Sunday, February 01, 2009

Government wants more Ph.D.s - why?

In the past few years, when somebody mentioned the lack of increased funding to the universities, you would always hear that the number of available Ph.D. grants was rising. However, nobody promised more tenure-track positions for the finished Ph.D. candidates. Somehow, I was lead to assume, an increased number of applicants for tenure-track positions would mean increased quality in the ranks of the fully employed. Competition always works that way, right?

Wrong. The increased number of finished Ph.D. candidates may very well lead to an increase in the number of and qualifications of the partially employed part-time lecturers, but it will not lead to an increase in the quality and output of research. Research being the standard the government usually refer to when it speaks about "world-class universities."

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published several articles commenting on this. However, in a Danish context, I haven't read a single comment. Where did all the Ph.D.s go? Please tell me!