I know there are many places in the world where there are effectively 2
kinds (or more) of PhDs. I'm uncomfortable with this because this does not
allow for the distinction of kinds of expertise. I'm not saying that one
"kind" is better or worse than the other. I am saying is that if "PhD"
becomes nothing more than a container object for a bunch of relatively
diverse things, then it itself will tend to lose meaning. Because I believe
strongly in intellectual and educational diversity, I would prefer to see a
variety of post-masters (or however we want to call them) degrees, where PhD
would be the one used to signify a particular speciality.
Nor does this preclude the title of "doctor" being used for other degrees.
D.Eng, for instance. Doctor of Engineering; doctor of philosophy; and
doctor of I don't know what all else. They all share the title of "doctor",
which generalizes the level of expertise, then some other specifier that
narrows down the field a little.
Cheers.
Fil
2009/12/6 jeremy hunsinger <[log in to unmask]>
> >
> > If research and supervision skills are irrelevant to a PhD, then we'll
> > need a second degree. Otherwise, we'll be awarding two kinds of PhD: one
> > for people who can do research and supervise research training, another
> > for people who simply want to call themselves doctor. Unless we're
> > moving in that direction, demonstrating these skills establishes the
> > basis for awarding or denying the PhD.
>
> many universities already have this system, but don't need a degree for it.
> in the u.s. that is, many universities maintain a graduate faculty who are
> almost all tenured with significant research records and only those faculty
> can be chairs or supervisors. this has been going on for quite some time
> from what I can tell. you don't need another degree for it, you just have
> to have the institutional design for it. entrance into graduate faculty
> is usually by peer review, though some places it is automatically granted
> with tenure or with full professorship.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Jeremy Hunsinger
> Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
> Virginia Tech
> Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School
> of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
> http://wiki.tmttlt.com
> http://www.tmttlt.com
>
> Whoever ceases to be a student has never been a student.
> -George Iles
>
--
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
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