Part time Phd in Singapore - possible, and/or worth it?

[Sergei82]

Just trying to think about the future.

Does anybody have experience or knowledge about taking part-time PhD in computer science (or any technical field, not business administration or accounting) in Singapore?

Will it not take around a decade to complete? (one guy said 8 years)

Is it worth taking in any local university or there is a better choice in here (some foreign uni branch which can provide better recognizable PhD)?

Do local universities provide any part-time PhD studies at all? (Google show "yes", but there may be issues I may not know about)

Please, refrain from discussing usefulness of having PhD for the career or "better" (?) alternatives for life like MBA or similar clutter.

[ecureilx]

Just trying to think about the future.

Does anybody have experience or knowledge about taking part-time PhD in computer science (or any technical field, not business administration or accounting) in Singapore?

Will it not take around a decade to complete? (one guy said 8 years)

Is it worth taking in any local university or there is a better choice in here (some foreign uni branch which can provide better recognizable PhD)?

Do local universities provide any part-time PhD studies at all? (Google show "yes", but there may be issues I may not know about)

Please, refrain from discussing usefulness of having PhD for the career or "better" (?) alternatives for life like MBA or similar clutter.

in my previous work place, a guy was doing PhD, part time, and I recall for part time PhD, he was on EP.

He took 4 years to finish, not 8 years, and he was holding MSc in Electronics or something.

Though a bit of career advice, I know another guy who is a PhD, did it in Malaysia, and is struggling to change jobs here as when most employers see PhD, they seem to pee in their pants ...

[the lynx]

Just trying to think about the future.

Does anybody have experience or knowledge about taking part-time PhD in computer science (or any technical field, not business administration or accounting) in Singapore?

Will it not take around a decade to complete? (one guy said 8 years)

Is it worth taking in any local university or there is a better choice in here (some foreign uni branch which can provide better recognizable PhD)?

Do local universities provide any part-time PhD studies at all? (Google show "yes", but there may be issues I may not know about)

Please, refrain from discussing usefulness of having PhD for the career or "better" (?) alternatives for life like MBA or similar clutter.

in my previous work place, a guy was doing PhD, part time, and I recall for part time PhD, he was on EP.

He took 4 years to finish, not 8 years, and he was holding MSc in Electronics or something.

Though a bit of career advice, I know another guy who is a PhD, did it in Malaysia, and is struggling to change jobs here as when most employers see PhD, they seem to pee in their pants ...

Or to try to get him as cheaply as possible, so that he can be the company's PhD mascot for bragging rights.

[Sergei82]

Those who pee in pants on seeing phd will pee in pants on seeing over a decade of work experience just as well. So no need to bother for me.

[the lynx]

On a serious note, I don't know about computer science. Maybe one of the forum members, rduejj will help about this as he is from the engineering side (close enough, I guess). Drop him a PM and see.

Part-time PhD is possible here, from my personal experience. But only through specific arrangements. It is better if you identify a potential supervisor and do your part-time PhD under him/her. Sometimes it matters which institutions you're doing under, sometimes the reputation of the supervisor matters.

Does your day job involve the subject matter you're interested to pursue that PhD for? If it is, and there is someone interested to be your supervisor (very favourably under one of the main research agencies existing in Singapore, with potential collaboration to NUS, NTU and the likes), all the admin work is pretty much shoe-in for part-time PhD.

Good luck. I'd like to hear what other forum members have for more info.

[Sergei82]

in my previous work place, a guy was doing PhD, part time, and I recall for part time PhD, he was on EP.

He took 4 years to finish, not 8 years, and he was holding MSc in Electronics or something.

Can you give more details? What was the institution? What was the major? Maybe approximate cost as well? Does part time PhD here conflict with full time work significantly?

Sorry, I don't know anyone myself who was doing PhD part time...

[Sergei82]

Does your day job involve the subject matter you're interested to pursue that PhD for?

yes, and that is the main reason

It is better if you identify a potential supervisor and do your part-time PhD under him/her

Is personal e-mails the only way to do that? Or these guys advertise themselves somehow? (I am sure taking on a student will put additional workload on them, so they should be taking limited number of people to supervise)

[the lynx]

in my previous work place, a guy was doing PhD, part time, and I recall for part time PhD, he was on EP.

He took 4 years to finish, not 8 years, and he was holding MSc in Electronics or something.

Can you give more details? What was the institution? What was the major? Maybe approximate cost as well? Does part time PhD here conflict with full time work significantly?

Sorry, I don't know anyone myself who was doing PhD part time...

For example, I have a friend doing a part-time PhD in biology. He works as lab associate/assistant in one of National Environment Agency (NEA)'s research arms. His supervisor is a professor in Duke-NUS medical school who is also researching similar topics to his day job. He approached him to be considered as his supervisor, he accepted and I guess he is effectively a Duke-NUS student, but working for NEA. Not sure if there is special arrangement between two entities due to his day job.

I don't know how much it would cost. He might be funded by scholarship/grant from her supervisor, or by NEA, or he pays himself.

If your day job conflicts with your proposed research, you will have to invest twice as much of your time after work and effort to get it to work.

So this is one example I know of.

[ecureilx]

in my previous work place, a guy was doing PhD, part time, and I recall for part time PhD, he was on EP.

He took 4 years to finish, not 8 years, and he was holding MSc in Electronics or something.

Can you give more details? What was the institution? What was the major? Maybe approximate cost as well? Does part time PhD here conflict with full time work significantly?

Sorry, I don't know anyone myself who was doing PhD part time...

It was in NUS, and NUS isn't cheap, plus you need to have good scores to be admitted.

I lost touch with him though.