6 Improving research training

6.1 Research training represents one of the most significant areas of national investment in research. It is estimated that in 2000 some $545 million of universities' operating grant funding will support the teaching of postgraduate research students, with a further $94 million being provided in the form of stipends for holders of Australian Postgraduate Awards and International Postgraduate Research Scholarships Scheme. This compares with an estimated $345 million available through targeted research programmes.

6.2 The public investment in research training is significant, not only in dollar terms but also in its impact on the research community and society more generally. Research students constitute the next generation of researchers, providing the basis for the on-going renewal and revitalisation of the research community.

6.3 Equally importantly, research students provide a conduit for the dissemination and transfer of skill and knowledge from the university sector to the broader community. Research students are not only academics in training. Most enter employment (or are already employed) outside the university sector, often in positions without direct connection to their field of study. In each of the last three years, some two-thirds of recent PhD graduates surveyed through the Graduate Destination Survey have been employed in non-academic positions.

The need for reform

6.4 A number of facts point to the need for reform of postgraduate training arrangements. There have been persistent concerns expressed regarding the lack of breadth of research training and the quality of supervision. Both employers and students have expressed concern about the outcomes of postgraduate research training. The evaluation of the 1990 postgraduate cohort under the Australian Postgraduate Research Award Scheme found a level of dissatisfaction with both supervision and departmental support. The West Committee found strong anecdotal evidence to suggest that the quality of supervision for research students was highly variable.³⁸ Other problems identified by students included a lack of access to suitable infrastructure, the mismatch of research programmes to their interests and limited opportunities to move to, or gain experience in, appropriate research environments.

6.5 Employers, in particular, have expressed concern with the standard of communication, interpersonal, presentational and leadership skills of research degree graduates, and comment that they are commonly too narrow, too specialised and too theoretical.³⁹ They point to the existence of a `cultural gap' between academic researchers and staff in industry which can cause difficulties in collaborative research projects.⁴⁰ This concern was echoed by the Wills Review, which also found that there was a need to broaden and update graduate training to produce more diverse and well-rounded PhD graduates.⁴¹

6.6 It is interesting to note that a greater proportion of research students are failing to complete their studies in comparison with other university students. In 1997, the attrition rate for higher degree research courses, at 34 per cent, was considerably higher than for either undergraduate study or for postgraduate coursework programmes (20 and 25 per cent, respectively), even taking account of the transfer of students from Masters to PhD study.⁴²

6.7 The value of research degrees in the labour market is not as high as would be expected. While the overall rate of post-course employment for PhD graduates has fluctuated between 72 and 81 per cent between 1994 and 1998, the proportion of graduates seeking full-time work (including some in part-time employment) has risen from 7.4 per cent to 10.9 per cent over this period.⁴³

6.8 Many postgraduate students take considerably longer than the minimum necessary time to complete their studies. The average time taken to completion is over four years in the case of a research masters degree and nearly six years in the case of a PhD.⁴⁴ An analysis of the 1992 cohort of postgraduate research students found that only 38 per cent of students had completed their studies after six years.⁴⁵ This may limit institutions' capacity to provide training to other students.

6.9 Much of the responsibility for reform of postgraduate training arrangements rests with institutions. The design of research training programmes is appropriately a matter for universities. Improving the relevance and quality of research training is a particular challenge which needs to be addressed.

6.10 Excellence must be the hallmark of research training. In order for institutions to secure excellence, there is a need to explore options for broadening the base of research training, for example, through:

• expanding the curriculum to involve both coursework and thesis-based learning;
• providing a greater focus on the broader range of skills needed by graduates to operate successfully in an increasingly diverse range of employment destinations;
• offering access to a range of research training settings under appropriate supervision arrangements, including industry, public agencies, consultancy firms and collaborative research centres; and
• developing multi-disciplinary approaches to postgraduate training and research.

6.11 At the same time, funding arrangements for postgraduate research represent an important factor contributing to the deficiencies in the provision of research training to the extent that they provide few, if any, direct incentives for institutions to improve the quality and relevance of research training.

