{"id":6457,"date":"2019-11-08T07:57:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T04:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=6457"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:40","slug":"why-phds-are-good-for-individuals-and-for-a-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/11\/08\/why-phds-are-good-for-individuals-and-for-a-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Why PhDs Are Good \u2013 For Individuals, And For A Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Brenda Wingfield<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is the value of a PhD? Is there a need in a developing\nworld country to undertake a PhD study? It\u2019s expensive (around R1 million per\ngraduate) and in many regards a luxury for students from poor families. Even\nfor those who have better access to money there\u2019s a very real cost in tuition,\ncosts of the research as well as years lost with regards to climbing the career\nladder. As students in the southern hemisphere consider their study options for\nnext year, it\u2019s worth revisiting the pros and cons of doing a PhD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From an individual perspective, there are good and bad\nreasons to do a PhD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The good reasons include achieving a significant goal in\nterms of a research output, publications and in many cases solving an important\nproblem. Doing research towards a PhD allows one to be curious, literally every\nday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s also the first step in becoming part of the global\nnetwork of researchers. Becoming part of a global community can be very\ngratifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bad reasons would include the assumption that having a\nPhD will earn you a larger salary. This is not always the case. Another is peer\npressure which can lead students to register for a PhD. Sometimes the pressure\ncomes from family. Another not so good reason is when people decide to do a PhD\nbecause they don\u2019t like the job that they are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Undertaking a PhD study should only be considered if you are\nreally passionate about research and understand that it really takes a huge\namount of time and energy. It is after all the ultimate degree \u2013 there are none\nhigher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The value of a PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bottom line is that there is no magic about the qualification.\nIt doesn\u2019t make you a better or smarter person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, people who have PhDs have shown a certain capacity and tenacity and have the degree to prove it. Many other people might have the equivalent capacity and tenacity but without the degree, it is less easy for employers to identify them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/why-phds-are-good-for-individuals-and-for-a-country-123935\">Read\nmore\u2026<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Brenda Wingfield What is the value of a PhD? Is there a need in a developing world country to undertake a PhD study? It\u2019s expensive (around R1 million per&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}