Fast-track PhD in Physics/Electrical Engineering: Top Universities and Countries

[Kholdstare]

Does anybody know a university/country where PhD in Physics/Electrical Engineering can be obtained in less than 5 years?

 

[Diorr]

Germany

 

[Kholdstare]

Germany

Really? Typically how many years?

 

[Borek]

Check your junk mail folder, there are plenty of much faster offers.

 

[George Jones]

According to (2008)

http://www.iop.org/careers/workinglife/articles/page_39043.html

in physics in Britain "A PhD usually takes three to four years to complete ..."

 

[eri]

PhDs in Europe are usually 3 years (you need a masters equivalent to get into them though) and by '3 years' they mean '3 years of funding'. After that, a lot of students aren't done, but you're paying for it yourself. In the US, a PhD is 2-6 years after the masters work (usually combined with the masters for a 4-8 year program) but you usually get funding until you're done.

 

[Kholdstare]

What about Canada, UK, Finland, Singapore, Japan, Australia etc.?

I'm thinking about whether the Fiscal Cliff and Debt limit will result in funding cut in US.

 

[George Jones]

What about Canada, UK, Finland, Singapore, Japan, Australia etc.?

In Canada (I did a Ph.D. there), the length of time is the same as in the U.S.

 

[eri]

The length of time for a PhD does not change significantly from one country to another. Schools that assign actual times (like 3 years) instead of a range of times are not telling you when you'll be done, only when your funding runs out. The 3 years in the UK/Europe assumes you've already done the masters (5 years there, 6 in the US).

 

[3.141592]

In the UK a PhD is usually 3 years.

A quick search of jobs dot ac dot uk under 'physics and astronomy' for 'phd' jobs returned 82 results. Only 8 of those had the term 'masters' anywhere in the title or advert.

'Electrical and electronic engineering' and 'phd' returned 57 results, with only 6 having 'masters' in them.

Not all of these 14 stated a master's degree was necessary. In fact I have only ever noticed an abundance of UK PhDs (in mathematics, mind you) offered to those with just a bachelor's - in contrast to humanities subjects which I have only ever seen requiring a master's.

 

[Kholdstare]

Hmm. everything is pointing towards US. But I'm worried about possible funding cut due to US economic reason.

See this comic https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=4276830#post4276830

 

[Nabeshin]

The length of the PhD is 5 +/- some, with the +/- due to a few factors, but none are the university. The - is due primarily to people who are very bright and do enough good work for a thesis within 4 years. The + has a lot of experimentalists who need to wait for their data/experiment/equipment to function correctly for them to write a thesis. Among + contributions are also changes of advisors, personal matters interfering, and just general slowness. The moral is that the length of your phd is dependent on YOU, not your university.

 

[jtbell]

Among + contributions are also changes of advisors,

Sometimes these are beyond your control. One of my friends in grad school had an advisor who died on him, and there was no one else at our school in the same field, so he had to start over with a completely different project.

 

[Nabeshin]

Sometimes these are beyond your control. One of my friends in grad school had an advisor who died on him, and there was no one else at our school in the same field, so he had to start over with a completely different project.

Indeed, I know someone this happened to as well. Nevertheless, my point is that shortening the PhD process is (almost) entirely dependent on the student, not the institution.

 

[Bunsen]

Really? Typically how many years?

They always say that between 3 and 5, but I know maaaaaaany PhD students in Germany who have been in grad school 5-8 years xD.

 

[Integral]

Sometimes these are beyond your control. One of my friends in grad school had an advisor who died on him, and there was no one else at our school in the same field, so he had to start over with a completely different project.

This is what happened to Tom Mattson our first grad level mentor. Not sure if he is back on track yet, after 10+ yrs.

 

[AlephZero]

I have been involved in EU-funded research projects that include both industry and university partners. They were typically planned on a 4-year timescale, so the universities could fit 3-academic-year PhDs (or at least, the experimental part) into the EU project, which didn't necessarily start at the beginning of an academic year.

That applied to a sample (not necessarily random!) of about 20 or 30 universities in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain - and I assume in all EU countries.