Is there such a thing as a decent distance learning PhD or is this just illusion?Cheers

isn't it usually done through tie ups with local universities?it's just a brand name thinggy.

Some people start off full time PhDs then migrate to part-time and this often involves non-trivial distance.One guy I know has all but given up trying to find out where his supervisor has gone...A PhD is not supposed to be "distance learning", it is supposed to be "research"...I agree with jomni that some universities are "leveraging their brand" with distance PhDs, and a few are of course largely fraudulent.Some potential supervisors are prepared to talk about having a remote student, and although that is a lot tougher to pull off, it is the superior option.Also, remember my standard advice that a PhD should be done because you want to do it, not as a finance career option. A distance / part time PhD is most of your non-work time for the next 5-8 years. Some universities have a hard cap on the length of PhD terms partly to make their statistics look good to funding bodies, but also because they think it cruel to subject people to that length of torment.

Dominic,Glad you are replying. I was hoping you would. Very much appreciate your opinion.I will be living in a rather remote area for a few years and have no options (despite a local university) to do research some of the Financial Maths that I so adore (rightly or wrongly!).So I was wondering what my options are. I am also considering the CQF but I have more time than that. So I thought I could do a full time PhD.Would you have any suggestions how to go about this? What are the other options? I have an Mfinance and MSc and would like to go deeper in a few areas of interest (that's what I think a PhD would be).Thanks for any hints,SigPS: I am not sure if I ever want to work in Finance again but I have a keen interest in knowledge.

you dont have to be officially inside a phd program to write a dissertation. what you could do is teach yourself, write up an academic research paper, and when you are done, you can submit it to publication in a major journal. if you publish a major paper by yourself, i'm sure you can easily then gain official admission to a program and graduate quickly by writing up a followup paper.

Some universities have restrictions on where you are allowed to live. Usually comes in the form of "not more than X miles from building Y in the centre of the town". It is a bit more relaxed for part-timers but not that much.

SigmaPi raises an interesting point.I guess there's quite a few people on this forum with some time they'd like to apply to some research / study yet are not in a position to commit to a full time research program.How about starting a thread in the "General" topic about researching something you are interested in ?

QuoteOriginally posted by: DominicConnorOne guy I know has all but given up trying to find out where his supervisor has gone...there's an old joke that grad students spend 80% of their time avoiding their supervisor and the other 20% trying to find him

QuoteSome universities have a hard cap on the length of PhD terms partly to make their statistics look good to funding bodies, but also because they think it cruel to subject people to that length of torment.Usually around 10 years - if you survive that long. SG

I have been researching this very issue for several months, since I am in a similar position to sigmaPi. There are quite a few on-line masters programs, but virtually no on-line Phd programs in mathematical fields. The only one I've found is an on-line PhD in "beam physics" from Michigan State, but that's not quite what I had in mind. I think there's a good opportunity here for Universities to offer their brand name to what I suspect is a large group of people who want to do research but aren't willing or able to relocate. Is studying in-person really that important when you have high speed internet? Wouldn't it be possible to get funding from a private source (e.g. a bank) and do a distance PhD, since you wouldn't have to pay for your tuition by grading papers, etc.? Has anyone here done this or heard of someone doing this?

mathematocrat,A bit disappointing. I was hoping there was more out there.Thanks Dominic.Regards,sig

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A 'distance PhD' seems to me to be a contradiction in terms; working on yor own in a lonely room, no interaction with other mathematicians, resources etc. And doing it after a hard day at the office..

More seriously, in the UK there is the Open University. I am not sure if they offer PhDs though.

QuoteOriginally posted by: CuchulainnA 'distance PhD' seems to me to be a contradiction in terms; working on yor own in a lonely room, no interaction with other mathematicians, resources etc. And doing it after a hard day at the office..Actually on-line interaction can be quite lively, as this forum proves. Resources can be made available via mail, library, amazon, etc., along with remote access to university computers. As for a hard day at the office, who said anything about working? It seems to me that Universities have been slow to adopt on-line education, but that is changing as master's degrees have become available in a wide variety of fields from good schools (I'm in the U of Washington's on-line AMath program for example, and they are a top rated school in this field). I expect PhD's from reputable schools to be available soon -- if a student is qualified and able to pay I can't think of any reason why a University shouldn't welcome them. It's actually less work to support a distance PhD student since you don't have to videotape classes, etc. The PhD-as-priesthood model seems rather absurd to me; why aren't PhD's available anytime, from anywhere (like this one: http://online-contined.msu.edu/program.asp?program=40 )?