I am doing an education PhD in a European country that is meant to be a world education leader (family circumstances caused the move from UK). My mandatory studies are now complete, 1/4 articles published (2nd under submission) ... things should be rosy right? ... Wrong :-(

I am pretty well published anyhow, 5 yrs experience as an HE lecturer, various qualifications & fellowships - but no PhD. I applied to speak my local university about my research (which I had been publishing for @ 4 years previously), based on their published departments, aims & interests. Also, their supervision policies were available & talked about support, integration, funding etc. Looked great (& convenient). A year later I get a reply - no appointment to discuss, just a letter of acceptance. I figured that as I had waited this long (they did not respond to the reminder), I may as well take up the post. I get there to find that the research group I was interested in had actually ceased to function (but was still advertised). The other 2 departments had no interest in my work, and I was assigned a supervisor 'because they were the closest to my field'. The programme was not-specific - here are 3 mandatory study areas worth X credits in total ... pick some of the available study classes that fit the description, tick the 'done this, done that' boxes, then all that's left is 4 papers & the diss.

No communication or interest in my topic from ... anyone - it really doesn't fit with anything that is going on. No funding, interest in discussing/generating funding. No subject expertise in the university (continuing adult & professional education / scientific communication). Really lax academic standards (no requirement to supply feedback, no established assessment criteria, poor supervision, Beall's list publications, plagiarism, no ethics committee ... really, the list goes on. I've raised polite queries, asked directly, asked in writing, anything to help me get the 'scientific study' bit of the PhD underway, but no help. In fact, I get abused for questioning my supervisors authority, & have been told that "I am a Professor & PhD, & you are not", & "if you don't like it, then go do something else". I am not sure if I preferred passive-aggressive, or plain old abuse ;-)

Just to clarify: I'm at the stage where my lit review & first paper have uncovered some real 'world firsts' - historical data, demonstrable global scope & costs ... what I'm investigating is practiced everywhere, has a multi-billion expenditure (none of which has been previously shown. But ... it doesn't work. Literature has complaints of it not working, I have applied various theories that say (under current circumstances) it cannot work, but using existing applications and approaches, you could make it work (& also generate money) - which was the basis of my thesis proposal. To me, that sounds like a PhD that anyone would take notice of - but not here.

I would really like to find somewhere that I could actually engage with an academic community. There's a book coming out & lots of other areas to investigate, but if I stay here, I will just carry on getting abused & ignored. I don't want to go down the formal complaint avenue, & even if I did, I am not sure they have anyone who would be a suitable supervisor. What gets me though, is why they accepted the proposal in the first place.

Q. Can I move - should I move - what obligations does a uni have .... what to do ????

I think I'd think about the following:
1) How is the PhD examined where you are? Do people fail or is it a system where if you've jumped through the hoops and got the required number of publications, regardless of the quality of the thesis, you'll pass? If so, given your location issues and your background in HE, can you build a scientific network outside the institution and manage to jump through the necessary hoops that way? Or is non-completion likely if you stay put?
2) Do you hope to have an academic career in this current country and if so are jobs awarded on merit or patronage? How much would transferring burn bridges in that respect?
3) Do you have any reason to think things would be better at another university in the current country (i.e. are your issues local or pervasive) or were you thinking about distance learning options?
4) Is lack of an ethical approval process likely to be an issue in terms of limiting the journals you can submit to? From your description, it's not clear whether you will be using human subjects and so whether the informed consent issue is a massive thing or not. I put this last because how important this is would vary enormously depending on what you want to do.

I don't have any problems with being able to complete - yep, I can suck it up, churn out the remaining articles & thesis, & I have no doubt that the quality of MY work will be good enough for external opposition.

I guess my problem is emotion & value based (yeah, we waste our time on emotions & delude ourselves in anyone should place value on us or our work) - but I have been misled, am not given the support that was either promised or implied, I have no one in the university who is interested (least alone connected) with my field of study, and I am now getting direct abuse for trying to develop some of these things.

The examples I gave of ethical approval, publication quality etc. were just to illustrate that this 'world leader' education system is a paper tiger - one that I believed in until I got to see how it really operates.

I can stay put, go through the motions & get a PhD, but I know that every time I see those initials after my name, I will know that they were awarded by an institution that is fraudulent, abusive, lacks professionalism and did almost nothing to work with me. What I do want is an environment where the supervisor knows something about my work, hopefully likes it, and is at least positive. I really believe that I am making some real discoveries, but my institution just doesn't give a damn.

I am just wondering that, if the study part is complete, & the research is taking shape, then is it a fairly attractive thing for another institution to take on (it doesn't need too much from them), especially if they have some links/interest in the field of research? I don't think you should feel tied to an institution that doesn't show interest or commitment - its like staying in an abusive marriage .... just because you are worried about life outside it.