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education and research activities. 121 However, Australia has a small number of PhD qualified researchers working in industry compared to most other OECD countries (and its proportion of researchers in the business sector workforce is also significantly smaller). One consequence of this is the difficulty of finding appropriate industrial partners for PhD training. Partnership with industry can also create tensions if the initial agreements do not address matters such as the right (and need) to publish, the need to complete even if the research does not go as expected and IP matters. Nevertheless, providing opportunities to work outside an academic environment and in other research centres, including those in other countries can be an important means of increasing the richness of a PhD program and adding to the value of its outcomes. Such experience not only broadens the experience of the student, it also adds to the national research infrastructure by creating and strengthening domestic and international linkages and networks. 121. http://crca.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The_CRC_Contribution_to_RT_Final_Report.pdf THE CHANGING PHD PAGE 52
Conclusion Australia provides effective PhD programs and has an international reputation for doing so. Countries around the globe recognise that Australia’s PhD programs are world class, Australia attracts PhD students from many different nations, and the number of international students seeking PhD education in Australia continues to increase. A recent report from the Australian Council of Learned Academies on career support for researchers, based on data from a survey and focus groups, noted that respondents regarded Australia’s PhD program “as a powerful factor in launching people on a career in research” and concluded that: The PhD program is recognised as the best feature of the Australian research landscape by the study group. 122 While this report did identify some concerns these were much more about the opportunities available at the end of PhD training and the need to increase the number of research positions available for new entrants, rather than about the quality of the PhD programs. The main issues raised with respect to the PhD programs were: an increase in the time to complete a PhD, enabling the student to build up a publishing record and (perhaps) gain teaching experience [and] the provision of training in complementary skills. Despite the strength of PhD education in Australia there is an ongoing debate here as right around the world about the need for PhD programs, their purpose and effectiveness. Some of this debate reflects the views of disillusioned graduates who are finding that their employment opportunities do not meet their expectations; some reflects the views of employers that PhD graduates lack some of the attributes they would expect (and require) them to exhibit; some reflects the concerns of governments that there may be an insufficient supply of PhDs to meet the demands resulting from their policies to restructure their economies and make them more competitive, as well as their unease about the increasing costs of PhD education and its effectiveness. Pressures for change are coming from the growth in the number of PhD students, the increasing diversity of the student cohort and the problems of supporting part-time students who are often working off campus and in non-academic environments. An increased diversity in the employment trajectory of PhD graduates is raising issues about the kinds and the breadth of non-research skills that PhD graduates need or can reasonably acquire to make them more competitive in the job market against bachelor qualified people with work experience. Changes in the research environment with greater emphasis on large scale interdisciplinary research managed to achieve outcomes identified in advance, as distinct from research whose major aim is to advance knowledge, are also creating the need for broader and different skill sets. Despite this ongoing debate, the PhD remains and will remain the pinnacle of formal academic achievement. Australia and other countries will continue to need people who can contribute to national wellbeing by drawing upon the specialised knowledge and research capabilities that PhD education provides. The reforms underway and the continuing debate will help keep Australian PhD education necessary, relevant and world class. An overriding concern of the current changes is to ensure that the programs provided go beyond a focus on producing high quality research to better serve the needs of the student. One of the explicit objects of the ongoing reform is to ensure a system that extends beyond a narrow emphasis on training for a particular career to one which creates well-rounded, research-capable people able to 122. http://www.tossgascoigne.com.au/docs/CareerSupportForResearchers.pdf THE CHANGING PHD PAGE 53
Page 1 and 2: Discussion paper March 2013 THE CHA
Page 3 and 4: Contents Executive summary 5 Introd
Page 5 and 6: Executive summary The modern PhD de
Page 7 and 8: Introduction Nurturing talent is es
Page 9 and 10: China's first PhD programmes in 197
Page 11 and 12: level available. While the AQF reco
Page 13 and 14: These differences are not trivial b
Page 15 and 16: have responded to these changes in
Page 17 and 18: Pressures on and in national educat
Page 19 and 20: consequence of increasing numbers a
Page 21 and 22: esearch training for students under
Page 23 and 24: Why we need PhDs Expectations The c
Page 25 and 26: These figures suggest that almost 8
Page 27 and 28: An American Chemical Society report
Page 29 and 30: conduct current research in a compe
Page 31 and 32: photonics experts, statisticians or
Page 33 and 34: The intrinsic value of the work of
Page 35 and 36: demands of society, governments and
Page 37 and 38: go beyond their narrow areas of spe
Page 39 and 40: should possess have changed, expand
Page 41 and 42: qualitative links to the career opp
Page 43 and 44: career-related motivations. Not sur
Page 45 and 46: Coursework One important response t
Page 47 and 48: themselves, they should instead be
Page 49 and 50: The department is currently working
Page 51: opportunities and other food relate
Page 55 and 56: Attachment 1 Potential attributes o
Page 57 and 58: • Leadership and assertiveness sk
Page 59 and 60: THE CHANGING PHD PAGE 59

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