Too many PhDs? Not enough PhDs?

OK this one is for my science colleagues, friends and students.  An often-debated subject I have with colleagues is what is the right number of PhD we should be producing these days.  Our labs survive by gaining funding and we get funding via producing papers and students help produce papers.  How is this process connected to the job market for PhDs?  Well often not much. What are we training students for in terms of job prospects in an environment of constrained funding and increased competition from countries such as China and India?

Heavy stuff I know.  Of course our other favourite gripe is about medics, dentists and vets calling themselves Doctor while only having a couple of Bachelors degrees if that!  All this isn’t helped by our own Australian universities now offering professional masters degrees that will allow someone to call themselves Doctor too.  In fact I reckon we PhD holders need a new term to define our obvious “docterness” to the world.  Any suggestions? Professor is an obvious one.  The German “Doctor Doctor” (to strains of Robert Palmers “Bad case of Lovin you” in the background. Perhaps not.  Send me you suggestions to nigelmcmilan"at"me.com.

Anyway back to PhDs.  Nature had an issue on this last month (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v472/n7343/index.html).  The US doesn’t produce enough and imports its talent and while China is producing vast numbers, the quality is variable.  Of course most countries are convinced that higher education and scientific research are the key to economic growth and prosperity and are expanding doctoral education in science. You would have to say Australia is not one of them at least on funding evidence and government policy, but our problem is more covering the gap between good ideas and a startup company.  VC capital is not an issue for a shopping mall but a new therapeutic – good luck.  Students from 2^nd and 3^rd world countries see it as a path to prosperity and a better life and many of them in my experience are truly excellent students.

Lets face it, no one goes into a PhD just for the hell of it.  These are bright, dedicated students with a desired to make a difference.  If it was money and fame they wanted they wouldnt be in science.  Name the last 3 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine right now!  No?  See, not even a  Nobel Prize offers fame!  No, I believe the issue is we train our PhDs too narrowly for the many jobs they end up in (only ½ end up in research labs).  What about management, marketing, project management, budgeting,  etc.  Fundamentally we need a different sort of degree, an PhD-MBA type degree. Then perhaps pure research training would become more limited and specialized.

Your thoughts?