Postgraduate and early career
I want my research to fuel change and make a positive impact on the world, and I do not want to suffer in the process, says Heidi Green
Recent drops of up to 15 per cent in enrolments blamed on tougher security screening, stingy stipends and a hybrid system creating a crowded market for top-level qualifications
Universities seek to recruit more – and more diverse – students by offering range of enrolment points
Just months after ending largest-ever walkout among teaching staff, workers at 10-campus public system complain about unfulfilled promises and arrests
Doctoral students drive Iranian science, but the country’s low spending means that they often lack access to basic resources, says Roohola Ramezani
‘Morally supportive’ but implicitly dismissive, universities exacerbate students’ struggles with their ‘child-free’ ethos
Laureate says research laboratories ‘are not kindergartens’, but other prizewinners urge a more supportive approach
Overall US recruitment from overseas up 8 per cent at postgraduate level, according to annual survey
Flat or declining enrolments across Australia spell trouble for university finances and the broader economy, observers warn
Doctoral students at home petition New Delhi for a 60 per cent rise in stipends, amid rising living costs and appeal of overseas job market
Leading US science funding agency reports three straight years of record levels of awards to its early-stage applicants, with some gender and racial gains
Tracking doctoral alumni in other sectors would inform departments about what their specific training allows graduates to do, says Patrick Walsh
‘Lottery’ for mandated replication studies would encourage ‘greater care’ over ‘datasets’, Australian researchers argue
PhD candidates face ‘inconsistencies and inequalities’ in the support provided by supervisors, says British Academy-funded study
Flagship programme that places graduates in local schools to teach faces uncertain future as participation dwindles
Constant rejections for academic jobs took a bigger emotional toll than anything they encountered during their PhDs, says Michelle de Souza
Attempt to balance interests of employers and researchers pleases no one, and weekend Twitter storm forces the plan ‘back to the assembly hall’
Postgraduate training likely to be concentrated in larger universities as EPSRC and Wellcome make cuts
Telling precariously employed literature scholars to just hang in there doesn’t cut it in a job market as bad as today’s, says Chris Townsend
Belated moves to mitigate precarity are welcome but may come too late for one scholar exhausted by insecurity
Lengthy government security checks on STEM postgraduates are causing chaos for university research as doctoral candidates go elsewhere, says Russell Group
Students often have no choice but to include professors who have had no input into papers as co-authors, says Roohola Ramezani
European universities outline blueprint to improve doctoral training but acknowledge some professors can’t or won’t change their ways
As NIH pushes for improvement on racial and gender measures, drag attributed to growing segment of non-diverse principal investigators
University admits it could have been more flexible when making decision that affected postgraduate’s right to stay in the UK
Maria Toft sparked national conversation about exploitation with #pleasedontstealmywork campaign, but she says it came at the cost of her Copenhagen fellowship
Leading institutions switching from exams to interviews for admission, but students from many universities are excluded from this route
Graduate student workers energised after record walkout, though meaningful improvements remain a long slog for majority still in economically precarious contingent teaching
Vocational institutions are winning the right to award PhDs, while professional doctorates are also expanding. But how compatible are academic and vocational focuses in research degree provision – and how easily can status disparities be overcome, asks Ben Upton
Early taste of academic precarity reported in biggest-ever survey of student-employees, although rectors’ conference questions reliability of a union-commissioned study
Government took away scheme ’hastily’ and ‘without convincing reason’, according to critics
Lacklustre employment for doctorate holders betrays ‘disconnect’ between academia and private sector employers, scholars say
Living allowances become key part of the recruitment pitch, as universities battle for research students and students wrestle with inflation
Working in the academy reminds Duncan Money of his brief time on a market stall. Time to swap it for a stable job that pays the bills
Fraud and fabrication are not rarities, suggests Australian survey of early career scholars
Agreement on pay hikes and better benefits for graduate student instructors would end biggest-ever job action in US higher education, although many workers dissent
Scholars split on whether reforms – part of a wider relaxation of rules on doctorates – will tackle research fraud or whether they aim at the wrong target
Broader coalition arrives without answers on a missing DKr300 million for humanities and social sciences, as universities prepare to debate lifelong learning reforms with a “gun pointed at us”
House of Lords Science and Technology Committee also criticises ‘unjustifiably high’ visa costs
Political scientist Jack Williams’ debut novel draws on his experiences as a PhD student at Princeton and Zurich
Joint programme eyes trifecta of research skills, disciplinary knowledge and business acumen
Top research universities have long cited their value in growing local economies, but massive graduate student walkout suggests a critical need to better protect the people who make the magic happen
Experts agree with vice-chancellor that financial support for doctoral candidates should be increased
Survey finds strong recovery in overall satisfaction with courses masks unease among some students about impact of big global recruitment drives
Tentative pact covers postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers, but leaves 300,000-student system in turmoil as talks continue with graduate students in teaching and research roles
Biggest-ever job action in US higher education reaches third week with hundreds of California professors promising to observe picket lines, and system suggesting it may halt their pay
Postgraduate researchers respond positively to online-offline support packages but purely online contact is less valued, finds Advance HE survey
Incoming staff and students risk losing jobs and funding over delayed checks in ‘sensitive’ fields
Data hint at progress in ‘improving the pipeline’ of female researchers
Experts warn shrinking pool of postgraduate researchers would be ‘pretty disastrous’
Walkout over wages and benefits – biggest in any US job sector this year – snarls 300,000-student system just weeks before autumn semester exams
One-off payments to those in need also among multimillion-pound package of support
PhD students with encouraging mums and dads less likely to be plagued by feelings of inferiority, survey suggests
‘Short horizons’ of grant-givers holding back early career researchers from disadvantaged backgrounds, says Glasgow principal
Survey of Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting attendees shows even those tipped for glory feel insecure and underdeveloped
Demand and quality questioned by businesses and universities as reforms leave majority of STEM courses at full length
The standardised test is graduate schools’ ideal measurement tool for the personality traits they seek in applicants, says John Gomez
New wave of funding schemes aims to counter ‘parachute research’ and brain drain
Median age at degree completion shrinks, although share of field’s graduates with job commitment does too, American Academy of Arts and Sciences finds
Huge study by Colorado researchers finds one in eight academics studied for their PhD at just five institutions