Aasif Shah's Blog

I had an opportunity to go through the precise message of Prof. Ableter of Ghana University on Facebook in which he argues that ‘Academic excellence is overrated’.  Is academic excellence really overrated? I kept asking such question to myself for days together and I got a weird sensation inside my head as if somebody was answering my question ‘Oh man don’t think too much’, if academic excellence would have been the criteria of the success then what about Thomas Edison who was a bad learner in classroom yet he invented the electric bulb, Steve Jobs who never graduated yet he revolutionized  the world with his visionary creations such as iPhones and iPads, Bill Gates who was an average student, yet he became an inspiration to people across globe and we have many such examples.  To support his argument, Prof Ableter ...

Embarking on PhD’ is most difficult endeavor to undertake. Not only does it consume years together but the dropout rate for PhDs’ are quite high. I am not sure if an acronym ‘PhD’ has historically lacked a precise definition because Doctor of Philosophy would be ambiguous as PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers, unless the degree is earned in philosophy. In America, Europe, Asia or Africa, completing a PhD programme can take five years or more. That is 1825 days or 8 percent of your existence if you live up to 65 years. The programme is typically broken down into 1-2 years of course work followed by 3-5 years of original research to produce. Many people start PhD with a vague idea and spend first 2 years to figure out the novel aspect they want to pursue and many are unaware about the target audience they want to reach through their findings. The fact is that they find themselves trapped in a poor research culture (mostly in developing countries) that turns them out to be c...