Earning your PhD

Before you start:
Drive for academic excellence is primordial. The research doctorate, also known as Doctor of Philosophy or PhD, is an educational journey towards academic excellence. It's a certificate for some and an arduous life-long journey for many. What only few say is that PhD is an investment, equally exciting and an unseen quagmire. Yet, many people do embark on this journey. Aside to the supply side, universities and countries want more doctoral graduates.   
Preliminary challenges:

Early in the doctoral journey, you are basically a dreamer. You want to solve all the possible problems in your area. However, you are often lost as soon as you start the preliminaries. Usually a PhD journey starts two years prior to an expected program entry date. Three preliminary challenges are to convince family, to convince the "pocket" (financial support) and to convince a university (a potential supervisor). Family support is extremely important for students with responsibilities (i.e. already married, unwell family members etc).
Second task is to consider a potential area of interest, and we are assuming at this stage that the idea is selected through past research experience and future research exposure. However, the final choice of topic will depend on an excellent chemistry between the supervisee and potential supervisor. Managing funding on the preferred topic is often challenging. Many PhD candidates had to sacrifice their primary area of research due to funding shortage. While supervisor/university selection is a major hurdle, you must also get ready with admission requirements (i.e. GMAT/GRE, IELTS/TOEFL etc). Usually the longest time is taken by the "proposal" write-up stage.
Juggling with selecting the topic:

For months, you wonder what should be your research topic. Does the topic relate to your field of knowledge and prior research? What is your research question? What is the main issue that you want to examine? All on a sudden, you face an academic challenge and you realize that your ideas and strategies are not helping. Your ideas are to be equally original and significant. It may so happen that there are very few supervisors who relate to your topic.
However, there is no short-cut recipe to choose your supervisor; it often follows a "trial-and-next" procedure. This is where the pre-entry support system by your university can save a lot of time. To raise a point of caution, you must be careful choosing the university as your university or country may not approve your PhD if the university is not "acceptable".
During your journey:
Fifty percent of the work is done when you meet your supervisor (or his representative) in the airport. During your PhD, we believe, you will focus on the core area of research rather than doing "predatory" publishing. This is the time for you to explore and go deeper into tools and theories for a decade to come. Hence, enjoy your time. But do not indulge yourself to much into the journey; always remember, "your supervisor is always right". Do talk to your family and friends back home. And most importantly, do take care of your health. Cheap university coffee, sleepless nights and long hours of anxious sitting can take away the real fruits of life. Ergonomics and postures are often ignored and, later, heavily paid for.
With a PhD:
When you finish your PhD, the real joy is, perhaps,in giving back. However, it is important to make sure to give due benefits to the place you came from. Take charge of fellow young colleagues. Train them. Publish with them. Help the university finding international collaborations. Organise talks, occasional seminars, and use your expertise to apply for grants. Make your place feel the need for more investment in building a research culture. These would be your legacies for years to come. A PhD supervisor once said, "You will "earn" your PhD when help others to earn theirs."     

Dr Mamunur Rashid is Assistant Professor, Business School, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. Nabila Nisha, Senior Lecturer, Department of Accounting and Finance, North South University and Mehree Iqbal, Senior Lecturer, Department of Marketing and International Business, North South University.