Ready for PhD

I checked my application status at the USM Institute of Postgraduate Studies website and it shows that my PhD student application has been accepted.

Great! So, it's about time for me to go over to USM to register myself as a PhD student in Organisational Behaviour.

Also, I have read through a few dozen journals and I have come up with a new theoretical framework which is different from the one I sent in together with my application earlier. I hope my supervisor will agree on this framework or else, I have to come up with a new framework again. That's a usual thing. The framework will keep changing until it is robust.

Ok, it is time to sift more journals.

I just applied for a PhD programme

I just sent in my application for PhD in USM yesterday.

I filled in the application forms and got my referees to fill in the forms too. Together with the forms, I need to hand in 3 passport photos, copies of my academic transcripts and certificates, and my brief research proposal.

I managed to get a fee waiver for my application fees of RM70 because I got hold of the voucher from USM when they came over to PISA during the education and career fair.

All I need to do now is to wait for them to process. And meanwhile, I need to read more. The new semester will start in mid-February 2012.

Writing the proposal

Just the other day, I called up my MBA research project supervisor and I expressed my interest in continuing my PhD. So, I asked her whether she is available to be appointed as my supervisor.

She said "Yes" and she welcomed me to do so. Great!

Now first of all, I have to write a brief proposal before I could submit my application to USM.

I have spend the last few days browsing through some journals to get some ideas of the possible frameworks I could think about.

This is just the beginning of the lonely path of writing a doctoral dissertation.

How long would that be? Five years? Six years? Seven years? Maybe... And it's part time.

Shopping for a PhD

I have been thinking where should I pursue my PhD.

Option 1 - USM
The fees are affordable since it is subsidised by the government. It is located in Penang making it even so much more convenient for me.

But, I have been hearing scary stories as well. Scary stories that relate to the the oral examinations (proposal defence, proposal findings, and the viva voce). Yes, getting a PhD is NOT easy. People keep telling the same story over and over again, like seeing cases of students crying and ended up depressed after the oral examination. You must have thick skin and you must get ready to be bashed up during the oral examination.

Option 2 - Asia e University
This is my second choice. Unfortunately, the main campus is located in KL and there is no branch in Penang. But I am allowed to nominate my own doctoral qualified supervisor in Penang. If I do it in this University, I have to travel to KL probably only during the oral examinations or whenever there are any workshops. So, I don't have to travel to KL that often and furthermore, this is an online distance learning university. I can still stay in Penang and still be a student at this University.

No scary stories for this University unlike USM. Anyway, it's a private university. That's what I like about it. Anyway, the fees are just a little more expensive compared to USM.

I am still deciding....

Do you want to be an academician?

A couple of years ago, I asked myself, "Do I want to work my way up?" or "Do I want to study my way up?". I chose the latter path so that I could avoid the typical corporate bullying and corporate politics.

If you choose to study your way up, this means you have to equip yourself with a postgraduate qualification, preferably a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy).

But of course, with so many profit-driven private colleges around, you don't need to have a PhD to be a lecturer. With just a master degree or just an undergraduate degree, you can already apply to be one and probably an underpaid lecturer. I can testify to that. So, with a PhD, you can only demand a better pay.

Being a compulsive learner with a passion for academic, becoming an academician is the right career choice for me, I believe.

Unfortunately in Malaysia, most of the academic institutions especially the private ones are profit-driven with no strong emphasis on research at all. Instead, all they care are student intakes, student intakes, and student intakes (I can testify to that as well). On the other hand, the public institutions of higher learning are government institutions and that means, I as a non-bumiputera will have great difficulties to be employed by them, even if I were to have a PhD one day (I have acquaintances with PhD who can testify to this). Well, what to do? That is why we have brain drains in Malaysia.

So, how well academicians are paid in Malaysia? Let us take a look at USM. I got this information from their ad.

Professor = RM10,885.75 to RM12,422.50 per month
Associate Professor = RM5,910.42 to RM7,610.50 per month
Senior Lecturer = RM5,276.92 to RM6,899.50 per month
Lecturer = RM3,073.50 to RM5,969.42 per month

Hmmm...not bad, eh.

Once you are armed with a PhD and depending on your experience, you either start your way up from the Lecturer position or the Senior Lecturer position. As an academician, your KPI will be heavily based on your research publications on peer-reviewed journals. It is the usual practice that academicians are hired on a three-year contract basis and you are required to publish your research articles consistently or else you will be shown the door.

One professor once mentioned that the reason why he chose to be an academician is because it is the closest to being self-employed. That can be quite true.

So, do you want to be an academician?