I entered the PhD program with a view to undertake doctorate study on "Numerical Analysis". As no suitable guide was available in that department, I was "advised" to pursue doctoral research on "nonlinear control systems", which was offered by a few Professors... This is how my research career started. Control was not my choice! Best wishes, Sundar

For decades I directed the Ph.D. program in Spanish and the Ph.D. program in Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut (USA). A candidate need not have a research problem in hand, because this will come from study. But definitely each student should have chosen a field for research before admission. Each program admits a student to study in a preestablished field.  Most U.S. universities have catalogues on Ph.D. studies on-line.  Prospective students can search such catalogues by universities and by Ph.D. programs. They can examine application requirements, the courses required and offered in such programs and they can telephone or email directors of the Ph.D. programs.

There are many qualities that are required. Some of them are listed here but not in any particular order.

1. Basic Intelligence and knowledge in the domain of interest

2. Independence / Confidence to work independently

3. Commitment for the research program

4. Time management / organisational skills

5. Curiosity / ability to learn new subjects and disciplines

6. Enthusiasm and passion for the work that he/she is doing

7. Hard working/ diligence

8. Motivation, tenacity, perseverance

A research problem on hand is not important, but an idea of the overall interest and the domain where he/she want s to work would help.

I entered the PhD program with a view to undertake doctorate study on "Numerical Analysis". As no suitable guide was available in that department, I was "advised" to pursue doctoral research on "nonlinear control systems", which was offered by a few Professors... This is how my research career started. Control was not my choice! Best wishes, Sundar

Dear Sundar

Thant is what happens with many engineering programs. You will be lucky if you find a suitable adviser who is actually interested in what you are interested. If the student joins an already existing program then it will be a smooth sailing for him/her as already tracks were made by other students.

I think that research students should have *one* of two things clear when they start.

either they

a) know what is their domain of interest (topic, subject or problem etc).

OR

b) know how they want to do research (method, investigation practice, analytical practice etc).

It is not necessarily a good idea for a new researcher to believe that both (a) and (b) need to be clear *before* they start. In my experience beginners who think they have both a and b clear when they start will find it difficult to *discover* and *learn* from others and from research which has been done before. Such an attitude becomes then a BIG handicap as it will be in the way for excellence. On the other hand those individuals who have neither a or b will be lost and not be able to develop and pursue *their own* research until they are in a position where one of these two points is clear to them. A situation without a or b can lead to a lot of lost time while the individual is trying to figure out *why* any area or method is of interest or relevant for them to pursue.

Obviously some might approach this by *doing what they are told* by there supervisor - but such projects seems to be more of a work of a research assistant than PhD work. The reason is that it is the supervisor who will be able to justify the research done - not the PhD student. So in my view - not all that appropriate.

The pre-requisites for a PhD student is different between a country and another, a university and another, and also between a discipline and another.

One of the requirements I find necessary about the PhD program is that graduate students are given the opportunity to get involved in research early and before they present their proposal for PhD. Some universities required the PhD candidate to publish two articles before they present their proposal or before the defense of her/his thesis.

I think that all of the ideas and opinions that have been offered so far are really very good ones! The list that Nageawara offered is on point. From my own personal experience, when I entered my PhD program it was with the aim to teach. However, I had clarity about the area of study that I was interested in, and also had a clear topic in mind - but I had not considered research beyond what would have been required in the program. As I progressed through the program I began to fully comprehend the value and importance of research and now I am very excited about contributing to the corpus of literature and knowledge in my field. What I have found among my peers is many of them get right up to the dissertation stage without a  solid idea of what their study will be about! Perhaps, one of the things that is needed is a very thorough pre-entrance interview process that helps the applicants to gain more focus on what their areas of interest are, and how that might inform their area of research. 

I think, a Ph.D student should have the following qualities:

--explore the research topic by her/himself after reading extensively;

--passion for research; basic intelligence;

--capability to work hard;

--desire for academic  excellence;

--humility;

--avoid procrastination;

--tact (especially if s/he is to collect field data); and respect for scholarship.

In my humble judgment, for a Ph.D. study in particular, the candidate's mental attitude is very important. The candidate should ideally be highly motivated, hard-working, and should love challenges in life. In addition, I advise all my Ph.D. students to acquire five Cs:  creativity, critical judgment, communicative ability, constancy(ie, persistence), and finally, confidence in his/her ability. Given these qualities, it would not be difficult for a  candidate to think through an issue for research and the appropriate methodology to address that issue in any particular field.

