Postgraduate support hinders research
Postgraduate students are struggling to meet basic living expenses because of high fees and restricted access to stipends.
In its submission to the Australian Higher Education Review, the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) called for an audit of fees levied by higher education institutions, including all course and non-course related costs, and for an increase in student stipends.
CAPA said providers should adopt a clear and detailed institutionwide policy on minimum resource standards for coursework students, following estimates that there were 45,395 coursework students attempting to complete a higher degree in 2006 without access to any income support. CAPA estimated the number of masters and doctoral research students without any stipend support to be 21,530, from a total of 37,409.
“Given their broad distribution across age groups, postgraduates are more likely to be living independently, are more likely to have carer responsibilities, and therefore often struggle to meet basic living expenses including rent, electricity, water and phone services, food, clothing and transport,” the submission stated.
“Access to student income support for postgraduates is severely limited. “Some postgraduate programs, such as graduate certificate courses, are specifically tailored for part-time enrolment. Others, most notably masters by coursework, show high rates of part-time enrolment in which lack of income support appears to play a significant role.
“For research students, the corresponding trends appear even more obvious.”
Judging from survey responses to CAPA’s Submission to the Senate inquiry into student income support measures, availability of income support is a key factor in electing to enrol part-time, or further, abandoning a course of study completely.
“Lack of income support not only significantly erodes students’ ability to participate in high education. It hampers their capacity to adequately engage in their studies, and in a broader education experience,” CAPA wrote in its submission.
CAPA recommended that guidelines for the allocation of Commonwealth awards with stipends be reviewed, and disincentives for institutions to approve extensions of awards up to a maximum of six months be removed.
It called for the duration of all Commonwealth awards with stipends for PhD students be increased to at least four years (full time equivalent) with the option of an extension of up to an additional 6 months.
“Stipend rates have failed to keep pace with average weekly earnings. The APA [Australian postgraduate award] has been below the poverty line for individuals with dependants for many years. Based on the average annual increase in seasonally adjusted household income, projections indicate the standard rate for the APA will fall below the poverty line for single individuals for the first time by the end of 2008,” CAPA wrote.
“If the award is to be able to meet its aims, an upward adjustment in the APA stipend rate is urgently needed. The same holds for all other Commonwealth-funded awards, including part-time APAs, APAIs [Australian postgraduate awards, industry] and the IPRS [international postgraduate research scholarships].”
The submission said stipend rates for all federally funded postgraduate awards should be increased by 30 per cent, and that indexation arrangements for federally funded postgraduate awards with stipends be reviewed, with a view to preventing the continued erosion of the value of awards.
“In the 2008 federal budget, the government doubled the number of Australian postgraduate awards between 2009 and 2012. Although welcome, this increase does not adequately take into account our current needs in sustaining research capacity and research workforce planning for the medium and longer term.”
To correct this, CAPA recommended that the number of awards be increased commensurate with the need to maintain and renew Australia’s research capacity and anticipated research workforce needs in the future, and that Commonwealth scholarship guidelines be amended to give award recipients greater flexibility in going part time.
It said all scholarships and awards, including, importantly, part-time awards, should be exempt from assessable income for taxation and income support purposes.