Australia’s universities will push the Albanese government for a $500 million funding commitment in the run up to the election to raise the living allowance for PhD candidates and allow more international participants.
A recent drop in enrolments is being blamed on “poverty line” stipends that see thousands of the country’s most promising researchers relying on less than minimum wage.
Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy says the low base stipend is biting amid a cost of living crisis and also discouraging potential candidates, limiting the research workforce and acting as a handbrake on innovation.
“PhDs are becoming less affordable in the eyes of the average Australian candidate. So that’s why we’re seeing a decline,” he told InnovationAus.com.
PhD stipends cover living expenses but aren’t wages. Stipend ranges are determined by individual universities but must fall within a government set rate that is determined by a complex formula.
Universities often go above the base rate but don’t typically approach the maximum in the because of budget constraints and top ups eating into total candidate numbers.
The base stipend last year was $32,192.
Mr Sheehy said even with planned raises this year to $33,511, the stipends are not enough for typical candidates, which now have an average age of 37 and are exposed to many cost of living pressures.
“At that point in your life, you often have started a family, more than likely you are trying to get into the housing market, or are in the housing market. So the cost of living impact with higher interest rates, cost of food inflation. It’s really hitting hard,” he said.
The Universities Accord last year found the base stipend is too low, uncompetitive with other nations and easily trumped by industry offers for graduates. It recommended an increase in the rate by expanding the federal Research Training Program (RTP) that funds stipends.
But the Albanese government did not address stipends in its initial responses to the landmark higher education review in multi-billion-dollar packages in last year’s Budget or MYEFO update.
Education minister Jason Clare hasn’t ruled it out as the government consults on a new funding system for higher education while also reviewing the national research and development system.
“The Universities Accord makes recommendations regarding research students,” the minister said in a statement to Innovationus.com.
“The Government is implementing 31 Accord recommendations in full or in part and we are continuing to consider the other recommendations of the Accord.”
Universities Australia and the Australian Council of Graduate Research are launching a new push for a modest increase to the base rate to $36,000 in 2026.
The increase would come through a boost to pool funding to avoid reducing candidate numbers and then be more closely pegged to inflation for future raises under the proposal. The groups also want an increase on the current cap of how much RTP funding can go to international students from 10 to 20 per cent.
The measures are estimated to cost $500 million over four years.
“I think it would surprise a lot of Australians to learn that PhD students are living around the poverty line with the income support they get, that would be pretty shocking [to them],” Mr Sheehy said. “So we’re putting it back on the agenda now… We thought we’d see it in the last budget, so let’s hope we see it this time.”
A new report supporting the measures found PhD enrolments declined by eight per cent from 2018 to 2023 despite the growing population and a growing pool of honours candidates.
The report also found less than half of PhD candidates are aiming for a career in academia and there is a common misconception that graduates are difficult to employ outside their specialist field.
“We’ve seen a trend towards PhD graduates going into industry. And universities have put significant effort into preparing PhD students for a world of work,” Mr Sheehy said.
The Universities Australia chief said the reforms will encourage more of the highly skilled researchers the nation needs.
“If we’re going to succeed on all of these fronts like Future Made in Australia and with this massive energy transformation, but also develop new industries in tech or the caring professions or medical high end medical technology and manufacturing, we need to ensure that we’ve got the pipeline of skilled workers, and that includes PhD students.
“The government knows that the stipend rate is inadequate.”
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