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[punarish]

Hi,

I am an student who is doing a fully funded PhD program in the social sciences in Germany. However, to get a tt position here, I need to do a second Habilitation, which only qualifies me to apply for professorships. For all this I need to become a permanent resident here, and this is much more complicated here. I am not an EU citizen.
I read that Canada is giving permanent residence to PhD students, and several of my seniors who went there have now secured tt positions. They also don t have the Damocles sword of having to return to the Third World hanging over their heads.
I am seriously considering giving up this PhD, and applying to Canadian programs. Is this a good idea? Do I have a chance to get funding, if I start a second PhD. Could I describe my years in Germany as research assistant, which is true? Is this a good move, or should I complete this?

[larryc]

What is your field?

[punarish]

Interdisciplinary field...Global Integration.

[totoro]

hmmm what does "global integration" mean. I'm director of grad studies at an interdisciplinary public policy school in Australia. We deal with issues like globalization, but I haven't heard that term before.

[lurkingfear]

You don't need to be a permanent resident to get hired in Canada (even though all of the ads say that preference will be given to perm res and citizens - it's just something they have to say but everyone I know who's been hired in the last 5 years at my alma mater and at other schools have been Americans). One option would be to finish your PhD and go to Canada for a post-doc. In fact, since Canadians are a little insecure, they like to hire folks who've done their PhD abroad. The German PhD could help you in this regard.

[punarish]

Oh, thank you for all the replies. Global integration is a fancy term for global studies, and me and my colleagues work on very diverse things, the only criteria being that our topics should have a transnational aspect. Most people, including me, are doing things that have major policy relevance.

[janewales]

It might help to think about the kind of single-discipline academic department in which you would be most likely to end up, and then examine your current preparation accordingly; interdisciplinary positions are much less common than positions in the more standard departments. Would you be most likely to fit into Political Science? Economics? Geography? Sociology? How much time have you spent in the German system? Where do you publish your work? The answers to all of these questions would determine how likely your current preparation is to lead to employment in Canada (or the US).

It is certainly true that Canadian schools routinely hire non-Canadians, though if you examine the faculty lists across Canada, you'll see that it's generally the big research-intensive schools that are most likely to emphasize non-Canadian PhDs. I'm at one of those, and my department tends to hire about half Canadians (that's by citizenship; quite a few of our Canadians trained in the US or the UK).

As for the question of permanent residence in Canada, it is true that the Canadian government has recently announced a new initiative to accept up to 1000 international PhD students a year as permanent residents, through the federal skilled workers program. There are also other paths to staying in Canada; it is, for example, possible for graduates of Canadian programs with relevant post-graduation Canadian work experience to apply. You can find good information on the websites of the Graduate Studies faculties at big Canadian universities.

[kron3007]

In fact, since Canadians are a little insecure, they like to hire folks who've done their PhD abroad. The German PhD could help you in this regard.

That hurts, but there may be an element of truth there.

As for quitting a fully funded PhD program in Gemany to come here, you really need to look at the financial side of things.  Tuition wavers are not overly common in Canada, and most Canadian universities charge international students a higher rate than domestic students.  From what I have seen, the tuition can be upwards of $15 000 a year.  A typical PhD stipend here would be around 19-20 000, which dosnt leave much to live on.

Some universities will have systems in place to help international students (ie cover the difference), and there are a couple with tuition wavers for PhD students (I think UBC and McGill do).  However, I have seen many international students in pretty bad situations.  I dont mean to discourage you, but make sure to look into these details in depth.   

[janewales]

As for quitting a fully funded PhD program in Gemany to come here, you really need to look at the financial side of things.  Tuition wavers are not overly common in Canada, and most Canadian universities charge international students a higher rate than domestic students.  From what I have seen, the tuition can be upwards of $15 000 a year.  A typical PhD stipend here would be around 19-20 000, which dosnt leave much to live on.

I'm not sure where you are, kron3007, but I've been a director of grad studies at a Canadian research university very recently, and we certainly do provide tuition waivers of various sorts. My university reduces tuition for international graduate students to the domestic level as a matter of routine, and in addition provides many funding packages that waive tuition entirely. In my own humanities department, a typical package would be a tuition waiver and a stipend in the low 20s for the first year, with no teaching; the amount of total compensation increases in subsequent years with the addition of teaching assistantships.

It is true that international students cannot compete for Canadian federal funding (from SSHRC, NSERC, and CIHR) until/ unless they are permanent residents; however, research institutions will often calibrate their support packages for top international recruits to the levels of support offered by the federal granting councils.

Your best bet, OP, is to consult the web pages of the Canadian universities in which you are interested. You will certainly find information directed specifically at international applicants, outlining the possible sources of financial support.

