PhDs leave the ivory tower

Not so long ago, doctoral students were
viewed as the galley slaves of the scientific
world, spending long hours in
the lab for a meagre wage and the promise that
three precious letters — PhD — would eventually
burnish their name.
But that attitude has changed. Recognizing
that few graduates spend their entire careers
at the bench, research funders and education
authorities are reshaping the PhD to train students
in non-science skills such as networking
as well as research. One of the most radical
expositions of this philosophy is unfolding
in the United Kingdom, where PhD students
are increasingly coming out from under the
wing — and the shadow — of a PhD supervisor.
Instead of being trained individually in
one academic’s research group, they are being
taught in cohorts in a doctoral training centre
(DTC) — a university-based hub focusing on
highly specific areas, such as chemical synthesis
or nuclear fission. DTC courses last four
years rather than the three of a standard UK
PhD, and include formal coursework as well
as lab experience. for more go tohttp://www.nature.com/news/phds-leave-the-ivory-tower-1.10383