Sir, – Cutting grants for PhD students is probably one of the most catastrophic and soon-to-be-regretted decisions of the current Government (Home News, November 15th).
The facts are evident. As a PhD student one can currently hope to live off €10-€15,000 on the current scholarship system. A figure not far off the dole and approximately one-70th of Pat Kenny’s wage.
However, this is not the most important indicator of value-for-money. Not only have PhD students made important discoveries in their respective fields, but universities in their current structure cannot afford to do without them.
In our current financial situation, universities cannot afford to hire new lecturers. They therefore rely heavily on the work of PhD students in order to teach classes and produce research. PhD students are, if you will, the foot-soldiers of third-level education. They provide cheap labour so that the university can at least function and then provide the groundwork so that the university can earn some of its keep. In 2007-2008, academic staff at Trinity College, Dublin earned more than €70 million in research income.
Remove the foot-soldiers and the university may as well wave the white flag, as costs will balloon and revenues will plummet.
There should be no doubt that we will no longer have a university ranked in the top 200.
Indeed the urgency should be to increase funding. In the past two years our top-ranking university has fallen from 43rd place to 76th and to 117th. The rankings are self-fulfilling, providing a mechanism for the flow of high quality academics and with them, opportunities for funding and grants from agencies and private investment institutions beyond our shores.
It is no secret in academia that highly paid academics pay not only for themselves, but often obtain grants that fund entire departments. The move to downsize our universities is one with grave consequences, not only for the education of Irish students, but also for the fact that our foreign direct investment industry will no longer be able to make the great claim of “a highly educated workforce”. – Yours, etc,