Genesis and Evolution of Ph.D. Degree program by Prof. P. K. J. Mohapatra
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) is the highest academic degree that most universities of the world award to their students. This short write-up sketches the genesis and the evolution of the Ph.D. degree in the world and traces the early years of the degree inIndia.
Etymology
The term “doctor of philosophy” has its Latin origin doctor philosophie. The Latin word doctor, which means “teacher,” was used in the medieval period (5th – 15th century A.D.) in the Churches of Europeto refer to church fathers, apostles, and other Christian authorities who interpreted and taught the Bible1.
The word “philosophy” has a Greek origin, which means “Love of Wisdom.” During the medieval period, studies in all fields (such as history, philosophy, social sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences) were traditionally known as philosophy.
Degrees in Medieval Europe
Three degrees used to be given to the students in medieval Europe: Licentiate, Master, and Doctor. The Catholic churches used to give licentiadocendi (licence to teach). The Pope transferred this right to the University of Paris. The scope of this transferred right also included the right to teach subjects of general interest (such as liberal arts, philosophy, and law). Later, the Universityrenamed this degree as Master.
The University of Bologna in Italy, considered to be the oldest universityin continuous operation, called anyone who completed the prescribed coursework as Doctor. The highest degrees for medicine and law used to be MD (Doctor of Medicine) and JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence), respectively, whereas degrees in all other disciplines used to be Doctor of Philosophy.
About 1652, the German universities started offering doctorate of philosophy as a terminal degree for taking up a profession as a teacher. A doctorate degree, in those days, used to be given based on advanced coursework, but with no research component.
The PhD Programme in Berlin University
Wilhelm von Homboldt, the then education minister in the Prussian government, founded the Berlin University (now known as the Humboldt University) in the year 1810. From the start, the University started a Ph.D. (Dr. Phil.) programme based on a combination of courseworkand individual research. The introduction of the research component wasvery novel and drew appreciation from everywhere. Soon the idea spread to other universities in Prussia, Europe, and outside Europe. German universities attracted foreign students, including students from USA and Canada.
The PhD Programme in USA and UK
Yale University is the first in USA to start,in 1861, its Ph.D. programme. But, the Ph.D. programmes offered by the German universities continued to be considered as the best.
The British universities did not have a research-based Ph.D. programme for many years. The University of London had introduced a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) programme in 1860, and the University of Cambridge and the University of Durham introduced the same programme in 1882. The D.Sc. programme was based on very advanced courseworkand was considered almost equivalent to the requirements for getting recommended to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. But this programme did not have any research component.
Impact of the World Wars on the Ph.D. Demography
The two world wars changed the demography of Ph.D. in the world.Throughout the period between the two world wars, the Nazi Government imposed many restrictions on foreign students and faculty, and systematically tortured members of the Jewish community, because of which the student inflow to German universities slowed down and many Jewish professors migrated to either UK or USA.
The World War I forced universities in other countries to start their own Ph.D. programmes based on not only coursework but also individual research. Oxford University started its doctorate program (DPhil) in 1917 and awarded the first DPhil degree in 1919. It is said that the Vice-Chancellor of Toronto University, Canada, wrote to the University of London in 1917 to start a PhD programme there so that the Canadian students did not have to go to the war-torn Germany for PhD. The University of London introduced the PhD programme in 1919 (Bogle,undated).
Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar, the First to Enrol for PhD in London University
It is to be noted that the first person to enrol in the PhD programme offered by the University of London in 1919 was Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, who also became the first recipient of PhD degree in Chemistry from the University in the year 1921 (Bogle,undated). Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar became an FRS in 1943 and later became the Director General of CSIR (1942 – 1954) and the first Chairman of UGC (1953 – 1955) of India, and, in his honour, CSIR instituted S. S. Bhatnagar prizes for distinction in seven fields of science.
Early Years of PhD in India
It is interesting that University of Allahabad, which was founded in the year 1887, awarded the first D.Sc. (in Mathematics) in the year 1898 to Ganesh Prasad (Naqvi, 2019). In those years Allahabad University used to award D.Sc. degree on the basis of coursework only (same as University of Oxford and University of London). The University is also the first in India to award the degree of Ph.D. to Annada Prasad Sircar in the year 1904 (Sen 2015).
By the year 1920, twelve more persons were awarded the Ph.D. degree in India (in the areas of Agriculture, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Mathematics, Medical Sciences, and Physics), all of whom were from Calcutta University (Sen 2015). It is heartening and a matter of great pride that the Ph.D. programme started in India many years before it started in UK, the country that was ruling India then.
Note
1Much of this text is written on the basis of the material on Doctor of Philosophy available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorate (accessed on 14 January 2021).
References
- Bogle, D.(undated), 100 Years of the PhD in the UK
- https://www.vitae.ac.uk/vitae-publications/blogs/history-of-phd.pdf/view
- Naqvi, K. R. (2019), Early Doctorates Conferred by Indian Universities, Indian Journal of History of Science, 54.1, 108–109.
- Sen, B. K.(2015), Doctorate Degrees from India 1877 (first award) to 1920. Indian Journey of History of Science, 50.3, 533–534.