It is said that Saudi Arabia has one of the largest number of Ph.D. holders per capita in the world. It is also said that one Saudi university holds the top rank among the world’s higher educational institutions for awarding doctoral degrees to its students. An old man once wondered what benefit has been gained from “all those doctors on whom we spent millions educating and preparing for practical life.” He felt that most of them spend their time in cafes, sipping tea or coffee and smoking shisha.
Not so long ago, the title of “Doctor” had a special flavor and attractiveness; the holder was highly esteemed and respected and the degree was a passport to top jobs. That is no longer the case since we are awash with people holding these advanced degrees. One supermarket is impressive but when there is one in every corner, there is nothing special about any of them. Quantity has replaced quality and we are the losers.
Far too many of our Ph.D. holders have bought their degrees. Many of them have never opened any kind of reference book nor do they have any idea how to conduct research. No wonder their publications and theses end up unread in drawers where nobody ever reads them. The only beneficiary seems to be the person with the degree; he or she will of course settle for nothing less than being addressed as “Doctor” and woe be unto anyone who neglects to add this prefix to the name.
Our Ph.D. holders continually produce works of little worth and no beauty. They never address any actual needs or follow any recognized scientific method of doing research. Despite the fact that the country already has far too many Ph.D. holders, the race continues with more joining every day while others just wait their turn.
The problem is not in having as many degree holders as possible but in not producing anything the country genuinely needs. We stand to gain nothing from mass-producing Ph.D. holders — many in irrelevant specializations — as we are presently doing. Saudi Arabia desperately needs citizens with practical experience who can do something rather than those who are experts in some theory but who can do nothing.
