&gt; it&#x27;s actually the European system that&#x27;s geared towards quick cheap labor for the PI&#x27;s idea<p>Hmm I thought it was the other way around. In the UK PhD students rarely do work for their supervisors like teaching undergraduate courses, which seems to happen a lot in the US. When I started my PhD in the UK I was told I needed to come up with my own project from the start. I only did one paper that was sort of related to my supervisor&#x27;s project, and I only did a hundred hours teaching over my entire PhD, and that was voluntary.<p>The other big difference between the US and UK PhD approaches is that in the UK a PhD student doesn&#x27;t do any courses. Day one on the PhD is day one working towards their research project and thesis.