The countries with the most Doctorates

Education is key to economic growth.

And tertiary education in particular, is at the heart of the innovation that we see around us. New discoveries such as MP3 and GPS technology would never have happened were it not for PhD research.

Countries are investing in their higher education systems, and more people than ever before are completing doctoral degrees. But which country has the most doctoral scholars?

The US beats the rest hands down

According to an OECD report, the US has at least twice as many PhD graduates as Germany, its nearest rival.

In 2014, 67,449 people graduated with a PhD in the US, compared with 28,147 in Germany. Next in line is the United Kingdom, which just pips India into third place with 25,020 PhD graduates. India had 24,300.






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n developed nations, the number of PhDs given in the sciences each year has grown by almost 40 percent since 1998, reaching about 34,000 doctorates in 2008. This type of expansion sounds great in theory: interest in the sciences is growing, and we now have a population that is more educated than ever. However, the effects of this worldwide trend are troubling. The workforce cannot absorb all these highly trained graduates, there is little money to support these expensive programs, and the quality of education is often low, among other problems. This week’s issue of Nature examines the problems with the expansive growth of the PhD.

China drives a large amount of the worldwide trend, with its PhD output increasing 40 percent across all disciplines since 1998. Here, the problem isn’t getting graduates into the workforce, since China has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Instead, the problem is that the quality of the graduates is inconsistent at best, and poor at worst. Here, the academic system hasn’t been able to cope with the huge influx of students in the past decade. Supervisors are poorly qualified to advise students, the length of the programs (about 3 years) is too short, and almost all students—even the underperforming ones—eventually graduate.

The US is one of the largest producers of PhDs, second only to China. In life sciences and physical sciences alone, our universities bestowed nearly 20,000 doctorate degrees in 2009. Most PhD students are striving toward a tenured professorship, but academia just can’t take all these graduates. In 1973, 55 percent of PhD recipients had tenure-track positions within six years of earning their PhDs. In 2006, merely 15 percent of recent graduates found themselves in this position.


https://arstechnica.com/science/2011/04/the-phd-problem-what-do-you-do-with-too-many-doctorates/

Scientists who attain a PhD are rightly proud — they have gained entry to an academic elite. But it is not as elite as it once was. The number of science doctorates earned each year grew by nearly 40% between 1998 and 2008, to some 34,000, in countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The growth shows no sign of slowing: most countries are building up their higher-education systems because they see educated workers as a key to economic growth (see 'The rise of doctorates'). But in much of the world, science PhD graduates may never get a chance to take full advantage of their qualifications.
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In some countries, including the United States and Japan, people who have trained at great length and expense to be researchers confront a dwindling number of academic jobs, and an industrial sector unable to take up the slack. Supply has outstripped demand and, although few PhD holders end up unemployed, it is not clear that spending years securing this high-level qualification is worth it for a job as, for example, a high-school teacher. In other countries, such as China and India, the economies are developing fast enough to use all the PhDs they can crank out, and more — but the quality of the graduates is not consistent. Only a few nations, including Germany, are successfully tackling the problem by redefining the PhD as training for high-level positions in careers outside academia. Here, Nature examines graduate-education systems in various states of health.



China: Quantity outweighs quality?

The number of PhD holders in China is going through the roof, with some 50,000 people graduating with doctorates across all disciplines in 2009 — and by some counts it now surpasses all other countries. The main problem is the low quality of many graduates.
Yongdi Zhou, a cognitive neuroscientist at the East China Normal University in Shanghai, identifies four contributing factors. The length of PhD training, at three years, is too short, many PhD supervisors are not well qualified, the system lacks quality control and there is no clear mechanism for weeding out poor students.

Even so, most Chinese PhD holders can find a job at home: China's booming economy and capacity building has absorbed them into the workforce. "Relatively speaking, it is a lot easier to find a position in academia in China compared with the United States," says Yigong Shi, a structural biologist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and the same is true in industry. But PhD graduates can run into problems if they want to enter internationally competitive academia. To get a coveted post at a top university or research institution requires training, such as a postdoctoral position, in another country. Many researchers do not return to China, draining away the cream of the country's crop.

The quality issue should be helped by China's efforts to recruit more scholars from abroad. Shi says that more institutions are now starting to introduce thesis committees and rotations, which will make students less dependent on a single supervisor in a hierarchical system. "Major initiatives are being implemented in various graduate programmes throughout China," he says. "China is constantly going through transformations."


