Question about a Ph.D from Europe

Fri May 16 01:31:41 UTC 2014

Wroclaw. Not Worclaw. My apologies. 

-Mark

Mark Lawrence Schrad

Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Villanova University
256 St. Augustine Center
800 Lancaster Ave.
Villanova, PA  19085-1699

http://www10.homepage.villanova.edu/mark.schrad
mark.schrad at villanova.edu

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Mark Schrad [mark.schrad at VILLANOVA.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2014 8:18 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Question about a Ph.D from Europe

Hi, Alina:

Please forgive the bluntness of my assessment, but I feel that your student should go into this with no illusions: there is absolutely no way to get a (tenure-track) political science position with a Ph.D. from Poland (or most places in Europe). Period.

I've had my own well-documented (http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2014/04/30/essay-difficulty-finding-job-expert-russia) struggles on the academic job market, and now have the experience of being on a half-dozen search committees in various areas of political science, so I have insights into both sides of this question, and unfortunately it is bad news on both of them:

1) Like many disciplines, political science already exhibits a glut of overqualified candidates--and the dearth of positions since 2007 has led to an even bigger backlog--so much so that even well-qualified candidates from top-20 departments have a tough time finding long-term employment. (Our last search fielded over 260 applications, for example.)

2) There is a prejudice against European Ph.D.s--and some of it is justified. In many European countries, a Ph.D. will take you 2-4 years. (There are a few exceptions: Oxford, LSE, perhaps CEU in Hungary). A political science Ph.D. in any decent American program will take 6-7 years (depending on subfield and expertise). Hiring committees are generally leery that a European Ph.D. won't have the same background and training--both as a researcher and instructor--as one of the dozens (or hundreds) of other applicants, many of whom are from top American universities. Perhaps they do--but committees are more likely to go with a known commodity in an American Ph.D. (Also, search committees sometimes operate under tight budget constraints: all else being equal, it'd be much easier for them to fly-in a candidate for a campus interview from a few hundred miles away than have to arrange a last-minute transatlantic flight from Europe. This has happened to a friend of mine with a Swedish Ph.D. who's tried--and repeatedly failed--to find academic employment in the US.)

3) If the student is from the United States originally, there'll be questions as to why the student *didn't* enroll in an American program. Couldn't they get accepted to one? Think of it this way: if you were going to hire a doctor of internal medicine, who would you hire first: the guy with an MD from John's Hopkins University, or St. George's School of Medicine in Grenada?

4) Hiring in political science (like elsewhere in academia, I assume) is very cliquey. It is all about personal contacts and reputations. Personally, I didn't realize there *was* a Ph.D. program in Worclaw, and I certainly don't know anything about the faculty there, or the training that the students receive (and I actually know a little bit about the region). Even if Worclaw has an amazing tradition in whatever area of research your student is looking to undertake, the people on the hiring committee most likely won't know that. Indeed, at many universities, the people on the hiring committee may include political theorists, and (likely) experts in the field of American politics, who'd probably have a hard time finding Worclaw on a map, much less knowing anything about its academic reputation. Again, they'll likely defer to the known commodity: someone from a top-20 program in the US who has glowing recommendations from their well-known advisor, as opposed to some unknown quantity from an unknown program.

So, yeah: if the student is really serious about getting an academic job in the states, they shouldn't be making their decisions based on preferred location anyway. S/he needs to first consider the training and reputation of the university (looking at published lists of where their previous grad students have ended-up helps), as well as finding an advisor/mentor whose research interests correspond well with your own.

My suggestion, then, would be to definitely go back to the states for Ph.D. training. If they want return to study in Worclaw or elsewhere in Europe, that shouldn't be a problem: just maintain those linkages while you're getting your disciplinary training and coursework in the states, and when it comes time to do dissertation fieldwork in European politics, post-socialist transitions or whatever else, then they can do that fieldwork in Poland.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Cheers,

-Mark

Mark Lawrence Schrad

Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Villanova University
256 St. Augustine Center
800 Lancaster Ave.
Villanova, PA  19085-1699

http://www10.homepage.villanova.edu/mark.schrad
mark.schrad at villanova.edu

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Alina W. Klin [ad7484 at WAYNE.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2014 10:10 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Question about a Ph.D from Europe

Dear All,
One of my former students who is completing his MA degree in political science in Wrocław (Poland) would like to continue studying there and obtain a PhD.
However, he wonders about his chances for employment once he is back in the States with his Ph.D degree from Poland. I am including his question in this email and I would appreciate your advice on this matter. I am going to forward your comments to him. Thank you very much - Alina Klin

Here is the question:
I'm actually wondering if you have any thoughts on how PhDs from European universities are viewed/accepted in the US. There was a professor that gave a workshop during one of my semesters here, and he said while the masters degrees from Europe are accepted readily, but that if I do a PhD to come back to the US to do it. What are your thoughts on this matter?

--
Alina Klin, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer in Polish
Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Wayne State University
411 Manoogian Hall
906 W. Warren
Detroit, MI  48202

Fax: (313) 577-6243
ad7484 at wayne.edu

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