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UNSW to boost higher degree research scholarships by 17 per cent .
By Tim Dodd
The University of NSW will deliver a massive 17 per cent stipend increase to research students next year as part of a plan to ensure that they earn the equivalent of a living wage by 2024 .
Students holding higher degree by research scholarships will see their stipend rise to $ 35,000 next year , 17.2 per cent higher than the $ 29,863 figure that would otherwise apply in 2023 .
The UNSW decision follows a similar move by the Australian National University , which announced a 17.8 per cent rise in research scholarship stipends last year .
UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research Nicholas Fisk said the university decided to make a step change in research scholarship stipends because the current figure was “ increasingly not tenable ” in a time of high inflation .
UNSW will increase the stipend again in 2024 to $ 37,684 , which is intended to align with the living wage — essentially the minimum wage set by the Fair Work Commission after adjustment for tax .
Professor Fisk said the increase was justified on equity grounds , for moral reasons , for student satisfaction and for research productivity .
He said many PhD students found it necessary to take other jobs that kept them away from their research .
Professor Fisk said UNSW had been losing research higher degree students to other universities that paid higher stipends but , from 2023 , its stipends would be among the highest in Australia .
“ I think this now sets the benchmark across the country ,” he said .
He said the higher stipend would benefit about 1300 UNSW students next year who were beginning a higher degree by research or already doing a degree with a scholarship worth less than $ 35,000 .
Numbers would later increase as more new students started . He said UNSW would continue to offer the same number of scholarships .
Students doing higher degrees by research – such as PhDs and masters by research – in Australian universities commonly hold research training program scholarships supported by the federal government .
These scholarships will have a government-funded base rate of $ 29,863 a year in 2023 , but universities have the option of topping them up with their own money .
To offer a higher amount in 2023 , UNSW will have to fund the difference .
Other research-intensive universities are already offering more than the base rate . The University of Sydney is the most generous , paying RTP scholarship holders $ 35,950 this year , rising to $ 37,207 this year .
The University of Melbourne will be offering $ 34,400 , and the Australian National University paid $ 34,000 from October 2022 after vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt announced an increase from this year ’ s base rate of $ 28,854 .
He said if Australia wanted its “ best and brightest ” to do research the government needed to increase the base stipend .
Early last year , Monash University increased its research scholarship stipend from $ 30,000 to $ 33,000 .
However , most universities offer only the base rate on their RTP scholarships , declining to top up the federal government funded figure from their own money .
Professor Fisk said the government should reconsider the amount .
“ There are cogent arguments for revisiting that ,” he said .
UNSW Postgraduate Council president Joshua Karras said the increase in the stipend was “ most welcome ”.
The current stipend was below the poverty line , many students were unable to afford rent , food and other necessities , Mr Karras said .
The council had worked constructively and productively with UNSW to reach the outcome , he said . ■
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