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As I understand, European universities offer two types of Ph.D. programs:

  1. Ph.D. without employment
  2. Ph.D. with employment

As far as I understand, North American universities do not work in that way.

Is it worth enrolling in a Ph.D. program without employment (#1) careerwise if someone wants a job in academia in future?

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  • In several French universities you practically cannot enroll on a PhD on computer science without an employment contract (e.g. CIFRE) Commented Dec 13, 2019 at 8:51
  • 4
    The question in the title and the question in the post are wildly different. What are you asking, exactly?
    – mrp
    Commented Dec 13, 2019 at 9:59
  • Being in a PhD program with work contract does not mean that you will teach. Your working obligations may be exclusively research related. Commented Dec 13, 2019 at 17:08
  • As is this question is extremely unclear. Can you focus on what exactly it is you would like us to answer? Commented Dec 13, 2019 at 18:24
  • Even in the U.S., Ph.D. study in many subjects is without employment. Most subjects in the arts and the humanities, for example.
    – GEdgar
    Commented Dec 13, 2019 at 21:12

1 Answer 1

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Europe is not a country but a continent. The links you gave are from the university of Vienna, and the example of employed PhD students refers to a special program from the University of Vienna, so that is not even Austria-wide.

Enrolling in a PhD program without employment can mean many things, for example it could mean you get no financial support what so ever, i.e. you are self-funded (but even there is variability depending on how much tuition you pay). Being in a PhD program without employment could also mean you receive a stipend instead of wage (which has consequences for your eligibility for social security, pension, health insurgence, etc. This varies to a huge extend from country to country).

In general a PhD degree is a PhD degree regardless of how it was funded. It may be that some programs are more prestigious than others, but that is country specific: It may be that in some countries particular stipends are very prestigious, while in other countries employment is so rare, that getting it is considered prestigious.

I would be weary of self-funded PhD programs, but otherwise stipends and employment contracts are both fine.

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    +1 for "Europe is not a country". I do not know how often one must say this on Academia.SE.
    – wimi
    Commented Dec 13, 2019 at 10:08

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