be working hard, but at least hopefully, he got the message that it will not be a cakewalk next time.
As one of my colleague points out, many of the faculties themselves have no academic rigor (other things like walking the dog, taking of the children and the home, taking care of their car etc take precedence over academic matters) that they have no authority whatsoever to tell the student to get lost if they do not perform.
As far as the students are concerned I seriously think that many of them do not even understand what Ph.D. is. As far as they are concerned it is just another degree that should be given to them at the end of five years. When the students were agitating for increased fellowship, a senior colleague bemoaned that the students are demanding money but they do not demand academic rigor, better lab facilities, better access to journals...things that would improve their academic standard. They do not care.
I have talked only about a premier Central University. Multiply the woes by about million times, in case of State Universities, and you will get to the situation where 250 Ph.D holders in UP are applying for a peon's job.
That said, I would also say that majority of the Ph.D. degree holders in India are unemployable. Ph.D. has become some thing to do while waiting for a job. The fellowships, at least in Science, is more than enough to survive (considering that most will stay in a hostel for peanuts and have only mess bills as their major expenditure and that they do not have to pay any income tax). So after M.Sc. students are now drifting into Ph.D with no thought as to why they are doing it. In fact I will be brutally honest and say that of all the student who have graduated from my lab only two really deserved it and one student should have been thrown out. However, the system is such that I have no powers whatsoever to throw a student out if he/she fails to perform. The fault, of course, rests with the faculty as much as it does with the student. In the doctoral committee meeting, this time, there were two really bad presentations and it was very obvious that the student had not read. However, the supervisor for one of the students was scared to tell the student to present again even though I said I would support him. In case of the other student, I put my foot down, and said that the student will have to present again (it is a different matter that I had to then work with this student, in absence of his supervisor, and improve his presentation). The student still did not read anything and I doubt if he is going to be working hard, but at least hopefully, he got the message that it will not be a cakewalk next time.
As one of my colleague points out, many of the faculties themselves have no academic rigor (other things like walking the dog, taking of the children and the home, taking care of their car etc take precedence over academic matters) that they have no authority whatsoever to tell the student to get lost if they do not perform.
As far as the students are concerned I seriously think that many of them do not even understand what Ph.D. is. As far as they are concerned it is just another degree that should be given to them at the end of five years. When the students were agitating for increased fellowship, a senior colleague bemoaned that the students are demanding money but they do not demand academic rigor, better lab facilities, better access to journals...things that would improve their academic standard. They do not care.
I have talked only about a premier Central University. Multiply the woes by about million times, in case of State Universities, and you will get to the situation where 250 Ph.D holders in UP are applying for a peon's job.
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