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Research Article
The Quiet Crisis of PhDs and COVID-19: Reaching the financial tipping point.
Rebecca L. Johnson
The University of Sydney
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7321-0744
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Before the COVID-19 crisis, existing high levels of financial concerns amongst PhD students increased their vulnerability to disruptive events. Impacts from the pandemic have increased their financial stress to the point that may result in many being forced to exit research studies. An exodus of doctoral students now would impact our future research capacity. The effects of the unfolding crisis on research students at a research-intensive Australian university was documented by a group of doctoral candidates who received 1,020 survey responses from their cohort. Here we show that the pandemic has severely affected research candidates and argue that these results have notable implications for a future research workforce. We found that 75% of students expect to experience financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. Consequently, 45% report being pushed beyond their financial capacities and expect to be forced to disengage from their research within six months. Comparative pre-COVID data from an Australian national survey, reports research student disengagement of 20% over four years. The 25% increase of expected disengagement, in a much-reduced period, signals a deeper PhD crisis. Swift intervention is required to avert substantial impacts to the pipeline of research talent.
Keywords
COVID-19, Doctoral students, higher education policy, student retention, research workforce, PhD financial precarity.
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Mark Fisher
ORCiDcommented on 09 July, 2020
It appears from the methods that the survey sample was self-selecting. On that basis, I would expect those who have felt the greatest financial impact from COVID-19 would be most likely to respond. Could the authors clarify what steps they took (if any) to correct the self-selection bias in the survey?
View 1 reply
Arpad Mihaly
commented on 09 July, 2020
My response to the paper is that some of the other important issues around the current postgrad experience are not mentioned. 1. My human ethics research project was approved late last year and was due to begin semester 1. This was postponed and will be postponed again in semester 2. During this pandemic period (until a vaccine is found) human ethics research is likely to be paused, just not explored or abandoned. 2. With no classes and libraries closed my research is all online. Journal articles are still available. As long as ebooks are accessible via my library I can partly continue. However there is a lot of content I need which I cannot access, ie. books. My sources necessarily are now either secondary or tertiary, which is bad. So while I have time on my hands I am limited as to what I can access. 3. I teach at one and am a postgrad at another university. All lectures are online. Even my practical ones. I have had to change the whole concept and content. My pay remained the same, my workload doubled. 4. Some postgrads I know have sports related research projects, which were postponed due to the lockdown. Now in Victoria, all metropolitan Melbourne sport is cancelled for 6 weeks. 5. Part time work which fitted around my study/teaching commitments has evaporated. I'll leave it to others to articulate the effects of tutors being made jobless while universities struggle to control budgets by cutting staff wages and numbers.
View 1 reply
Djuna
replied on 04 November, 2020
Hi Arpad, I believe many respondents experienced similar concerns to yours, as outlined in the report. Many have similarly faced financial difficulty due to decreased work or unemployment, and many studies have halted due to unavailability of resources and shut-downs. Many teaching staff also experienced increased, but unpaid, working hours.
Heath
commented on 11 July, 2020
Shouldn't we be happy that someone has attempted to research the topic and provide insight? If this work was not undertaken, how can anything change?
Walter Maroney
commented on 12 July, 2020
Times as these require true focus and a monk like mentality. It is easy to lose yourself in studying but remember social communication
Nguyenducba
ORCiDcommented on 12 July, 2020
Good
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This is a preprint. It has not completed peer review.
Research Article
The Quiet Crisis of PhDs and COVID-19: Reaching the financial tipping point.
Rebecca L. Johnson
The University of Sydney
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7321-0744
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
History
CURRENT STATUS: Posted
Version 2
Posted 08 Jul, 2020
Community comments: 7
No comments provided
Metrics
Comments: 7
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
Subject Areas
Scientific Communication
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
Before the COVID-19 crisis, existing high levels of financial concerns amongst PhD students increased their vulnerability to disruptive events. Impacts from the pandemic have increased their financial stress to the point that may result in many being forced to exit research studies. An exodus of doctoral students now would impact our future research capacity. The effects of the unfolding crisis on research students at a research-intensive Australian university was documented by a group of doctoral candidates who received 1,020 survey responses from their cohort. Here we show that the pandemic has severely affected research candidates and argue that these results have notable implications for a future research workforce. We found that 75% of students expect to experience financial hardship as a result of the pandemic. Consequently, 45% report being pushed beyond their financial capacities and expect to be forced to disengage from their research within six months. Comparative pre-COVID data from an Australian national survey, reports research student disengagement of 20% over four years. The 25% increase of expected disengagement, in a much-reduced period, signals a deeper PhD crisis. Swift intervention is required to avert substantial impacts to the pipeline of research talent.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Mark Fisher
ORCiDcommented on 09 July, 2020
It appears from the methods that the survey sample was self-selecting. On that basis, I would expect those who have felt the greatest financial impact from COVID-19 would be most likely to respond. Could the authors clarify what steps they took (if any) to correct the self-selection bias in the survey?
