FELLOW GRADUATE SCHOOL PROFESSORS AT SAN BEDA AND AT CSU:
This morning, I lost my temper in office because of candidates for the PhD Degree following up on grades.
This is my fear. The PhD is becoming TOO CHEAP a degree and too easy to earn. We should not wonder why foreign universities do not render faith and credit to our Philippine PhDs. I know how foreign PhDs are earned. I know that it takes students 4 to 5 years to write their dissertations and to complete their studies.
The point is that WE ARE BEING TOO LAX. We seem to make it a rule that just because they are doctoral students, they should not fail. ON THE CONTRARY, if they submit sub-standard and mediocre papers, we should fail. We should fail more, for a PhD to retain its worth.
There is no such thing as a right to graduate. It is within the academic freedom of a university to determine who should graduate and who should not. The award of a degree or the decision not to award it is well within the scope of academic freedom. In fact, a university can even withdraw an academic degree already awarded. (UP v. Arokiaswamy, 1999).
Let us disabuse ourselves from this notion that PhD students do not fail. They should fail, and fail more often. Henceforth, I shall take more subjects in our graduate school to see to it that only the best pass my subjects. THIS IS TOO MUCH. I am fed up. Doctoral dissertations are mediocre and run-of-the-mill. I have repeatedly said that we should reject assessment studies and paltry evaluative studies as PhD dissertations because the essence of the dissertation is to contribute to knowledge within the discipline. What can a dissertation that correlates profile of employees with morale add to our knowledge within the discipline?
Does that sound difficult? Yes -- and it should be!
STARTING NEXT SEMESTER, at CSU, I shall invite Louvain, NYU, National University of Singapore and Cambridge professors to teach our PhD subjects online. I have no worries at San Beda, because most of our professors in the JSD level are graduates of Ivy League schools. But the rule on failing more doctoral students applies to them. We have had already one who got the JSD who I was never convinced should be a JSD!