We all know that the extreme budget cuts proposed by Cameron's government will end up destroying the higher education system in the United Kingdom. As if that weren't enough, The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), which is part of the University of London, is now planning to offer online access to all graduate theses by its students without asking their permission to do so*.
There seems to be a consensus between graduate schools everywhere that grad students exist for the sole purpose of being exploited as much as possible. They are forced to teach any number of low-level courses that nobody else wants to teach, while taking several classes of their own and preparing for the comprehensive exams. (One day I will write about the comprehensives for those of my readers who don't know what specific kinds of torture they entail.) They often have to perform all kinds of services for their profs, including cleaning their houses, working in their gardens, baby-sitting, research, translations, etc. None of these services are remunerated in any way. (I was lucky to have scrupulously honest thesis directors who never even asked me to make a cup of coffee for them, but many people are not equally fortunate.)
Now, SOAS wants to exploit grad students even after they graduate and rob them of the fruits of their hard labor. Many grad students hope to publish the results of their doctoral research, be it in the form of a book or a series of articles. In most grad schools, students are given no opportunities to do any research apart from the dissertation. They are also denied any chance to teach the type of courses that will make them competitive on the job market. As a result, for many recent graduates their thesis is pretty much the only thing they can bring on the job market. By making their dissertations freely available online, SOAS practically guarantees that many of its graduates will not only be unemployable for years to come but will also be prevented from getting any of their research based on the dissertation published.
Go here to read more about SOAS's plan to rob grad students of the fruits of their labor and sign the students' petition to prevent this from happening.
* I want to thank my friend and reader Kola who brought this to my attention.
* I want to thank my friend and reader Kola who brought this to my attention.
6 comments:
But can't you access all graduate theses through interlibrary loans anyway?
All books are accessible through interlibrary loan, but somehow nobody is advocating placing them all online for anybody to use freely.
At my school, we're working on advocating for the department to send a letter to the grad college--who runs all of our theses and dissertations through turnitin.com, who then saves them and uses them for their own nefarious purposes.
I can't wait to see what you have to say about comprehensive exams. I have lots to say about them, myself.
In the sciences, many schools do make dissertations freely available electronically. It is usually through the library which is a bit different than just posting links on a departmental website or something. But they are still freely available. This in no way hurts your chances of publishing your thesis work in the sciences. What makes it different in the humanities?
Why would a publisher invest money into publishing something that's freely available online? Who'll pay for it?
There is often a question on manuscript submission forms that asks directly whether the book is based on a thesis and whether that thesis is available online.
@sarcozona: Very few people publish their theses as books in the sciences...
One goal of an ambitious scientist is to get others to cite his work. Hiding his dissertation in a library does not help this goal; publishing it online does.
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