[larix]

janewales, I'm not sure where you are but of the three Canadian schools with which I am familiar none offer full tuition waivers. I will say that two of those institutions offer waivers for the difference between international and domestic tuition. Fellowships at one of the institutes I'm familiar with is dependent on being a teaching assistant whereas at another they do not offer fellowships but instead offer TA positions paid with an hourly wage. Neither the fellowships nor the TA positions come with tuition waivers.

[janewales]

janewales, I'm not sure where you are but of the three Canadian schools with which I am familiar none offer full tuition waivers. I will say that two of those institutions offer waivers for the difference between international and domestic tuition. Fellowships at one of the institutes I'm familiar with is dependent on being a teaching assistant whereas at another they do not offer fellowships but instead offer TA positions paid with an hourly wage. Neither the fellowships nor the TA positions come with tuition waivers.

Larix, you'll see I did refer to differential waivers, and most of the big research universities have some version of them (I know of programs that exist right now at Alberta, UBC, McGill, for example). Toronto does not have differential waivers at the top level, at least not at the moment, except for people in certain exemption categories. But it's important to note that individual departments will often calibrate their offers to their top recruits to factor in costs; for example, when my own institution got rid of its blanket waiver in favour of differential waivers, the packages offered to desirable recruits got bigger to offset the added costs.

There are disciplinary differences in how graduate support is handled; in particular, it is more common to see direct grant-based support in the sciences than in the humanities and social sciences. It's because there is in fact a good bit of variability, not just from institution to institution but also from department to department, that I urged to OP to investigate specific programs, rather than thinking generally about Canada.

[larix]

janewales, I'm not sure where you are but of the three Canadian schools with which I am familiar none offer full tuition waivers. I will say that two of those institutions offer waivers for the difference between international and domestic tuition. Fellowships at one of the institutes I'm familiar with is dependent on being a teaching assistant whereas at another they do not offer fellowships but instead offer TA positions paid with an hourly wage. Neither the fellowships nor the TA positions come with tuition waivers.

Larix, you'll see I did refer to differential waivers, and most of the big research universities have some version of them (I know of programs that exist right now at Alberta, UBC, McGill, for example). Toronto does not have differential waivers at the top level, at least not at the moment, except for people in certain exemption categories. But it's important to note that individual departments will often calibrate their offers to their top recruits to factor in costs; for example, when my own institution got rid of its blanket waiver in favour of differential waivers, the packages offered to desirable recruits got bigger to offset the added costs.

There are disciplinary differences in how graduate support is handled; in particular, it is more common to see direct grant-based support in the sciences than in the humanities and social sciences. It's because there is in fact a good bit of variability, not just from institution to institution but also from department to department, that I urged to OP to investigate specific programs, rather than thinking generally about Canada.

I completely agree that the OP should investigate a specific program. In my, albeit limited, experience there is considerable variability in  how graduate support is handled, which is really the point I wanted to make.

Support is available and it generally is not difficult to find support as an international student but you need to research where that support is coming from and to do that you need to contact the program and in many cases the adviser you wish to work with.

[punarish]

Thank you for all the replies. I have already started the process of research into potential places, and I would like to write to the professors who may be interested in my work. But would the fact that I am already two years into a PhD affect my chances? What should I tell the professors who could be my potential advisers? On the other hand, I have already done a lot of research including fieldwork for the thesis. In fact,  I have written a couple of chapters.
If I continue here, is it likely that I could get a post doc? Or is the competition just too tough? Anyone knows of global studies PhDs from Germany who are doing post docs in Canada? My work involves insights and methods from history, public policy and political science and is really interdisciplinary, though if I had a choice, I would do my Canadian PhD in public policy or second choice, history. The topic I pursue is one of the "hot" topics for which international funding/govt funding is relatively easier to get.

 I just ask this because I fear that by taking a PhD I would shut one of the last remaining ways to get to Canada. There are no jobs in the corrupt university system of my country. ( I checked. They want "donations" that will come to half a lifetimes salary!)

[betterslac]

You might also want to think about positioning yourself for after your postdoc in terms of permanent and TT positions.

At least in the US, you would not be competitive for positions in most political science departments. They generally do not want people who have interdisciplinary Ph.Ds, and particularly those from outside the US. You might do better in stand-alone public policy departments or interdisciplinary research centers. However, with the fiscal situation facing many places, my bet is that many such departments and centers may not exist in a few years, even those doing work in trendy areas such as globalization.

There might be openings in various think tanks that you could search for, but think tanks are becoming more and more ideologically rigid and positions are tenuous due to the variable funding streams available. If your research is really applied, RAND might be a place to look. 

Things might be different in Canada, but I would suspect there are many similarities.In general, I would guess that you would be best served by focusing as much as possible on linking your research with a particular applied policy area.

[cranefly]

I sent you a PM: Check your messages.