Ph.D (Doctor of Philosophy) Programmes are considered as the highest degree of study in any subject area. Doctorate Degree is a great honor, pride and success in itself. But the most important vision associated with Ph.D is the contribution of the scholar to the society in his/her subject of research. The journey of Ph.D starts with strong motivation & passion, is led by countless patience & hard work, is braked by lot of failures & frustration and finally puts the cap of Doctorate with the joy of satisfaction. IgEn brings several posts related to “Ph.D Life”, “Challenges in Ph.D”, “Opportunities in Ph.D” and much more. Though this post gives the brief description about different modes of Ph.D programmes available for technical education in India, almost all field of studies follow the similar trend of Ph.D modes, at-least bearing very common ideas for the first 3 types among the listed categories. This post does not provide detailed description of each mode of Ph.D programme, but you will get a fair discrimination between different modes of Ph.D programmes available. If you know any other mode of Ph.D programme other than the mentioned ones then post those in comments.
(1) Regular Ph.D
This is the most preferred mode of Ph.D programme (may not be for everyone or in all the situations). A student in this category works full-time for his/her PhD degree. He/she receives assistantship from the Institute or fellowship from CSIR/UGC or any other recognized funding agency.
Students having M.Tech/M.E. Degree in any engineering stream and having interest in further research in the area of their specialization are eligible for Regular Ph.D degree.
Motivated B.Tech/B.E. students having valid GATE score can also apply for Regular Ph.D programme. Now a days the reputed institutes are showing greater interest to admit B.Tech graduates to the regular Ph.d programmes. B.Tech entry to Ph.D programme is known as the Direct Ph.D. This helps the student to save one year straight forward than the way, go for M.Tech. first then Ph.D. To promote the higher research studies among the B.Tech. graduates IIT Gandhinagar (IITGN) facilitates the Start Early Ph.D. Fellowship. To know more about Direct Ph.D follow the post “Direct Ph.D; Pros and Cons”.
The scholarship granted for a regular Ph.D is in general for 4 years for a M.Tech/M.E. scholar and 5 years for a B.Tech/B.E. scholar. Other than stipend good universities support the Ph.D scholars in terms of publication fees and travel grants for the purpose of research activities.
(2) Sponsored Ph.D
Many institutes allow highly motivated working professionals to pursue a PhD degree while still employed at the sponsoring organization. A student in this category is sponsored by a recognized R&D organization, academic institution, government organization or industry for doing research in the Institute on a full-time basis. For doing these courses the candidate has to be physically present in the institute campus. For research work, the candidate may be placed back in his/her sponsoring organization, if the research work requires his/her presence there. Full time sponsored candidates may work up to some hours a week in teaching/R&D related activities of their sponsoring organization with permission from the Institute.
The Institute facilitating the sponsored Ph.D does not provide any assistantship/fellowship to such a student. In most of the cases the parent organization provides the salary to the candidate during his/her Ph.D tenure but usually with an agreement that the candidate will serve the organization for a particular period after the completion of the Ph.D. In general a sponsored candidate has to submit a Sponsoring Certificate on proper letter-head stating that for the period of his/her studies in the program, the candidate would be treated as on duty and that he/she will be allowed to take courses and conduct research at the institute campus providing the degree.
(3) Part-Time Ph.D
Candidates, who are working in research organizations, academic Institutes and industries, situated preferably in the close vicinity of the campuses of institute providing the degree, are eligible to apply for admission in “Part-Time” Ph D programme. The candidate should have a minimum of one year work experience in related field. But this criteria may differ from institute to institute where some of them ask for minimum 2 or may be more number of years of experience to get admitted into Part time Ph.D programme. The candidate should furnish a “consent & No objection certificate” from his/her parent organization.
The candidate has to choose one of the faculty of the institute as supervisor. He/she has to be present physically in the institute for a duration of 6 months or 1 year to complete the course work before the Ph.D registration. After the course work the candidate can join back to the parent organization as a full-time employee but simultaneously working on the research objectives for the fulfillment of the Ph.D requirement at the parent organization only. The candidate has to be in regular contact with his/her supervisor at the degree providing institute to inform the research proceedings.
The part time Ph.D usually takes more time to be completed than the regular Ph.D as the candidate has to serve the parent organization as a full-time employee while doing his/her research work. But the positive side is that the working experience in terms of number of years as well as knowledge keep on growing. And at the end of the Ph.D degree you land-up with a doctorate degree along with the additional number of years of experience which you spent during your Ph.D. This also help you realizing the problem statement of your Ph.D more clearly while working.
The Institute facilitating the part time Ph.D does not provide any assistantship/fellowship to such a student. As the candidate works as a full-time employee in an organization so he/she will get the salary from the organization.
