the-changing-phd_final

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
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