India: PhDs wanted

In 2004, India produced around 5,900 science, technology and engineering PhDs, a figure that has now grown to some 8,900 a year. This is still a fraction of the number from China and the United States, and the country wants many more, to match the explosive growth of its economy and population. The government is making major investments in research and higher education — including a one-third increase in the higher-education budget in 2011–12 — and is trying to attract investment from foreign universities. The hope is that up to 20,000 PhDs will graduate each year by 2020, says Thirumalachari Ramasami, the Indian government's head of science and technology.

Those targets ought to be easy to reach: India's population is young, and undergraduate education is booming (see Nature 472, 24–26; 2011). But there is little incentive to continue into a lengthy PhD programme, and only around 1% of undergraduates currently do so. Most are intent on securing jobs in industry, which require only an undergraduate degree and are much more lucrative than the public-sector academic and research jobs that need postgraduate education. Students "don't think of PhDs now, not even master's — a bachelor's is good enough to get a job", says Amit Patra, an engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur.

Even after a PhD, there are few academic opportunities in India, and better-paid industry jobs are the major draw. "There is a shortage of PhDs and we have to compete with industry for that resource — the universities have very little chance of winning that game," says Patra. For many young people intent on postgraduate education, the goal is frequently to go to the United States or Europe. That was the course chosen by Manu Prakash, who went to MIT for his PhD and now runs his own experimental biophysics lab at Stanford University in California. "When I went through the system in India, the platform for doing long-term research I didn't feel was well-supported," he says.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110420/full/472276a.html

vgane said:

Education is key to economic growth.

And tertiary education in particular, is at the heart of the innovation that we see around us. New discoveries such as MP3 and GPS technology would never have happened were it not for PhD research.

Countries are investing in their higher education systems, and more people than ever before are completing doctoral degrees. But which country has the most doctoral scholars?

The US beats the rest hands down

According to an OECD report, the US has at least twice as many PhD graduates as Germany, its nearest rival.

In 2014, 67,449 people graduated with a PhD in the US, compared with 28,147 in Germany. Next in line is the United Kingdom, which just pips India into third place with 25,020 PhD graduates. India had 24,300.

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Click to expand...

Is this list complete? Hard to believe that China does not figure in the top 15

All doctoral programs are not created equal.

1. Programs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) are far more demanding compared to other field in general. Exceptions are possible. The reason is that development in these field is going on for 400+ years. One has to be proficient in many areas to extend the field. Even then most PhDs end up doing incremental work.

2. Programs in Top tier universities (Top 50 in the world) are far more demanding than others in general. Individual Professors in other schools may be very demanding but a school's program is often defined by the quality of students it can attract. Both my children have PhD from MIT and what they had to demonstrate is lot more than what I ever did.

3. Programs at top 100 Universities in USA are far more demanding than those from other countries. Some European and Canadian universities are exceptions.

In PhD programs from Europe or India for example, there are no requirements to pass a 'qualifier test'. While things have changed, my own PhD qualifier test consisted of 7 hour tests for two days one after another. Physics problems from 15 different fields comprised the topics. Pass percentage was only 40% then and people get only two chances after which they are asked to exit the program with an obligatory Masters. It takes 2 years to get proficient in a number of fields to take such a test. Plus it takes about 5 to 7 years for a typical PhD in STEM fields overall.

Many of the PhD Programs in other countries take only 3 to 4 years because graduation depends on the thesis adviser. Most do not even publish their work and if they did they are in low impact journals. These days it is possible for a true research scholars to create a Google Scholar page which can track the impact factors (there are many indices based on their publication record).

4. There is inflation of giving out Dr titles. There are even mail order PhDs given out. Recently there have been advertisement for a program called EdD - Doctor of Education for teachers and Principals of high schools etc. It is a two year program with only few weekend classes and one is asked to write a thesis.

Too many PhDs are being produced in USA from many fourth tier schools.

zebra16 said:

Is this list complete? Hard to believe that China does not figure in the top 15

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May be data for China was not available for 2014..As per #3, some 50000 became Doctorates in 2009

tks said:

All doctoral programs are not created equal.

1. Programs in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) are far more demanding compared to other field in general. Exceptions are possible. The reason is that development in these field is going on for 400+ years. One has to be proficient in many areas to extend the field. Even then most PhDs end up doing incremental work.

