THIS is apropos the news report (Dec 25) that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has now decided that a PhD degree is a must for faculty members to be promoted to professors.
It is better late than never. But, in my opinion, a big issue has been bypassed.
Having a chance to teach in a centuries-old University of Scotland, UK, and then relatively newly-established King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I would like to submit some of my observations spanning more than 24 years.
The PhD degree itself is not worth the paper it is written on unless (a) the laboratory work like, for instance, use of dif ferent electron microscopes and preparation of research material are done by the scholar himself, under the guidance of expert technicians and (b) he is made to write (and rewrite many times) research papers for publications under the expert advice of his supervisor. This would prepare him for continuing research activity after obtaining the prestigious degree.
One thing which really surprises me aboutBritainis thatteachingtakes aback seat as far as promotion to professorship is concerned.Itisresearch papers ofhigh quality that matter.
Even in the relatively younger Saudi university one needs to have a certain number of publications before the person is considered for the top job. Those publications have to be a mixture of joint work with a certain number of single authorpapers published in international journals.
But none of the papers published from the PhD thesis is considered for promotion.
It makes one sad to think back and recall that many of our senior colleagues with PhDs who were perfectly capable of doing research with a little more effort did not pay attention to it and retired after teaching the same stuff year after year, some of which they did not even bother to update.