6.12 At present, institutions are funded through their operating grant to deliver a total student load target, which includes postgraduate provision. Provided that student load targets are met, institutions retain funding irrespective of the rate at which students drop out or express dissatisfaction.

6.13 Student preferences and demand also play little role in determining the balance of research training places between institutions. Currently there is no mechanism which would allow resources to move freely between institutions in line with student preferences.

6.14 Growth in research places has been occurring at a rate greater than the provision of funds. Within a fixed allocation, the expansion of research training beyond a certain point will entail costs in the form of reductions in the quality of the training provided or the redirection of resources from other activities, such as undergraduate teaching and/or postgraduate coursework programmes. However, without some means of making these `costs' explicit, institutions are under no pressure to account for them in their decisions.

A new framework for funding research training

6.15 The Government believes that many of the above weaknesses would be addressed through the allocation of funding for research training to students in the form of portable tuition scholarships tenurable for a period equal in duration to the periods for which Australian Postgraduate Awards are currently provided. These scholarships would offer HECS-exempt tuition and not be subject to further tuition fees. They would be tenurable only at institutions whose research awards included external assessment. Scholarships with stipends would continue to be available for the same number of students as are currently supported through Australian Postgraduate Awards.⁴⁶

6.16 Portability of scholarships would allow students to move to those environments which suit their interests and abilities and so would create greater pressure on institutions to provide high quality research training which meets student needs. A university which lost students would lose funds. A defined period of tenure for scholarships would create direct incentives to reduce inordinately long completion times. An examination of the 1992 cohort of postgraduate research students, for example, has shown that less than half of all masters (research) and doctorate students had completed their degrees by 1997.⁴⁷ Reduced wastage would improve efficiency in the use of public resources.

6.17 Allocating scholarships direct to students would create the strongest incentives for universities to respond to student demand and through this to the demands of the labour market. Given that there is at present no national moderation of the standards of honours degrees, it is not practical to allocate scholarships directly to students at the current time.

6.18 It is therefore proposed that scholarships would be allocated in the first place to institutions, which would then allocate them to students. Once allocated to the student, funding would follow that student should he or she wish to move to another institution to complete his or her studies. To avoid a situation where students receive a scholarship and immediately seek to transfer, creating funding uncertainties for institutions, students will not be able to transfer until a study load of one EFTSU (i.e. one academic year) has been completed.

6.19 Directly tying funding to students will create far stronger incentives for institutions to be responsive to students. The benefits expected to flow from this include increased quality and relevance of training and stronger incentives for students to complete their studies within the period of their funding.

6.20 Students may elect to study overseas at approved institutions for a period of up to one year, transferring with their scholarship. Australian institutions would be expected to enter into reciprocal study-abroad arrangements with institutions overseas and testify to the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs as to the quality of the research training environment of the institutions with which they have arrangements.

6.21 Prospective research students must have access to accurate information to enable informed choice. The recently developed Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire and feedback from employers should provide useful information to students to supplement that already available from the Directory of Postgraduate Study and other sources. The Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire is expected to yield information from recent graduates concerning their views of their research training experience including supervision, thesis examination, understanding of goals and expectations, intellectual climate and infrastructure.

6.22 To provide additional recognition for outstanding students at honours level who have the potential to make a major contribution to research, the Government proposes that the Australian Research Council offer a small number of prestigious postgraduate scholarships as part of the national competitive programmes. These would be known as Prime Minister's Scholarships. Universities will be invited to bring forward nominees for these awards.

Providing more postdoctoral opportunities

6.23 Postdoctoral research represents the first step in a research career for many higher degree graduates and represents an important means of nurturing the development of the next generation of Australian researchers.

6.24 As a consequence of the rapid growth in postgraduate provision, opportunities for postdoctoral research, particularly those funded through programmes referred to the Australian Research Council, have declined relative to the numbers of students completing postgraduate research degrees.

6.25 The Government proposes that approximately $8 million be transferred from the current research training component of operating grant to the Australian Research Council to provide for additional postdoctoral positions and research fellowships.

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