Thanks.

Mansur Masih

I fully agree with Abul Mansur that the mental attitude is very important for a PhD candidate. To give exposure to my PhD students, I take them to IEEE Conferences and let them present the joint work. Answering questions in conferences help them develop confidence in their work.  Publications in peer-reviewed journals are also very important for PhD students. If the PhD students get a good guide, they will be inspired to do their doctoral program. Technical communication is important, and the students need to develop good writing style suitable for publishing in good journals. With best wishes, Sundar

We have to distinguish between the idealistic reality, where the answer is a combination of answers available from Nageswara Rao Posinasetti and other contributors above, and from the grounded reality, where the answer is close to Sundar's experience. It depends on the cultural, political and educational background of each country. 

The prerequisite that are essential in a PhD candidate are the patience, stability and perseverance, interest  and depth of the concerned topic, that will come if the candidate spends much time in studying the review of other researchers based on that topic/ area of research than only candidate can design objectives and work on it.

Human values , ethics, honesty, trust, high perseverance, discipline, time management, love to research, respect for seniority colleagues and subordinate , confidentiality, high intelligence, regardless of the would enjoy, team working and share information,

I think besides a solid background in the field, the student should be a hard worker and committed to his research; these are the most important pre requisites for a good Ph.D student.

I got very impressed by the answer given by Jalil Zorriehzahra - It is quite possible that he is giving the "real description" of one of his PhD students. Can he confirm this?

Best wishes, Sundar

I would like to add:

ability to question plugged-in opinions and findings, openness to experience, patience and persistency, straigthforwardness, correctness, capability for (self-)criticism and innovative ability

I thank Demetris Christopoulos for his excellent view. Yes, "grounded reality" is very important. My experience on control was similar to what Jane Harland had described. I took more years than expected, as I was tackling a highly complicated research problem in control engineering. While doing so, I developed a lot of auxiliary results, which helped me to complete the research successfully. Perseverance is the key! PhD days can be very hard when we lack publications. I always encourage my PhD students to have publications in peer-reviewed journals as they should not feel down, and to develop some positive attitude. Critical brain is important as Kamal Eddin very wisely pointed out. Engineering students may try a lot of simulations.

With best wishes, Sundar

What are the pre-requisites for a PhD student? Well there are tow parts in the answer:

1. what are the pre-rquisites for a PhD student.

2. What are the conditions offered by the university.

Thus a candidate must choose first an appropriate university and then an appropriate professor. Then the only thing he needs is basic intelligence and hard work. 

The bottom line -- reality-- is that the school or university decides the prerequisites-- specified in writing or in admissions decisions.  All the qualities mentioned may well be there, but the admitting PhD program will decide if one has met their prerequisites.

Specific to the original question - having a strong idea of one's research topic can be a boon or a curse, depending on how flexible the student is in making shifts when certain elements prove (A) not feasible or (B) redundant to the research that has already been done.  For our program, it tends to come down to those elements which cannot be taught through our curriculum: Writing skill, endurance/stubborness, and intellectual honesty.  These characteristics carry our students through successfully no matter what complications emerge along the way, and we can teach the rest of what they need to know.

I smile, as I remember getting a NO from one school, because I did not 'have enough research experience."   This puzzled me and all I could think was, wait-- isn't that why I go into a doctoral program? to conduct research (that's why I did)-- I didn't know you had to have previous research experience to get a phd.  (A long time ago)

Excellent reply by P. Shanmugasundaram, and I fully agree to his views.

Best wishes, Sundar

With our birth ,Mind,heart ,intelligence ,remain the three pillars of our life.Our sensitive approach & our subconscious mind all the time help us to move the thinking part of our mind & this becomes the research process of our life.

We should made this as pre requisties condition for Phd ,proper planning ,systematically working & timely & effective guideline form the teacher who certainly make your path for progressive line of Phd ,& this is what my personal opinion .

It would be desirable for a PhD candidate to have some clear research proposal. 

Regards,

Mahamad Nabab Alam

As per my view, Brief idea on any broad topic would be necessary. And candidate must be ready for focused work that is sufficient condition.

There are no set "prerequisites." Each school HAS certain requirements incoming students must meet. Anyone who applies and is admitted must work hard, study and keep up with the work-- the rigor and workload is different at each school. If a student makes it through the process than he or she has what it takes to do so. Anything else is judgemental and unfair.  It's all up to the school of the applicant.

Good question and Informative answers thank you all