Dear Ken,
Thanks for asking these questions on the PhD-design list. I hope there will be some discussion.
Your assumption is that PhD-supervision and PhD-examination is professional work and should be rewarded a such.
Alas.
Financially, these activities are a voluntary donation of unpaid hours to a University.
- Would you like to examine a PhD-thesis? Thank you for your single donation of 20 to 25 unpaid hours.
- Would you like to supervise a PhD-student? Thank you for your donation of anything between 50 and 200 unpaid hours per year. [Please be aware that the university expects at least a similar donation for a minimum of 3 consecutive years.]
PhD-involvement in design is therefore just a hobby. Mainly for people who enjoy it, have time to spare, and have other sources of income.
The current levels of remuneration for supervisors and examiners accurately indicate the price that universities are prepared to pay to support PhD students.
If money was important, I would flip burgers.
Kind regards,
Karel.
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> On 4 Mar 2021, at 16:30, Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> …
> A common thread is that people are upset by the failure of many universities to adequately compensate for supervision — or for PhD examination.
> ...
> Looking once again at the UK, there is also the question of external examiner salaries for people who evaluate PhD theses. External examiners are legal requirement for PhD theses in the UK. This is a mandated part of the UK quality assurance system. At the same time that this requirement is built into the legal structure, the honorarium paid to external examiners in the UK seems to be far below the minimum wage for the amount of work required — reading the thesis, writing a careful report, attending the viva, listing corrections, checking the revised thesis, and so on.
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