Concerns drop in PhD enrolments could lead to ‘brain drain’

ABC NEWS (Australia)

From medical discoveries to breakthroughs in technology PHD candidates are doing innovative and crucial work in our universities. But new research shows PHD enrolments in Australia are declining and the cost of living is being blamed. The higher education sector's peak body is calling on the government to increase student stipends or risk a brain drain.

Transcript

00:00You'll find Maxim Buckley in the lab five days a week, doing what he loves.

00:07I look at blood cancer, in particular acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

00:12It's a blood cancer that predominantly affects children.

00:15But carrying out his vital research has come at a cost.

00:19He's earning well below minimum wage through his PhD stipend.

00:23When rents due to increase, which it normally does at the end of year, that's a really stressful

00:28experience for me.

00:29And it seems the financial challenges PhD candidates are facing, especially during a

00:34cost of living crunch, are taking a toll.

00:37There was an 8% drop in the number of domestic PhD enrolments from 2018 to 2023, according

00:45to a new report from Universities Australia and the Australian Council of Graduate Research.

00:51To blame, the low PhD stipend, set this year at $33,500 per annum.

00:57We want to see a modest lift to 36 and proper indexation from here on in.

01:02The average PhD student is around 37 years old and we know at that time in your life,

01:07you often have a mortgage or rent and you've often started a family.

01:11Jesse Gardner-Russell's PhD aims to figure out how to reverse blindness in stroke sufferers.

01:18It's very common for PhD students to be coming in at 9am and leaving at 9, 10, 11pm.

01:24We're not calling for a six-figure stipend, we're calling for a living wage.

01:30We don't want to suffer a brain drain where the best and brightest leave Australia for

01:34other opportunities elsewhere.

01:36A broad review of the higher education system, dubbed the University's Accord, has recommended

01:42that the Federal Government increase the minimum stipend.

01:45The Minister hasn't ruled it out.

01:47He says the Government has implemented 31 Accord recommendations in part or in full

01:53and is still considering the others.

Category

Transcript

Recommended