2. Programs in Top tier universities (Top 50 in the world) are far more demanding than others in general. Individual Professors in other schools may be very demanding but a school's program is often defined by the quality of students it can attract. Both my children have PhD from MIT and what they had to demonstrate is lot more than what I ever did.

3. Programs at top 100 Universities in USA are far more demanding than those from other countries. Some European and Canadian universities are exceptions.

In PhD programs from Europe or India for example, there are no requirements to pass a 'qualifier test'. While things have changed, my own PhD qualifier test consisted of 7 hour tests for two days one after another. Physics problems from 15 different fields comprised the topics. Pass percentage was only 40% then and people get only two chances after which they are asked to exit the program with an obligatory Masters. It takes 2 years to get proficient in a number of fields to take such a test. Plus it takes about 5 to 7 years for a typical PhD in STEM fields overall.

Many of the PhD Programs in other countries take only 3 to 4 years because graduation depends on the thesis adviser. Most do not even publish their work and if they did they are in low impact journals. These days it is possible for a true research scholars to create a Google Scholar page which can track the impact factors (there are many indices based on their publication record).

4. There is inflation of giving out Dr titles. There are even mail order PhDs given out. Recently there have been advertisement for a program called EdD - Doctor of Education for teachers and Principals of high schools etc. It is a two year program with only few weekend classes and one is asked to write a thesis.

Too many PhDs are being produced in USA from many fourth tier schools.

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hi

i have phD from india....but in USA....some small state universities are better than india's prestige university,,,,indian phd

students are very hard to work for internal requirements...i dont know much about MIT/HARWARD OR IVY COLLEGES..

Do you know anna univ awarded more than 1000 doctorates in the year 2014?

I do not have later numbers

tbs said:

hi

i have phD from india....but in USA....some small state universities are better than india's prestige university,,,,indian phd

students are very hard to work for internal requirements...i dont know much about MIT/HARWARD OR IVY COLLEGES..

Click to expand...

Dr tbs Garu

I am sure some students in India work hard for their PhD. A good program will ensure that students who have graduated with PhD show excellence, rigor and clarity in any subjects they undertake in their career or future research. I do not find that to be the case by many Indian PhDs. I think the programs do not train them well.

There is an average impact journal for which I am one of the associate editors and reviewer. It gets publications from all countries including India. I usually find Indian authors often do not cite the papers they use, present lack luster results and in general lack novelty. My sample sizes is tiny and so I do not want to generalize. I think PhD programs in many of the IITs and universities in India have to be revamped to compete far better in the world.

Having said that I have come across extremely brilliant Indian PhD students now and then.

By the way, what was your thesis topic on - I know it is in Sanskrit and Philosophy area.

tks said:

Dr tbs Garu

I am sure some students in India work hard for their PhD. A good program will ensure that students who have graduated with PhD show excellence, rigor and clarity in any subjects they undertake in their career or future research. I do not find that to be the case by many Indian PhDs. I think the programs do not train them well.

There is an average impact journal for which I am one of the associate editors and reviewer. It gets publications from all countries including India. I usually find Indian authors often do not cite the papers they use, present lack luster results and in general lack novelty. My sample sizes is tiny and so I do not want to generalize. I think PhD programs in many of the IITs and universities in India have to be revamped to compete far better in the world.

Having said that I have come across extremely brilliant Indian PhD students now and then.

By the way, what was your thesis topic on - I know it is in Sanskrit and Philosophy area.

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hi'

the main thesis....the comparative study all indian six systems of philosophy....based on SRI MADHUSUDANA SARASWATI'S WORK..

i got my ph.d from delhi univsersity....

tbs said:

hi'

the main thesis....the comparative study all indian six systems of philosophy....based on SRI MADHUSUDANA SARASWATI'S WORK..

i got my ph.d from delhi univsersity....

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Very impressive given how sophisticated each systems of Philosophy are. Also Sri Madhsudana Saraswati's work being in Sanskrit must have demanded advanced knowledge of Sanskrit.

Delhi University is one of the top universities in India. I heard that in recent ranking Miranda House was ranked number one in India among colleges associated with a university (in this case Delhi)

tks said:

Very impressive given how sophisticated each systems of Philosophy are. Also Sri Madhsudana Saraswati's work being in Sanskrit must have demanded advanced knowledge of Sanskrit.

Delhi University is one of the top universities in India. I heard that in recent ranking Miranda House was ranked number one in India among colleges associated with a university (in this case Delhi)

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hi

Thanks sir....Miranda house is one of the best colleges in delh...its very hardt o get admission....