The rather heated debate about the PhD as the new terminal degree in art that took place at CAA (collegeart.org) 2011, 2012, 2013 has petered out, died down. At the time we all got tired of explaining what a PhD was, that it can take many forms, that people with tenure will not have to go back to school, and realized that it will - just happen. And it has. Many artists now have earned the degree, many from abroad where it is especially rigorous and being accepted into a program is difficult. Today more than 100 alumni of such programs as that at the IDSVA are artist scholars whose careers take interesting turns after graduation with the publication of books, conference presentations, different and changed deeper art practices and in some cases being hired for those revered tenure track jobs.
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Association for the PhD in the Visual Arts
The question is not whether artists should get PhD's or not -
the question we should be asking is - what will happen when they do?
Prof. Dr. Malcom Quinn, Chelsea College of Art, London
Associate Dean of Research and Director of Graduate School for Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Graduate School,
UAL and Honorary Senior Research Associate, UCL Faculty of Laws, Bentham Project
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