Zheng represents a radical shift in how the world’s second-largest economy thinks about higher education. He is part of a pilot wave of “practical PhD” students who are bypassing the traditional dissertation. Under a law passed in 2024, universities can now award doctorates in engineering based on physical prototypes, new techniques, or major project installations.
Not a bad idea.
Too many useless PhDs given out in the current framework. And with the stupid requirements in some countries to have a certain number of papers as first author before being able to present, one strains the system with even more useless papers.
They need something like this in medicine... the number of bullshit publications is getting ridiculous... so many intelligent people doing "research" that will never be read in order to match into prestigious positions when they could repurpose that energy elsewhere.
I'm all for this idea, but Needlessly Pedantic Man does want to point out that these are doctorates in philosophy, not doctorates in making cool stuff.
I'm actually not for the idea. I fully acknowledge that the average inventor generates much more surplus for society than the average PhD, so it's not coming from a place of superiority either. I just want the P in PhD to mean something. I am not happy with the proliferation of doctorates of various kinds where the rewardee does not actually know how to think deeply about philosophical issues.
I would also be for a radical contraction in PhD's
That being said, I also agree with @south_korea_ln that there are too many useless papers, and too many papers that exist just to be a line on someone's CV.
Meh, it's usually better for my mental health if I don't think too much about the meta situation within academia, both on the research and teaching side.