Dr William Uther, who completed his PhD in reinforcement learning at Carnegie Mellon University, told ZDNet Australia there was a marked difference between the typical individual who completes a PhD in Australia and his counterpart in the United States.
"The people who I see doing PhDs here are the geeks, who were top of their class, top of their year and didn't have the drive to go straight into industry," said Uther, whose studies involved devising 'learning' programs for computers. "The ones who were top of their year and who had a flair for something, they'd go into industry...because that was the way to make money."
"In the US having a PhD is seen as part of leading a technical group in a company. They see a lot of benefit in having those research skills and those PhD skills as part of the management of researchers," said Uther.
The consortium, operating under the title National ICT Australia (NICTA), is trying to promote the benefits of PhDs, and trying to develop US-style PhD students, according to Uther. "Australian PhDs are three years long and are very much research based," he said. "NICTA is based more on the US model of PhD where you spend a bit longer on it and take some courses as well as doing research, and I think the goal is to attract the top PhD students."
The goal is to attract people with drive, who would otherwise not necessarily do a PhD, rather than just having "geeks do PhDs and come out with six inch glasses blinking in the sunlight", according to Uther.
This would result in industry seeing that PhDs can be real people, and that having a PhD and MBE is an advantage. "You want the chief technical officer and the chief financial officer to be equivalent people," said Uther. "The chief executive officer should be somebody who can talk to both of them, rather than somebody who just talks to the [chief financial officer]."
"NICTA is based more on the US model of PhD where you spend a bit longer on it and take some courses as well as doing research,"
PhDs by coursework? No way! Teaching is for batchelors and some masters degrees. A PhD is awarded because you've contributed to the sum of human knowledge, not because you've attended classes and passed exams. If you need to take classes to get up to speed in the specific area, you should do that before enrolling for the advanced degree.
"and I think the goal is to attract the top PhD students."
So "top students" are the ones that need extra classes, huh? I don't think so!
If PhD students don't have a background in management or finance, it's a good idea for them to at least sit in on courses in those areas, but they shouldn't be part of the assessment of a PhD candidate.