> 0_o What Ph.D. program has no course requirements?

When I got my Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins, the official statement was that there were no coursework requirements for a Ph.D.

At times the math department at Princeton has stated on their Web site that graduate students are expected to prepare for the qualifying exams on their own, that courses are introductions to research fields by experts in those fields, and no courses are offered for preparation for the qualifying exams. So, with no courses, pass the qualifying exams, do some research, and graduate.

How to do the research? If some of the courses help, fine. Still the main requirement is the research, just the research. It's all about the research. Can cover the main requirement in one word -- research. Did I mention that the main point is the research?

Sure, in high school and college, academic success is almost entirely about just courses, credits, and grades. For a Ph.D. at a good research university, the emphasis is elsewhere -- did I mention research?

Unnecessarily repetitive annoying response is unnecessarily repetitive. And annoying. Did I mention that it was unnecessarily repetitive? And also annoying? Because it totally is both unnecessarily repetitive and annoying.

The UK kind.

Care to give a specific example?

The following gives you a listing of UK CS PhD Projects:

http://www.findaphd.com/search/phd.aspx?DID=8&Location=UK&TI...

I suspect there are more projects than this. The way it works is you like a particular lab, you contact their PI, agree on a topic, and work on it for 3-4 years. In Cambridge (where I work), the university enrols all research students in a "Research Skills" course/workshop, but that is it.

If they believe you are not up to snuff, you might be asked to complete an MPhil/MRes course first which does have a taught component. Apparently, if you fail this part, and in some circles, you will be seen as a PhD failure. Apparently.

Huh. Well, the more you know, and all that.

In Australia - all of them.