• Question: What is PhD?

    Asked by 738ghtg46 to Stephen, Saoirse, Pramod on 8 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by hollyk5.
    • Photo: Stephen Davitt

      Stephen Davitt answered on 8 Nov 2016:

      A PhD is the nickname for a ‘Doctorate of Philosophy’, it’s basically two steps up from a university degree and the highest level of education you can get.

      Education in Ireland is split up into 10 different levels depending on how much of school and exams you have taken you are awarded a different level

      The Junior cert in secondary school is level 3
      The leaving cert is between levels 4 & 5
      FAS courses and PLC courses are level 5
      A university degree is level 7
      A university masters is level 9
      and finally a PhD is level 10!

      So a PhD is a pretty big deal still and not that many people will stick in education to get that far. Usually they last for 3-5 years and are focused around performing research. The requirement for a PhD is that you create a new piece of knowledge.

      I hope this explains what you were looking for?

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