(4) Self Financed Ph.D
A student in this category works full-time or part-time towards the PhD Programme. The Institute does not provide any assistantship/fellowship to such a student. The student has himself/herself to arrange the funding for his/her Ph.D duration. All other parameters like selection criteria, rules and regulations during Ph.D, course work, credit requirements etc. are similar to full-time or part-time Ph.D programme.
(5) Project Staff Ph.D
This category refers to a student who is working on a sponsored project as a PS (Project Staff) or a JRF (Junior Research Fello) or SRF (Senior Resear Fellow) or RA (Research Associate) in the Institute and is admitted to the PhD Programme to work on a full-time or part-time basis. The remaining duration of the project at the time of admission should be at least one year or may be dependent on the institute rules. If the project gets completed before the student completes his/her PhD Programme, his/her category will be converted to that of Self-Financed unless he/she is granted anassistantship/fellowship from the Institute or any other agency.
(6) External Ph.D
This category refers to a candidate employed in an R&D 0ganization/academic institution/industry having adequate research facilities. The research work leading to the PhD degree may be carried out largely in the parent organization of the candidate under a local supervisor from the organization but with the overall guidance provided by a faculty member (Institute Supervisor) of the Department/Centre in which he/she is registered. The Institute does not provide any assistantship/fellowship to such a student. This mode of Ph.D programme is almost similar to the Sponsored Ph.D programme only the difference lies slightly in the place of research work. In case of Sponsored programme in generally the research is carried out in the degree providing institute whereas in case of external programme the research is carried out in the parent organization.
(7) Joint Ph.D/Collaborative Ph.D
Joint-PhDs are doctorate degrees which are done at two degree-awarding institutions in a collaborative manner. The main objective of these kind of joint Ph.D programmes is that both the participating universities will be tied up for a collaborative PhD programme as part of their efforts to promote cooperative educational exchanges. Under the collaborative PhD programme, the two institutions will jointly develop a system of academic exchanges that will allow a doctoral student to perform coordinated research studies at both institutions for a minimum duration of full-time studies spent at each institution.
A PhD student will be registered for Ph.D degree in both the institutes and will be jointly guided by supervisors from both institutions with the aim of obtaining PhD by satisfying the requirements and quality standards for the degree of each institution. A single dissertation based on the result of the research undertaken will be submitted for examination. Successful candidates will be eligible for a joint PhD award that names both institutions. The joint PhD student will be supported financially by a scholarship, stipend or grant from the institutions, or from a third party.
(8) Quality Improvement Programme (QIP)
Teachers in engineering institutions get an opportunity to study at IIT under the quality improvement program (QIP). The main objective of the programme is to upgrade the expertise and capabilities of the faculty members of AICTE approved degree level engineering institutions, National Institute of Technology (NITs) and National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (NITTTRs) of the country.
The QIP selections are made centrally and announcement for applications are made each year. Teachers will have to send in their applications through their institutions. The list of applications qualifying for interview / test is drawn up centrally on all India basis and the teachers will be interviewed at the IIT of choice indicated by them. Qualification in GATE is not a precondition for selection. Teachers continue to remain as employees of their college during the period of study at IIT. The student works full-time in the PhD Programme as per the rules and regulations of QIP.
(9) Faculty-cum-Ph.D
There is nothing like such kind of approved Ph.D mode in any institute or university. But now a days with the growing demand of Ph.D holder in academic institutes, some private universities offer M.Tech holders the post of assistant professor and at the same time register them as Ph.D candidates in the same university. This mode is just similar to Part-time Ph.D but with the facility of doing the job and the Ph.D at the same place unlike the Part-time Ph.D. Currently some of the new IIITs in India are also recruiting M.Tech students as Lecturer and facilitate them to accomplish their Ph.D from nearby reputed IITs or IIITs.
(10) Independent Ph.D
This is a kind of Ph.D where a student does not need a guide to supervise him/her but has to register in an institution. If the student is confident enough to work independently without a guide then he/she can go for this mode of Ph.D programme. In this case the student is evaluated yearly or half yearly by a panel of evaluators depending upon the rules and regulations of the respective institution. The panel need to approve the research work of the student to proceed with the following research.
Here in this post IgEn explains different modes of Ph.D programme available for technical education. Of-course all the institutes does not provide all types of modes of Ph.D.
If you need any more information regarding different modes of Ph.D programme, feel free to drop a comment and IgEn will definitely respond to it. We would appreciate if you can give valuable information and suggestions to the other students who need it under this post.
Courtesy: IIT Guwahati, IIT Chennai, IIIT Delhi, FindAPhD websites for information.