There definitely needs to be some realism about what getting a PhD will do for the graduate student. It certainly ISN'T a passport to academia, and shouldn't be sold as that. I totally agree that there is an element of exploitation to the way PhD students are utilised to maximise research output in some fields.

thanks for this! it makes a good read
love satchi

Thanks Satchi :)

It makes zero-hours contracts look reasonable.

I have read the article, took me 2 days to read it, it's very good -- this quote "almost dishonest to encourage people to do phds"

Yes- cheap labour, no job security, I am there too.

Thanks Kim for posting the link.

love satchi

The original the Economist article also can be found here:

A bit old but it is still valid: