Gauri Chhabra
The role of teachers in everyone’s life is great as they are the only visual source of knowledge for the students. As we all know that our teachers play a great and most important role in our lives. They helps us to improve our knowledge, skill level, confidence as well as they shape us in the right shape to get success. So, we too have some responsibilities towards our loyal teachers. We all need to do a heartily welcome and say them wishful thanks for their selfless service of teachings all through the life as well as shaping the life of various students. Teacher’s day (which is celebrated once a year on 5th of September) is the great chance to us to spend a day for them and say thanks.
The term ‘PhD’ stands for ‘Doctor of Philosophy’, it is a unique type of degree, involving advanced academic work and attempted by comparatively few students. It is an advanced postgraduate degree involving three or more years of independent research on an original topic. It is carried out with the support of one or more expert academic supervisors and results in a thesis that offers a significant original contribution tosssssss knowledge. It confers the title ‘Doctor’ upon successful candidates. It is the highest academic degree a student can achieve and is considered the de facto entrance qualification for a career in academia.
The PhD research process
Unlike most Masters courses (or all undergraduate programmes), a PhD is a pure research degree. But that doesn’t mean you’ll just spend three years locked away in a library or laboratory. In fact, the modern PhD is a diverse and varied qualification with many different components.
A standard PhD is typically split into three stages. By way of illustration, a three-year PhD may follow the following pattern:
First year – You’ll meet with your supervisor to discuss your research proposal and agree an action plan with deadlines. You’ll then complete your literature review, in which you’ll evaluate and critique existing works to inform the direction of your project and ensure that your research will be original.
Second year – Your focus will shift to gathering results and developing your thesis, and potentially begin writing chapters of your thesis. You may also present your results and ideas at academic conferences, gain teaching experience, collaborate with other students on similar projects, communicate the benefits of your research to the general public through workshops, lectures and presentations, or submit work for publication in an academic journal or book.
Third year – This phase primarily involves writing your thesis, though your primary research may still be in progress. After your supervisor gives their approval, you’ll submit your thesis before undertaking a one-to-three-hour oral exam (viva voce) in which you’ll discuss and defend your thesis in the presence of at least one internal and external examiner.
These stages vary a little between subjects and universities, but they tend to fall into the same sequence over the three years of a typical full-time PhD.
Duration
* Full time Ph.D is 3 to 6 years
* Part time Ph.D is 4 to 7 years
* Exemption of 1 year from the minimum duration is permissible for M.Phill, Law, Engineering, M.D. & M.S. degree holders.
Admissions requirements
Indian universities are free to set their own standards for admission to PhD programmes, but most will require a similar set of application materials. These should include a research proposal, detailing the proposed outline of your PhD project, and explaining the methodology you plan to employ. PhD programmes will expect you to have completed a postgraduate Masters, but you may be able to apply with a good undergraduate degree if you can demonstrate sufficient experience and expertise in your proposed field. Most common international qualifications will be recognized by Indian universities.
Examinations and interviews
India is relatively unique in requiring all prospective PhD students to sit an entrance examination before being admitted to undertake doctoral research. This is referred to as the National Eligibility Test (NET) and is administered by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for most subjects, with the exception of Science and Engineering which are covered by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Examination Pattern
For Entrance Test there would be two papers i.e. Paper I and Paper II. Paper I would be General Aptitude Test of 100 marks & Paper II would be subject wise of 100 marks. General Aptitude Test will have 50 questions with multiple choice covering Research & Teaching Aptitude, Logical thinking, General Comprehension, etc. The test shall be conducted by the University.
Second Written Test will be pertaining to the subject to the Department concerned & the test shall be of 100 marks. i.e. 30 marks for Objective type exam and 70 marks for Descriptive type exam. After passing the both tests the student will appear before the Department concerned. Only those students who have passed entrance test or who are exempted from entrance test shall appear for an interview organized by the Department concerned. At the time of interview, doctoral candidates are expected to discuss their research interest/ area.
Acing your interview
There are a few steps you can take in preparation for your interviews:
* When candidates interview with our own faculty, attend their presentation. This is the single most valuable step you can take in preparation for your own interview, because you can see what they do right/wrong and the questions that are asked.
