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I think you are quite right: most PhD's actually take more than 3 years. Having said that, in my department I know nobody who has been a PhD for more than 4 years. As for the graduate lecture course requirements, they are different for every PhD student here. Usually, if you have somewhat focused your undergraduate curriculum towards a certain direction you will probably not need to take any MSc courses during your PhD because you will have covered all the basic material before. I have some PhD friends who are taking some MSc courses here and there but that's because they kept their undergarduate curriculum too broad. All in all, I think the British system puts more emphasis on 'teaching how to do research' rather than on actually carrying out 6 years of research in a specific area. Researchers change directions many times through their careers and the British system is supposed to produce good researchers with good adaptability rather than researchers who are experts in their own area but don't know much about other fields. Some of my professors tell me that the US system is still one of the best out there, but that by the time they finish, PhD students have grown bored of their topic and are going downhill, having reached their peak several years ago.
I think you are quite right: most PhD's actually take more than 3 years. Having said that, in my department I know nobody who has been a PhD for more than 4 years.
As for the graduate lecture course requirements, they are different for every PhD student here. Usually, if you have somewhat focused your undergraduate curriculum towards a certain direction you will probably not need to take any MSc courses during your PhD because you will have covered all the basic material before. I have some PhD friends who are taking some MSc courses here and there but that's because they kept their undergarduate curriculum too broad.
All in all, I think the British system puts more emphasis on 'teaching how to do research' rather than on actually carrying out 6 years of research in a specific area. Researchers change directions many times through their careers and the British system is supposed to produce good researchers with good adaptability rather than researchers who are experts in their own area but don't know much about other fields. Some of my professors tell me that the US system is still one of the best out there, but that by the time they finish, PhD students have grown bored of their topic and are going downhill, having reached their peak several years ago.
