PhDs and professors

studentphil

I must admit that over the past couple of years at my university the vast majority of Mrs/ Mr/Miss/ Ms who were lecturers have been been renamed teaching fellows or senior teaching fellows. I assume this is because a PhD is seen as a requirement for a lecturership now.

I don't know if teaching assistants( permanent not PhD student ones ) are allowed to move up the pay scale like lecturers but it seems they are being ripped off if they can not because some teaching assistants are employed as module leaders at my place.

RoCas

Professor Phil ... you planning something?

studentphil

RoCas wrote: »

Professor Phil ... you planning something?

No chance of me ever being a Professor, so no!:D

[Deleted User]

Well, if i can be a research fellow with just an MSc (I pity the fool who is a research assistants and spent 3 years doing a PhD) I'm sure that it's possible to be a Prof without a PhD, it is a matter of being offered a chair. If someone is highly published i'm sure they can rise through the academic ranks - it's all internal politics really. I found them fun (making friends on both sides of internal political rifts then trading info between them, ba-ha-ha) and it's the reason i progressed quite rapidly

studentphil

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Well, if i can be a research fellow with just an MSc (I pity the fool who is a research assistants and spent 3 years doing a PhD) I'm sure that it's possible to be a Prof without a PhD, it is a matter of being offered a chair. If someone is highly published i'm sure they can rise through the academic ranks - it's all internal politics really. I found them fun (making friends on both sides of internal political rifts then trading info between them, ba-ha-ha) and it's the reason i progressed quite rapidly

I always though research assistants were jobs for people with a first degree or even people without a degree at all so I agree PhDers are getting done if that is the job you have to get after all those years of study.

It does seem a PhD or doctorate is a must for a lectureship nowadays. You might get a teaching fellowship without a PhD if you are very lucky but even that looks unlikely now.

ftbworried

studentphil wrote: »

I always though research assistants were jobs for people with a first degree or even people without a degree at all so I agree PhDers are getting done if that is the job you have to get after all those years of study.

It does seem a PhD or doctorate is a must for a lectureship nowadays. You might get a teaching fellowship without a PhD if you are very lucky but even that looks unlikely now.

There was a guy in my lab who was 10 years past his PhD and was an RA... sometimes a job is a job.

studentphil

ftbworried wrote: »

There was a guy in my lab who was 10 years past his PhD and was an RA... sometimes a job is a job.

It is shocking at my university that so many of the admin assistants have PhDs. It seems a huge waste of all their skill for them to be in a job that a school leaver could do.

seaweasel

Depends on the job. I have two friends who are PhD students and also teach undergrads, as well as a friend with a PhD who's doing post-doctoral research, not sure if you'd class that as an RA or not.

Interestingly one of my PhD student friends finds that some international students call him Professor, which he finds quite amusing.

studentphil

seaweasel wrote: »

Depends on the job. I have two friends who are PhD students and also teach undergrads, as well as a friend with a PhD who's doing post-doctoral research, not sure if you'd class that as an RA or not.

Interestingly one of my PhD student friends finds that some international students call him Professor, which he finds quite amusing.

RA do not normally teach.

Voyager2002

Google Chris Freeman.

He became a Professor at Sussex University, and is covered with distinction.

He does not have a PhD, nor even an MA/MSc. He just started doing good research after graduation, and got on with it.

Basically, you get to be a professor by doing outstandingly good research. If your work is good enough, no-one cares what degrees you have. Nowadays, however, someone who has published a number of good papers will get awarded a doctorate on the basis of published research, which will probably make it easier to get research grants and jobs that lead to a chair.