It is ideology. It's very obvious the current US government thinks that universities are a waste of money, and that industry is where everything happens. This industry PhD shuffles money from the university's pockets into industry pockets. It's in line with the recent shrinking of PhD visa lengths in the US (from technically-infinite-but-usually-6-to-7-years to 4 years)

Sorry, I’m a bit thrown off. What degree are you referring to?

Masters is usually about 2 years, though it could be longer in some cases or if worked on part-time. PhD is often 4-6+.

What 3-4 year degree did you mean? Bachelors?

Funneling money from the government to private research that doesn't have to be disclosed, as the public funding won't be for research, but for student placement.

> There’s already a 3-4 year advanced degree in the United States with an optional thesis component...

There isn't.

And if you are trying to snarkily describe an MS, then most MS programs are too short.

> So why are they calling it a doctorate? I don’t see the point. It’s not like the NSF under this administration is particularly fond of STEM doctorates.

The I-PhD is basically a formalization of industry-sponsored PhDs based on the program site [0]

[0] - https://uidp.org/i-phd-scholars/

> There’s already a 3-4 year advanced degree in the United States with an optional thesis component that companies in relevant industries can intervene in and direct if they so desire.

You're making this up as you go. No MS lasts 3-4 years, almost all MS theses are book reports/unpublished because the student is primarily attending classes, almost none are directed by industry (see points 1 and 2).