The UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is to cut the number of PhD students it funds by a quarter, from 425 to 300 a year.
Unveiling major changes to its doctoral training provision on 20 September, the funder said it will reduce the number of students supported via doctoral training partnerships (DTPs) – which represent 85 per cent of its postgraduate research portfolio – to enable “strategic investment” in other areas.
These include extra resources to maintain PhD entry levels in Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships – in which museums, libraries and other non-university organisations work with universities to support about 50 doctoral students a year – and the reintroduction of Centres for Doctoral Training, in which university consortia bid for doctoral funding relating to either the creative economy or environmental issues.
Under the plans, the number of PhDs funded by Britain’s smallest research council, which had a budget of £82 million this year, will fall to 300 per year by 2029-30.
