The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has published a new
report on the career ambitions of PhD students –
people who are studying for doctoral degrees.
PhD students and their careers by Bethan Cornell uses
previously unpublished data to find out how PhD students
feel their doctorate impacts on their career choices.
The key findings include:
- Most PhD students (88%) believe their doctorate will
positively impact their career prospects.
- PhD students are equally more (33%) and less (32%) likely to
pursue a research career now than before they started their PhD,
with the majority choosing academic research (67%) or research
within industry (64%) as a probable career path.
- PhD students feel well trained in analytical (83%), data
(82%) and technical (71%) skills, along with presenting to
specialist audiences (81%) and writing for peer-reviewed journals
(64%).
- They are less confident of their training in managing people
(26%), finding career satisfaction (26%), applying for funding
(22%) and managing budgets (11%).
- When considering future careers, PhD students are more likely
to attend career workshops (76%) and networking events (60%) or
to do their own research (64%) than to discuss options with an
institutional careers consultant (13%).
The report incorporates qualitative research that captures
the voices of PhD students:
- ‘I don’t feel qualified or prepared to enter a career outside
of research.’
- ‘The requirement to move around in pursuit of short term
postdocs is terrible for social and family life’.
- ‘The academic culture will be detrimental to my mental
health.’
The author of the report, Bethan Cornell, who is currently
studying for a PhD in Physics, said:
‘PhD students are positive about their career prospects,
with most believing their doctorate will improve their
employability. It is encouraging that the PhD experience
doesn’t seem to negatively affect the proportion of students
wishing to stay in research.
‘However, it is concerning to find that, while PhD students may
be getting good technical training, they do not feel supported in
many other key skills they will need to gain a successful
academic career, such as manging people, dealing with budgets and
applying for funding. Furthermore, it is discouraging that PhD
students are more likely to seek 1:1 careers advice from their
supervisors than trained careers consultants, who are better
placed to help them.’
, the Director of HEPI, said:
‘Postgraduate qualifications deliver huge benefits for the
people taking them. But they are also crucial to the whole
country, as postgraduate students provide the pipeline for
academic, commercial and charitable research. If we are to cure
diseases, improve productivity and improve people’s lives, that
is likely to come via original research.
‘So it is vital that, as a society, we look after our
researchers and that includes making sure they have access to the
careers support they need to find the best possible role for them
– and for society as a whole.’
Notes for Editors
-
The report is based, with permission, on data from 526
students studying for PhDs in UK institutions, obtained by
Nature as part of a survey of 6,320 current PhD
students worldwide for six weeks between June and July 2019.
The confidence interval is 95% with a 5% margin of
error.
-
The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) was
established in 2002 to shape the higher education policy debate
through evidence. It is the United Kingdom’s only independent
think tank devoted to higher education. HEPI is a non-partisan
charity funded in part by organisations and universities that
wish to see a vibrant higher education debate.
-
In May 2020, HEPI published Postgraduate
Education in the UK (HEPI Analytical Report 1)
by Dr Ginevra House, which reviewed the state of
postgraduate education since the last recession. In June
2020, HEPI published PhD life: the UK
student experience by Bethan Cornell, which
detailed the experiences of PhD students studying in UK
institutions and their views on an academic career.
