Ken,
I thought that the last quote in the article was the
most significant for me.
I have been looking at and considering doctoral
studies for at least 15 years in Europe, North America
and Australia and have visited a number of
institutions. But with a background in consulting
design. I must balance lost income living expenses and
university fees with a low value added to my income
potential upon graduation. The costs here in the US
including lost income could be half a million dollars
or more. I like to continue to design. Most of the
product design employers do not pay more to candidates
with PhDs as far as I have observed. Avery low
proportion of working designers here have graduate
degrees. No matter how much someone loves design, if
you like to work outside academia in industry there is
little incentive to spend seven years and half a
milion dollars to achieve a PhD from a financial
perspective. If you have a family to support there is
additional disincentive. I found my Masters degree
completed in 1990 to be good for personal development
but of little assistance in attracting higher pay or
better jobs in applied design. This reflects the
styling based approach of Product design here in the
US. I would hope to see a greater value put on
education in the US as industry is forced to be
smarter to compete with China. I can understand why
someone in academia might want to undertake a PhD
particularly with a sponsor.I think that some
undertake a PhD without a clear idea of what value it
will add to their life both in income and quality.
Rob Curedale
"I didn't see any prospects for when I graduated,"
says Ms. Kalian, who was shocked to read an article
about new Ph.D.'s who couldn't find jobs as adjuncts
on enough campuses to earn at least $25,000 a year.
"It was frightening, and I could never really shake
that thought from my head."
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