> Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 14:22:21 -0700 (MST)
> From: Louis Knafla <knafla@acs.ucalgary.ca>
>
> I remain amazed about the pleas to do doctoral work in British history in
> the UK. A few facts.
>
> First, most UK programs have prohibitive fee structures for
> non-nationals; most good U.S. and Canadian doctoral programs have full
> funding (i.e., 3-4 years) of some sort (assistantship, etc.) each year.
Really? How much does it cost to get through a PhD program at one of the
flagship universities? As for full funding: most programs even at
prestigious universities do not pay a living wage, which means you are
going to be adjuncting (if you can get the work), which will slow your
progress, or building up debt.
>
> Second, most UK programs have no seminar (I'm talking REAL seminar
> here), or teaching, experience.
A matter of definition and taste. Personally I think the weekly seminars
with visiting guest speakers and nigh-completed Ph.Ds offering some of
their more interesting results that abound in Oxford, Cambridge and
London are more valuable than some of the teaching seminars I have seen
in action in the US.
>
> Third, most hiring committees I know of would not consider a UK PhD as
> providing equal training to a north American one, and thus their
> graduates don't begin on the same playing field.
>
We obviously have completely different experiences here. Most hiring
committees I have encountered do not discriminate in any way against UK PhDs.
> Fourth, research is not a problem, as most good students in doctoral
> programs receive research grants (as Canada's SSHRC and the US
> equivalents) for 12-18 months of research abroad; grants which are rare
> in many UK university programs.
>
It depends what you define as "good". Because of the current financial
squeeze in higher education in the US - which has now been running on
since 1989 - my experience has been that most US PhD students have to
finance their own trips to the UK regardless of their personal quality or
the promise of their work. Hence they end up with the worst of all
possible worlds: building up debt to get through their coursework in the
US, followed by serious financial damage while they do their research in
the UK.
> Fifth, if one does a survey of the origins of today's North
> American university British history historians, look at the date of
> graduation, because most of these are pre-1990s people.
>
I have not done a statistical check, but I know several people who have
got jobs back in the US in the 1990s after doing British PhDs.
> Sixth, I know of at three recent UK PhDs in British history who are >
still trying to get interviews, because they have gone "out of the loop" >
with regards to contacts in North America. >
Hardly surprising. The number of applicants for every job in British
history (anecdotally these are running at c.100 for each job advertised)
indicates that even those who stayed "in the loop" are having a problem
getting interviews.
> Finally, there are some some fine programs in UK universities in very
> specialized areas, such as African, Imperial, and Diplomatic, and these
> will remain competitive because they have the resources on site, as well as
> the people and the money.
>
> Louis Knafla
> University of Calgary
>
The upshot of all of which is that it is pretty much of a wash whether you
do your PhD in the US or the UK. What really counts is the institution
you do it at and how motivated you are. If you are a genuine
self-starter, frustrated by the measured pace of US graduate seminars
(which, I assure you, nonetheless do have their virtues) and already well
read in to the field you want to research in, a _WELL KNOWN_ British
university might be the place for you. If you are in the least uncertain
about your score on any of the above points, the more deliberate, less
"throw 'em in the deep end", approach in the US will serve you better in
the long run. Whatever you do, make sure you try to get in to a
high-profile, prestige university, because therein lies the best chance of
eventually getting that crucial job interview.
Daniel Szechi,
Auburn University