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I am a PhD student in Computer Science currently ABD, hoping to become an Assistant Professor.

I'm concerned that I might be unable to complete the PhD (for reasons unrelated to my ability). I've heard that in certain countries (namely Argentina) only require a Bachelors to teach at a University. Which makes me wonder:

Where can one (realistically, not in theory) teach at a University (as a tenure-track professor) without a PhD? (Straight out of graduate school at a U.S. institution)

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    Are you asking about the "trivia" of what's theoretically possible, i.e., no law against hiring non-PhDs as tenure-track professors? Or are you asking about places where this is a realistic option? Either way, such questions are tricky because it's hard to prove a negative, and also because most of our user base is only familiar with North American and European academia.
    – cag51 ♦
    Commented Mar 26 at 5:20
  • Not to mention that some people get promoted from lower positions to assistant professor after being at their institution for a while.
    – Cameron Williams
    Commented Mar 26 at 6:00
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    If you get an answer here, be sure you understand what the terms university and tenure mean in those systems. Places that don't require a Ph.D. for Assistant Professors may have different ideas about those concepts too. I am not saying "worse", just "different".
    – Stephan Kolassa
    Commented Mar 26 at 7:03
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    I don't think it's country dependent, I think it's university dependent. Also, it depends on other qualifications. E.g. there is no law in the USA that you have to have a PhD to be a professor (of any rank). I have had professors who did not have PhDs.
    – Peter Flom
    Commented Mar 26 at 10:59
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    I think that would be a matter for individual universities/departments, rather than for countries.
    – Daniel Hatton
    Commented Mar 26 at 21:20

4 Answers 4

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The question is impossible to answer because it is "possible" to become a professor without a PhD in nearly every country. In the US, for example, many job adverts for professor positions require "a PhD in X or comparable qualification". A comparable qualification may be having a Masters and many years in industry. It's just not very common for this to happen, even if it's possible.

The question for you to answer is whether you are so outstanding that a university (in the US, or anywhere else) would hire you at your current stage in your career when there are plenty of others that are at the same stage but have a PhD. The answer is "probably not", unless you are truly special (which almost all of us are not), and that has nothing to do with whether it's legal or not to hire someone without a PhD: Pretty much every university in high- and middle-income countries has a sufficient supply of candidates with a PhD to choose from. (I suspect that that may not be true for countries in the developing world, but don't have enough insight there).

So in the end, when you say "I might be unable to complete the PhD (for reasons unrelated to my ability)" then I would say "You're dead in the water for faculty positions". I will also say that pretty much everyone (myself included) will not believe when you say "unrelated to my ability". You have to have exceedingly rare extenuating circumstances that would justify not finishing a PhD; in practice, all cases I know of where someone left ABD was very much about the abilities and priorities of the person in question, and that will definitely call into question your qualification to become a professor.

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    In actual practice, you might have to go to 3rd world countries then. Places like Argentina have an infinite supply of PhDs interested in these jobs. Regarding the other question: if I don't believe that not finishing the PhD has nothing to do with you, it is likely that others don't either. The point I wanted to make is that while you perhaps think that this is not relevant, I do think that it is.
    – Wolfgang Bangerth
    Commented Mar 26 at 22:17
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    +1, but I imagine even 3rd world countries will probably have little interest in making a professor out of a random person who doesn't know the language or culture, and doesn't even have a PhD. As an arbitrary example, the University of Ghana Physics Department is staffed entirely with PhDs. Even for non-tenure-track positions, there is just such a surplus of PhDs that it rarely makes sense to choose someone who (for whatever reason) did not successfully complete a PhD.
    – cag51 ♦
    Commented Mar 27 at 4:16
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    For reference, the notions of "first / second / third world nations" is a holdover from the Cold War (the first world is the US, western Europe, and aligned nations; the second world is the communist bloc nations, and the third world is everyone else), and are not really considered appropriate labels anymore. I believe that "developing nations" or "nations in the Global South" are somewhat more acceptable. NPR has an interesting discussion of this.
    – Xander Henderson
    Commented Mar 27 at 13:21
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    @XanderHenderson That's a fair point. Thanks for pointing it out.
    – Wolfgang Bangerth
    Commented Mar 27 at 19:56
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    @BenjyStrauss "Rather, the notion that I was believed was part of the premise of the question." You are asking: can I realistically do X, but also postulating an unrealistic premise as part of the question. This does not make sense. Part of the reason why this scenario is unrealistic is that many/most people will not believe this premise. Note that the solution is not "if I get a chance to explain at length my special circumstances and back them up with evidence, then people will believe me". It's very unlikely that you would get a chance to explain at length your special circumstances.
    – Adam Přenosil
    Commented Mar 27 at 22:41
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While I don't know of their current practice, several top tier universities in the US (did) hire such people for special roles, though they aren't tenured. But, Duke, for example, and several others, have a position called something like "Professor of the Practice", and I know some masters only people that hold such positions. They work on long contracts but without tenure. They are teaching faculty in the undergraduate program. Research has value there, but it might be pedagogical rather than theoretical in nature. I believe that CMU and Stanford have similar positions - or did.

I don't think this is widespread but it exists. And you need to show some serious mastery of teaching to be considered for such positions.

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Where can one (realistically, not in theory) teach at a University (as a tenure-track professor) without a PhD? (Straight out of graduate school at a U.S. institution)

Technically, universities hire MFAs and similar terminal, non-doctoral degrees into tenure track positions, but I don't think these are degrees you're talking about.

So, what universities will hire people without terminal degrees? A university that cannot find people with PhDs to fill tenure track positions.

Historically (even as recently as the 1960s and 70s based upon the older faculty at my undergraduate university), many universities in the United States did not require PhDs to be on faculty, only an MS degree. As the number of PhD increased, these hires became increasingly rare.

At the present, some small liberal arts universities might hire tenure track faculty without PhDs and community and technical colleges will hire people without PhDs, if they are good at teaching. Some of these positions are tenure track like. Likewise, professors of practice do not always need a PhD, but these positions require professional experience (something the Straight out of graduate school at a U.S. institution seems to suggest you do not have).

I think your key limitation is "Straight out of graduate school at a U.S. institution.

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    Thank you, your answer is helpful. academia.stackexchange won't let me upvote, so I'm leaving this as a comment.
    – Benjy Strauss
    Commented Mar 28 at 8:48
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Where can one (realistically, not in theory) teach at a University (as a tenure-track professor) without a PhD? (Straight out of graduate school at a U.S. institution)

This is not realistically anywhere. Even if possible, you will compete with PhDs and/or professionals with many years of experience. Professorships are competitive even in the Global South and the bar is high, do not fool yourself, we have good researchers too.

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