4 ms·
You are "fairly sure" but very wrong. Let us clarify (all of the following is about French PhD programmes). 1. The criteria for selecting a student for a PhD a
by nmc 13y ago
You are "fairly sure" but very wrong. Let us clarify (all of the following is about French PhD programmes).
1. The criteria for selecting a student for a PhD are publicly established by each doctoral school. They do not require any justification of income/wealth.
2. PhD students are not required to sign any contract or to be paid any salary.
2.1. Some of them have a "doctoral contract" (a new thing created in 2009 specially for PhD students), some are public servants, some have signed regular employment contracts of three years specifically for the PhD. However, a large part do not get any benefit from the doctoral school: they are either unemployed, or have a job unrelated to their PhD.
2.2. The director of the doctoral school is supposed to check that all conditions, including financial ones, are met so the student can work well.
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Addendum:
- At the beginning of the 2000s, 30% of students dropping out of their PhD said it was "for financial reasons" [1].
- PhD students are almost always enrolled in a university, or in an institution related to the doctoral school. This is about 500€/year if you are lucky enough to be French, but can go up to 7000€/year if you are from outside the EU.
- Some institutions, for instance some Écoles des Mines or the École Polytechnique, still pay PhD students an "informal salary" without any employment contract [2]. This is in a grey zone, legally speaking.
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[1] Philippe Moguérou, Jake Murdoch, Jean-Jacques Paul. "Les déterminants de l’abandon en thèse", 10es Journées d'études Céreq, 2003-05-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928014312/http://www.cereq.fr/cereq/Colloques/journees/32_Moguerou.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20070928014312/http://www.cereq.f...
[2] Anne Jouan. "Des doctorants étrangers travaillent encore au noir", Le Figaro, 2008-10-20. http://www.lefigaro.fr/formation/2008/10/20/01015-20081020ARTFIG00302-des-doctorants-etrangers-travaillent-encore-au-noir-.php http://www.lefigaro.fr/formation/2008/10/20/01015-20081020AR...
- p4bl0 13y agoOkay. In my doctoral school and the 3 or 4 other that I know of (because friends are there) it's not possible to register as a PhD student without an income justification (you of course don't need to provide it if you are paid by state or one of the universities/school to which the doctoral school is attached). I wasn't entirely sure if it was just a coincidence or if it was the law. Thanks for clarifying this. BTW, just saw your webpage: hi from an Ulmite to a Cachanais ;).
- nmc 13y agoHi back, and thank you for sharing your personal story. This confirms that some doctoral school directors actually enforce this verification of financial situation. De Normalien à Normalien, bravo pour Ulm, moi j'étais même pas admissible ;-)
- p4bl0 13y agoThe director of my doctoral school is Christian Queinnec, of Lisp fame, and yes, he really is a great person. Sinon, j'ai pas passé le concours :-p, j'étais étudiant au département informatique là bas, entré sur dossier après deux ans de fac d'informatique à Marseille. Anyway en informatique Cachan ou à Ulm à part la première année on fait vraiment la même chose :-).