So difficult has life become for Australian PhD and masters by research students that the numbers starting the degrees are falling and completion rates are among the lowest in the developed world. At the same time, foreign student commencements in PhD degree courses have rocketed by 125% over the past six years.

In the natural and physical sciences, the fields that have the greatest need for new scholars, the number of Australian students beginning PhD degrees fell between 2002 and 2008. The number of foreign graduates starting PhDs increased by 25% between 2002 and 2006 although numbers dropped sharply over the following two years as places became scarcer because of declining government funding.

Despite the huge rise in the foreign student population on Australian campuses over the past decade or so, they comprise only 17% of total research training students compared with a staggering 40% in the United Kingdom.

Yet overseas students now make up 22% of undergraduate enrolments and a remarkable 53% of those undertaking masters by coursework degrees (largely because these represent a means of gaining permanent residency). Fewer than one in five PhD students, however, are from other countries.

Although the government has accepted the need for change, visa restrictions mean international students are not permitted to switch to part-time studies, they cannot take a break to get jobs and gain additional income or practical work experience, and their families are inadequately supported.

Foreign students also have limited access to scholarships. Advocates of Australia attracting more foreign postgraduates say government grants should be available as it is in Australia's long-term interests to educate and train international graduate students - admittedly with the option of some remaining in Australia.

So why isn't Australia training its own young to become researchers and the next generation of academics? One reason for the lack of interest in research degrees is the low value of postgraduate awards and scholarships as most barely exceed $20,000 (US$18,000) a year.

Students undertaking their second and third degrees work for the equivalent of $5 an hour, says the Council of Australian Postgraduates. The result of the declining interest is that Australia faces what the vice-chancellor of the Australian National University Professor Ian Chubb calls "a national calamity".

As the council notes, to complete a PhD, a student needs to work four years full-time compared with the less than two years to finish a masters degree by coursework. And, when they do finish their degrees, the PhD and masters by research graduates earn on average less than $61,000 a year compared with the $65,000 salaries paid to coursework masters graduates.

If research graduates decide to stay on in universities, 90% of them will be employed on limited-term contracts that offer no security and prevent them from even obtaining bank loans to buy homes. That is no doubt why more than two in every three PhD graduates are employed outside the universities.

Australia is experiencing a decline in domestic PhD commencements at a time of fierce international competition for the best talent available. As critics point out, other countries are not just investing in their own "they are seeking the best of ours".

geoff.maslen@uw-news.com

Comment:
Is this a sympton of lower levels of maths science competency of high school graduates, and career guidance during their teenage years?

Andrew Smith,
Australian International Education Centre (AIEC),
Hungary

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