UK/USA PhD

Out of interest, does anybody know how long in takes to complete a PhD in the UK and the USA?

As far as I am aware, the normal time in the UK is between 3 and 3.5 year. In the USA, it is between 5 and 8 years, due to the teaching requirements and tuition. Is there a significant difference between the quality of the degree, provided that it is a from a top university?

My American friend who is doing his PhD now in Computer Science (he's a UC Berkeley grad) tells me that the US PhD is more highly regarded world-wide because it's more indepth and thorough.

Thats not entirely true. Perhaps in some circles in the business world a Berkeley PhD would be considered "more thorough". But at the end of the day a PhD is a PhD, an original piece of research - thoroughness depends on the individual not the University (as opposed to undergraduate level studies where the thoroughness of the course depends on the university). In academic circles what truly matters is the quality of the research. Sure more prestigious universities will produce better research, but that may be due to self selection rather than anything else. Whats important at the PhD level is your supervisor and the quality of your work, the name of your university counts for little.

Also, I think the reason why American PhD's take so long is because of the taught component, not because of the depth.

My American friend who is doing his PhD now in Computer Science (he's a UC Berkeley grad) tells me that the US PhD is more highly regarded world-wide because it's more indepth and thorough.

If you want a PhD that is a cut above the rest study in Sweden.

As a Swede, I'm very curious about the rationale behind this statement.

There is a substantial advantage with doing a PhD in Sweden in the sense that they are almost always paid and considered to be a "job" (unless you're doing something very "artsy", in which case you would have to find funding for maintenance by yourself). There is usually a teaching requirement.

The time to complete a PhD is very much dependent on the individual, although 4 years seems to be standard (with some people finishing in 3 years and some people dragging on for 5-6 years; my dad, who's educating PhD's in chemistry is of the opinion that you shouldn't have been there in the first place if you can't finish on time... ).

For entry, you would either need a magisterexamen from a university (which is a 3+1 year degree at present, but considered equivalent to a 3 year bachelor degree by most UK universities), or a civilingenjörsexamen (4.5 years science/engineering, probably almost like a master's degree from a UK university).

In general, I fail to see how the Swedish PhD is "cut above the rest". According to my dad, it will be more in depth than an American one, but very similar to, say, UK ones.

To get something "cut above the rest" you should consider something like Italy, where a PhD admittedly requires 8-10 years.

Personally, I would very much like to do grad studies in the US. This is partly because my undergrad degree here is quite broad (I would appreciate some more specialised taught courses), and more importantly because I really really enjoy teaching and couldn't fund grad studies without working in the meantime.

unless you do a phd by publications