Varies from place to place. In some countries, the PhD program is fixed at 3 years. You either graduate by then, or you're out (in reality, they give some opti

Varies from place to place. In some countries, the PhD program is fixed at 3 years. You either graduate by then, or you're out (in reality, they give some option for you to pay to continue, but almost no one can afford it). I suspect in those places, people have done a 2 year MS.