Dang I was not reading forumosa I missed all those
I imagine Taiwanese might lie about this stuff to get more money. So thats why they will ask for thesis
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Were you thinking of Taiwanâs president, by any chance? 
No it isnât. The friend opted to deposit a physical copy in the universityâs library, instead of supplying an electronic version.
100% agree in retrospect it was unwise to come here without a signed contract, but this is the status quo.
It is actually quite relevant to the company. They need him, and before he decided to trust the CEOâs word of mouth, quit his old job and come to a new country with a language he doesnât speak, he didnât need them at all. Now he is stuck in a foreign land and needs them.
Hereâs some footage of your friend arriving in Taiwan.
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Not very smart from someone with that level of education. I had a company in broadcasting they said they wanted me as a consultant on some projects. First contact by email yahoo and skype. I replied use the business email. Also said look here the the account of a Chinese name in HSBC HK. If you are serious please pay travel costs and 5 days consulting fee. I thought it was a scam. Two weeks later they called to say they had paid but asked me do you trust that Chinese guy in HK. They didnât know is was me for a few more years lol.
No contract quits job moves to foreign country⌠I did that but dang I was starting my own business.
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I was thinking more like this
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Sometimes these eggheads come from a background where people are polite and have culture, and are not so well versed in the street wisdom of the real world.
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I guess that policies vary by institution and country, but that seems a bit strange to me. A PhD thesis is supposed to be published and available rather than held privately somewhere for no one to ever see again. It seems odd that your friend is being so protective over it.
At the uni I did mine at, electronic submission was a requirement, and that was nearly 15 years ago. Iâm surprised itâs not almost universal now, at least for major unis and important subjects. Even so, many universities digitize them and make them available online later. One copy also needed to get sent to the British Library in case people want to view/request it.
I suppose itâs possible that thereâs something somewhere in there that might be useful to a company, but it would be unusual if your friendâs thesis is going to change the world or even that company. In the end itâs just a PhD thesis and the work of one person for three-ish years, and as others have said if your friend found anything important theyâll probably be wanting to publish it properly anyway.
It doesnât look like the company needs your friend anymore since theyâve started playing games and breaking promises, so I wouldnât be supplying it anyway. Your friend had a pretty good reason to end things with them when they first reduced the promised compensation package after they quit their job and flew over here without a signed contract, IMO. (I canât really believe that anyone in their right mind would do thatâŚ)
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Itâs not just in Taiwan that people do these things, promises of employment and people arrive to find out theyâve been lied to.
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Your friend should just message the CEO. âHey man, sorry things didnât work out. Letâs go for coffee sometime after I settle in to the new position Iâm takingâ.
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Cambodia has developed this practice (or at least Chinese people in Cambodia have developed this practice) into a fine art.
Guy
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This is the kind of take people who have no idea what a PhD is take. Your friend is shady too. Dissertation is not a big deal. Hell nowadays even the actual work is open source too. All the results and codes are free for anyone to use.
Believe me, there is nothing on the dissertation they couldnât find out online. If it is actually worth anything.
Hell even patents are available for the public to see, you just arenât allowed to use it.
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Some of my previous professorsâ Ph D theses/dissertations are only available as hard copies. I agree itâs strange and counter-productive for research.
I think it varies per area, as I know two professors who graduated in the same French university and have online versions of their dissertations. My adviser here in Taiwan also has an online version. Iâm speaking in behalf of the geoscientific community.
Itâs saddening to hear these kind of stories. My experience is actually the opposite, but then Iâm working in academia here.
EDIT:
Generated data, through sampling, laboratory analyses, etc., cannot just be found online. People who gatekeep these are afraid that other people may use their data to make a different analysis/interpretation and publish a paper. Itâs illogical but I know some people who think this way.
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I will say at my school (humanities/social sciences field) we see the dissertation of every applicant. Itâs part of the hiring process. I think itâs a cultural difference. I think the NDA idea is a possible solution if thereâs something industry specific that could be used.
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If that company was serious about the PhD part, they should have asked for the diploma to be notarized as is common in academic practice in Taiwan. Everyone knows this, itâs not a mystery at all here.
The last minute switch up indicates either a lack of seriousness about this process or perhaps a desire to steal intellectual property.
I remain deeply unimpressed, but sadly also unsurprised, that a company in Taiwan would act like this.
Guy
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Seems a bit strange, however given that the Thesis should be publically available an any IP in it should be patented I donât see it as a big deal.
Mine were physically desposited back in the day, copy to the Uni Lib and another to the British Lib. I still have a pdf of it somewhere⌠but it was written in LaTeX so its a good thing it was turned into a pdf.
If he wants the job send it, if it wants out then leave. I suspect most of this is them trying to verify it as PhD certs are rather easy to forge.
That is why notarization of diplomas is now standard practice, and has been for more than twenty years.
Guy
If you want it secret, you keep it out of dissertation as well or patent it. A dissertation is the thing you present to others as a summary of PhD work. It doesnât need to, nor should it, have all the details.
If you want it a secret you treat it like a trade secret, you do not patent it. Patents require disclosure, it just gives you the right to sue if someone else uses it without licensing.
Keep in mind once you patent something itâs open and itâs not unusual for companies to keep your patents in mind until they expire, then they will use it freely.