Right now, with the start of another academic year only a few weeks away, a new cohort of students are preparing to embark on their intellectually most significant academic journey. The award of a PhD as the result of several years as a doctoral student is seen as the pinnacle of academic competence. For many this is the ultimate rite of passage to an academic career and acclamation by their peers. Yet, of all programmes of study at a UK university, these students are not aware of their chances of completing that journey in their chosen university or department. It is a step into the unknown; a commitment to at least three years of study for a full-time student and anything from five to eight years or more, for those studying part-time. They are making this decision in relative ignorance of the possible outcome. This is in stark contrast to the information and data tables available for the well-oiled undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes.
It has been over two years since HEPI published two significant reports regarding the numbers and experiences of PhD students in the UK. Much has changed, yet much has remained the same. There remains an insufficiency of data as provided by the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) and the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) annual review. Without these data no independent analysis of trends and issues can be effectively conducted. Nor can any intersectionality of other characteristics such as mode of study compared to age and gender be evaluated.
There are two vital pieces of information that should be published to inform all parties, particularly the part-time student. The first concerns the PRES. The annual report should provide an analysis of mode of study, differentiating the part-time student from their full-time peers. There is no reference to the part-time student within the main body of the 2021/22 report, yet they represent over 24 per cent of the in-year student body. Significantly, more than 83 per cent of part-time PhD students are mature students over 30 years old and of that group there are 10 per cent more women than men. HESA data reports that only 32 per cent of full-time PhD students are over 30 years old. As the HEPI report from Bethan Cornell in 2020 posits, it is not unreasonable to assume that this group of mature students will have quite different concerns and issues compared to many traditional full-time and predominately younger postgraduate students. The PRES should summarize the responses of part-time mature students and evaluate their concerns. My research of available reports indicates a significant difference between the full-time and part-time student experience and their level of satisfaction, substantiating from earlier albeit limited research, which describe these individuals as invisible students.
