Difference between professor and Dr

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I know Dr means they have a PhD, but is Professor a higher 'rank' as such?

The head of my department is a Professor, the administrator is a Dr, and the senior lecturer is a Mrs, so is a Professor harder to get than a Dr or can you be a Professor with having a PhD?

I did use Google but it only showed American sites full of retards saying only medical doctors should be tittles Dr. :rolleyes:
 
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From what I know, the process of becoming a professor involves being selected and evaluated by a 'professorship' panel, (all of whom are well established professors themselves) and the work that you have done in your career is taken into account, and interviews held, before passing the decision to award professorship. A 'Professor' is the highest academic ranking you can hold, so yes, harder than becoming a Doctor (PhD), so I would imagine that given the work needed to be done to become a Professor, all professors would already be PhD by that stage.
 
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From what I know, the process of becoming a professor involves being selected and evaluated by a 'professorship' panel, (all of whom are well established professors themselves) and the work that you have done in your career is taken into account, and interviews held, before passing the decision to award professorship. A 'Professor' is the highest academic ranking you can hold, so yes, harder than becoming a Doctor (PhD), so I would imagine that given the work needed to be done to become a Professor, all professors would already be PhD by that stage.
Yup. That's how it works.
 
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Essentially, becoming a prof is usually something you don't specifically aim for, unlike a PhD, which is a very defined process which anyone who can pay and do the work, can complete. Somebody without a PhD can become a Prof if the work they do is deemed suitably worthy by a panel of peers, but generally speaking the majority of people in the world of academia have done the whole BSc/Msc/PhD thing anyway, so most are Dr as well.

Often, promotion to a head of department or similar role sparks the process, as universities like their people in charge to be well appointed.
 
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It is VERY unlikely for anyone to be awarded a professorship without having a PhD.

My old supervisor was a professor, he doesn't have a PhD. He had just been in the game for a very long time and is a big name in the field we work in. He recently moved onto Rolls Royce.

But yes I concur, it is unlikely, as the judging panel themselves will mostly own a PhD and thus will judge those who never completed the process negatively.
 
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Professor is really a job description rather than an academic qualification as it a post awarded by competition and/or review. A PHD is awarded for a moderated assessment of an academic submission.

We get Unis do do research for us and Profs do generally get irritated at being called Dr - which I do if the are a PITA but as I am controlling the cash they don't complain. It's a bit like when a printer/scanner unit pack up and the new building manager said we have to wait for an Engineer. We have over 100 Engineers in the office and 20 E-mailed the poor bloke saying that as Charted Engineers they were willing to help him designer a more reliable printer but he really needs a technician instead to repair it.
 
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Soldato
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In order to be a Professor, doesn't the person need to be working or attached to the University?

When the professorship is awarded, yes. Universities can retrospectively award honourary professorships also, in the same way as they gave Jeremy Clarkson an honourary doctorate.

Once its awarded though, they can't take it away without good reason.
 

Kol

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My tutor at Uni 'used' to be a Professor in neurotoxicology working for the Government, however, now he is back to a Dr again, working for the University but still contracting for the Government.. Don't understand why.
 
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My tutor at Uni 'used' to be a Professor in neurotoxicology working for the Government, however, now he is back to a Dr again, working for the University but still contracting for the Government.. Don't understand why.

Probably they lost some funding so the post had to be downgraded; Normal practice is for emeritus profs to be still to be referred to as profs as a courtesy.
 
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Professor is really a job description rather than an academic qualification as it a post awarded by competition and/or review. A PHD is awarded for a moderated assessment of an academic submission.

^^ this

tbh.. though they both carry titles they are rather different in that a 'Dr' has an doctorate (or is a medic) whereas a Prof has risen up the ranks in his/her uni (and probably has a doctorate too)
 
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what people have said here is more or less true - its usually a 'chair' i.e. a job description, and you cease to be a professor when the chair ends. My boss, however, has been made an emeritus professor so he can use the title forever even though he is sort of retired (long story).

you have to have a pretty good record to be awarded a professorship tough - there is a certain number of papers etc that you need - not that idiots can't be professors - i know a few, but not many.

in the US its different (and some other countries) - there you are a professor if you lecture in a uni - you can also be an assistant professor. So from those countries, being a professor is pretty meaningless. So, if you see an american professor on the TV it means very little in education or competence terms.
 
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it should be noted that for medical doctors the title comes with the job - they are not real doctors as they don't have a PhD. thats why surgeons are mr/mrs - to distinguish them from the 'lesser' Dr's and from the other medical professionals who may be real dr's as they may do a PhD in a medical field (comparatively rare).
 
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