* Try to make significant progress on your dissertation before you begin interviewing. A candidate who is farther along is almost always more impressive. If you are in the proposal stage and you are competing against someone who already has collected data, you are at an inherent disadvantage.
* Attend disciplinary conferences and get to know people. Even if you have a couple of years before you start searching for your job, people may take notice of you and watch your progress with an eye towards hiring you.
* Go through the interviewing process at the conference, whether or not you desire a job in a specific department. This is excellent practice, some programs do interview candidates there, and you might find a position that really interests you.
* Prepare your presentation carefully.
– Find out how long you will have. A common length of time is one hour, but that includes time for questions. Consequently, your presentation might be 30 – 40 minutes. Your contact (e.g., the department chair) should be able to give you some idea how long it should be.
– Plan it so it won’t go over the allotted time. Bad planning can result in people not being able to ask the questions they want, or even missing something that could help to convince them to hire you.
– Make it easy to understand. Remember that you (should) know the subject matter of your dissertation better than anyone else, so don’t assume that your audience will know everything you do about the topic.
– Define your terms, explain the basics of the theoretical basis of your study, show them what previous researchers have found, and how your study adds to that knowledge. Make it simple, but not condescending.
– Spend more time on what you are doing, than you spend discussing what has been done in the past.
– In only 30 minutes you can’t possibly cover everything that is in your dissertation, so remember that what you are presenting is a summary. Hit only the high points.
– Practice, practice, practice. This should be the smoothest lecture you’ve ever given. Faculty members will be watching your presentation with an eye toward assessing your ability to teach.
” Give a brown bag presentation of your lecture in your department, before you do it at any other school. This not only will allow you some additional practice, it will permit you to obtain some feedback from a “friendly” audience. You may find that you want to make a few adjustments as a result of that feedback.
” Read through and think about each of the questions outlined in the next sections, before you go on your first interview.
http://postdoc.unl.edu/documents/interview_prep.pdf
Career Scape
Academia
In Academia, you need to do everything almost like a PhD. You will teach, give lectures, prepare slides, do your research, manage some administration, represent your college in few occasions and attend seminars and lectures in your field. If you would like to be in the field of research and teaching, then academia is for you.
Consulting
Management consulting firms are always looking for people who can have a helicopter view of the problems and can give solutions which will help them build competitive advantage. Management consulting firms hire people who complete their PhDs and who are capable of evaluating a problem via various quantitative and qualitative tools. If you have done your PhD well, you won’t have any issues regarding problem solving. You will also be able to add value by offering your insights and providing your analysis.
Government
If you are particularly concerned about your motherland and want to do something for your country you can opt for Government jobs. One of the best positions to apply for after you complete your PhD is the position of Military Researcher. This position is available in your field as well. That doesn’t mean you need to go for it. There are also other opportunities and multiples positions available with state and central government. There are also options available for conducting research as a civilian government employee.
Law
If you have a PhD in computer science or any science related fields then there are chances that you can get in some intellectual property right firms which offer positions to PhDs as technical specialists. Your job would be to review patent applications and at the same time compose them. Along the job few firms also offer you to pursue a part time law degree to understand the patent and intellectual property rights better. If you are ever interested in law, trademark, patents or intellectual property rights, then this is the perfect options for you.
Pharma/Biotech
If you are ever worried about job options after PhD, there are many suitable options available in Pharma/ Biotech. Mainly you can go for the research and development department in Biotech firms or big brand pharmacy, where you can do your research work and get new patents for discovering new scientific innovation.
Sales
If you love to talk to people, interact with them, can pitch any new idea well and want to be in the sales team of an organization, you can choose your cards and join in. There are glorious opportunities for you to do sales because one of the main keys of sales is your forte and that is collaboration. If you have done your PhD well, you have learned how to collaborate, how to present your ideas and how to make your idea gets sold. Thus, you will do very well in sales as well.
Summing up:
So, pull up your socks and brace yourself for the most challenging of all degrees – the Ph.D.
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