Doctoral education in the UK: ideal models and the stark reality Professor Mick Fuller Chair of UK Council for Doctoral Education Member of Steering Committee, EUA-CDE Head of Graduate School, Plymouth University

PGRPGTBatchelorOther UGTotal Over 2.5M students 4%19%57%20%100% UK student population data from HESA

PG numbers overall (HESES) Millward Inside Government 2014

Numbers of PGR starters (75-80% FT) PhD study Trends and profiles to HEFCE % decadal increase Mean age 27.8 yrs 16% decadal increase Mean age 38.9 yrs

Numbers of PGR starters by origin PhD study Trends and profiles to HEFCE % 122% 115%

UUK 2013

Mean no PhD’s awarded/yr 25% - 4 Universities (Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, Manchester) 25% - 18 Universities (Russell Group) 25% - 32 Universities (Russell Group + some others) 25% - 66 Universities (Alliance + MillionPlus)

HEFCE Issues report 2013

Who funds UK FT PhD’s? Major source of tuition fees FT (PGR starters)UKEUInternational Research Councils3,25535%50020%1252% Charity/British Academy3203%1456%3356% Institutions2,41526%66026%1,20520% UK Government6657%853%1452% UK industry2703%803%2454% Overseas1251%903%1,64527% Other6157%25510%4107% No financial backing1,75519%73529%1,99533% Total9,420100%2,550100%6,105100%

Who funds UK PT PhD’s Major source of tuition fees PT (PGR starters)UKEUInternational Research Councils00%0 0 Institutions66018%5510%6511% UK Government2507%306%102% UK industry40011%255%254% Other2507%407%6010% No financial backing2,05557%36571%43073% Total3,615100%510100%590100%

Response mode research grant funding and research student funding  Engineering and Physical Sciences RC (EPSRC)  Natural and Environmental Sciences RC (NERC)  Biotechnological and Biological Sciences RC (BBSRC)  Medical RC (MRC)  Economic and Social Science RC (ESRC)  Arts and Humanities RC (AHRC) Large equipment research grant funding  Science and Technology RC (STSC) Research Councils UK (RCUK)

Old  Individual studentships  Research grant tied studentships  CASE studentships The Roberts Agenda (generic skills) – New  Block grant studentships – DTC/CDT/DTPs  CASE studentships The changing face of RCUK research student funding models

Government funding for PGR RDP = £240M Qr = £1018M Millward Inside Government 2014

Government  RCUK’s - DTC/DTP/CDT/IDC  Innovate UK – Knowledge Training Partnerships (KTPs)  European Commission  Marie Sklodowska-Curie (ITN/IDP), Erasmus Mundus doctoral schools  Industry – Pharma, Chemical, Engineering/Manufacturing companies  Universities – from Government funding and Philanthropic donations  Charities – Leverhulme, Cancer Research Foundation, British Council  International government sponsors Major funders of PhD training

Generic elements for ideal research student training - RCUK  Discipline congruent  Quality research activity  Critical Mass of PGR students;  Subject specific skills training especially in year 1 eg a PGCert/Dip or compulsory modules (structured training)  Cohort approach to management and training  Generic skills training and career development  Industry contacts and internships  Partnerships with other institutions/networks - mobility  Conference support

 CDTs  Single institution  Speciality research training + generic skills training  Industrial collaboration  cohort  DTPs/ITNs  Partnership of several institutions  Structured training in yr 1 + generic skills training  Internships/Placements  Mobility (experience in another lab/Uni)  cohort Common themes of block grant funding for PGR

 You must have a good funding track record from the research council you are applying to – high starting thresholds e.g. BBSRC £7M in last 3 years (means RC will only place students where it has placed research funds – blocks out new/developing units)  You must have good completion rates of previously RC funded PGR students – over 70% submitted within 4 years  You must have an already established good training programme  You must match funded the studentships (additionality) – min of 25-50% of the number requested i.e you need to commit University money to the “pot” Stark realities of getting RCUK block grant funding

 Need to have entered in the Research Excellence Framework (REF2014)  REF2014 is made up of 36 subject disciplines (was 63 in RAE08)  Unis choose who to enter and which disciplines to enter (R&T staff – T only, staff not eligible)  The quality of each discipline entry is judged on:  Quality of Outputs – best 4 outputs per academic entered  Quality of Research Environment – research income, research student completions, research strategy  Quality of Research Impact  This gives a profile of quality: proportion of 4*, 3*, 2*, 1*, uc  The Quality profile then goes into two algolrhithms to calculate funding (Mainstream Qr and Research Degree Programmes (RDP) Qr)  RDP depends on weighted Quality rating x Nos of current Home PGR students  Mainstream Qr depends on a weighted Quality rating x Nos Staff submitted X subject weighting Getting HEFCE PGR grant

 Original statement was: “To fund quality research wherever it was found” However this saw more of the money distributed away from the top research intense Unis and so a weighting was introduced 2009 – weighting 7x4* + 4x3* + 1x2* (no funding for 1* or uc) 2012 – weighting 3x4* + 1x3* (no funding for 2* less for 3*) 2015 – weighting 4x4* + 1x3* (even less for 3*) Net effect: concentration of funding Changes to the weightings

European Commission Horizon 2020  “The Commission will propose a common approach to help ensure that the next generation of doctorate holders can actively contribute to the Innovation Union with a further one million more PhD holders by 2020”  doctoral training should have a certain critical mass,  doctoral programmes should include transferable skills training,  such programmes should respect the principles of the European Charter & Code,  doctoral candidates should acquire the ability to challenge disciplinary borders  doctoral candidates should spend some research time abroad and in industry in the broad sense.

 Ideal = expensive model  Expensive = fewer studentships  2 tier system emerging  Concentration effects to fewer Unis/Depts  Not all PhD students are yrs  PT studies not facilitated by the model  Professional doctorates not included  What jobs do they get – not all can become academics ( < 20%)  Are they being trained for the right job? Stark realities of new models of PGR funding

University Alliance Highest-earning 20 Universities for Research Income % change in Doctoral graduates ( to ) 134%41% % change in share of UKHE Doctoral graduates ( to ) 2.8%-2.8% % change in total research income (in cash terms to ) 63%92% % change in share of UKHE research income (in cash terms to ) -0.28%4.9% Does Concentration lead to better Doctoral training?

 Rise in Graduate Schools 2000 – 2013  Graduate Schools now in most Universities  Some institutional wide  Some faculty/discipline based  As some Unis became successful at getting CDTs/DTPs/ITNs then this has challenged the overall management of them to prevent re-inventing the wheel  Current trend is the rise in the “Graduate College” which is the institutional wide Graduate School How are new models of funding influencing Universities behaviour to support PGR students?

Is the experiment working?  Does block grant, cohort funding lead to:  better student experience?  improved completion rates?  better preparedness for employment?  better employment for those PhD graduates?  Will it prejudice PhD graduates who do not come from a CDT/DTP/ITN cohort?  Should Unis remodel their entire PhD provision to fit the block grant, cohort funded examples?  Should Unis identify training streams for PhD students?  Academic stream; Industrial stream; Entrepreneur stream; Public sector stream Challenges - Where to from here?

Don’t forget to ask the students!