View 1 reply
Djuna
replied on 04 November, 2020
Hi Mark, yes, naturally the survey respondents were self-selecting. Due to the urgent nature of the study - which was initiallyconducted for the Australian Council of Graduate Research, and not with the primary intention of being published - we made the survey available for three days. We had an overwhelming response of more than one quarter of University of Sydney HDR students in this three day window. The qualitative data was particularly alarming to us at face value but this is not featured because it requires more in-depth analysis. The data presents a snapshot of the experience of some University of Sydney HDR students and should be interpreted accordingly. The fact that ANY students are facing homelessness, that some staff have reportedly undertaken more than 30 additional unpaid hours of work in the course of a month, and that 75% of respondents report increased financial strain is troubling. If you are aware of studies of a similar topic and scope that use particularly effective methodologies please let us know so we can draw from this for our publication of the data.
Arpad Mihaly
commented on 09 July, 2020
My response to the paper is that some of the other important issues around the current postgrad experience are not mentioned. 1. My human ethics research project was approved late last year and was due to begin semester 1. This was postponed and will be postponed again in semester 2. During this pandemic period (until a vaccine is found) human ethics research is likely to be paused, just not explored or abandoned. 2. With no classes and libraries closed my research is all online. Journal articles are still available. As long as ebooks are accessible via my library I can partly continue. However there is a lot of content I need which I cannot access, ie. books. My sources necessarily are now either secondary or tertiary, which is bad. So while I have time on my hands I am limited as to what I can access. 3. I teach at one and am a postgrad at another university. All lectures are online. Even my practical ones. I have had to change the whole concept and content. My pay remained the same, my workload doubled. 4. Some postgrads I know have sports related research projects, which were postponed due to the lockdown. Now in Victoria, all metropolitan Melbourne sport is cancelled for 6 weeks. 5. Part time work which fitted around my study/teaching commitments has evaporated. I'll leave it to others to articulate the effects of tutors being made jobless while universities struggle to control budgets by cutting staff wages and numbers.
View 1 reply
Djuna
replied on 04 November, 2020
Hi Arpad, I believe many respondents experienced similar concerns to yours, as outlined in the report. Many have similarly faced financial difficulty due to decreased work or unemployment, and many studies have halted due to unavailability of resources and shut-downs. Many teaching staff also experienced increased, but unpaid, working hours.
Heath
commented on 11 July, 2020
Shouldn't we be happy that someone has attempted to research the topic and provide insight? If this work was not undertaken, how can anything change?
Walter Maroney
commented on 12 July, 2020
Times as these require true focus and a monk like mentality. It is easy to lose yourself in studying but remember social communication
Nguyenducba
ORCiDcommented on 12 July, 2020
Good
Djuna
replied on 04 November, 2020
Hi Mark, yes, naturally the survey respondents were self-selecting. Due to the urgent nature of the study - which was initiallyconducted for the Australian Council of Graduate Research, and not with the primary intention of being published - we made the survey available for three days. We had an overwhelming response of more than one quarter of University of Sydney HDR students in this three day window. The qualitative data was particularly alarming to us at face value but this is not featured because it requires more in-depth analysis. The data presents a snapshot of the experience of some University of Sydney HDR students and should be interpreted accordingly. The fact that ANY students are facing homelessness, that some staff have reportedly undertaken more than 30 additional unpaid hours of work in the course of a month, and that 75% of respondents report increased financial strain is troubling. If you are aware of studies of a similar topic and scope that use particularly effective methodologies please let us know so we can draw from this for our publication of the data.