Is PhD A Perishing Ambition Now? Why Fewer Students Are Opting For It In India & Abroad | Explained – News18

Last Updated:February 18, 2025, 11:00 IST

Lengthy research along with large pay gaps between graduates who join the workforce and those enroled in PhD are some of the reasons for the drop in enrolments

The number of students signing up for doctoral degrees (PhD) has been on a decline, both in India and around the world. A recent report published in Nature, a leading international journal, highlighted that the number of students opting for PhD programmes has been steadily falling across multiple countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Brazil, among others.

Why Is This Trend On The Rise? Is It A Concern?

Experts in the research have been flagging this as a concern for it could “significantly slow down scientific progress and technological advancements”. A long period of research with a major “pay-gap” between graduates who join the workforce and those who enrol in PhD programmes, with just a stipend, is one of the major reasons for the drop.

What’s Happening In Foreign Colleges?

According to the report published in Nature, the most recent figures released by the Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR) in January 2024 show an 8% drop in domestic PhD enrolments for the period between 2018 and 2023, despite Australia’s population growing by over 7% in the same period. One of the major reasons behind the decline was financial constraints. The average PhD stipend in Australia is around AUD 32,000 (USD 20,000), which falls below the minimum wage.

Similarly, in Japan, recent data shows that only 15,014 students enroled in PhD courses in 2023, as compared to 18,232 in 2003. Concerned over the issue, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) announced new funding initiatives to support PhD students and increase enrolment numbers.

Brazil, too, saw a decline in PhD enrolments with 2022 marking the lowest number of domestic PhD entrants in nearly a decade. The Brazilian Federal Agency for the Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) identified the economic crisis and a lack of government investment in science and technology as key contributors to this drop. Following this, in 2023, Brazil increased research grants by 40%, after which there has been a slight up in enrolment.

The journal quoted Cláudia Sarrico, a project lead at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), calling these declining numbers as a “wake-up call” for nations to reform working conditions and expand career pathways.

The journal noted that besides the financial instability, a shift in how academia is perceived and “uncertainty” in career prospects are other major reasons for the drop in number of students wanting to pursue research.

Where Does India Stand?

While India with its huge population and talent has still been making strides in research competing with global institutions, it is the basic facilities such as lack of research equipment in most universities as well as low stipend that makes many students go abroad for research programmes or post-doctoral research.

From the time of the pandemic in 2020-2021, the number of PhD enrolments has remained low even across the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and institutions like the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), which have adequate funding and advanced research facilities. The numbers don’t seem to be picking much since, which has prompted several IITs to take measures to design a different placement procedure for PhD students. This has been a growing concern within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) ecosystem.

According to a study titled ‘Engineering PhDs in Premier Institutions: What’s the Slope?’ published by an IIT-Bombay professor D Manjunath in 2023, the drop in PhD applications began during the pandemic in 2021 and hasn’t seen much of an uptick since then. The decline has been seen across the core streams of mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, as well as computer science and electrical engineering, the paper highlighted.

It also suggested several factors behind the decline, including — more students opting to study abroad, pursuing government jobs and declining quality of Master’s programmes.

‘Uncertainty Of Career Prospects’

An internal survey published by IIT-Delhi’s student body last year where they had interviewed Master’s and PhD students, highlighted distress among them, in particular, about “uncertainty over future job prospects”. Despite IIT-Delhi being a top-ranking institution, over 60% of Master’s students who responded to the survey said they were “worried about career placements”. Faculty sensitisation and guide’s attitude towards research scholars was another major reason of stress among them.

Noticing the general distress among PhD students relating to career prospects, IIT-Delhi last year streamlined the placement procedure for research scholars, distinct from the regular placements cycle. IIT-Delhi director Prof Rangan Banerjee had last month told News18 that this effort is “yielding some good results, which will be visible at the end of this academic session”.

A faculty member at IIT-Bombay, associated with research, said there has been a decline in PhD enrolments for several reasons, of which not having a linear career pathway is one. “When most graduates are joining the workforce, those applying for PhD programmes by the second year feel the pay gap between them and those joining industry. Also, PhDs are not affordable for all since those from marginalised sections often have the pressure to support their families financially. By the time they are in their late 20s or 30s the research is still on and it does get to some that they are not earning enough or are not sure of what kind of job they will get into.

“While most doing research get into academia, initially, the pay packages are not comparable with those working in the corporate sector. Funding has to be increased substantially to boost student morale as well as fuel research,” said the faculty member, who didn’t wish to be named.

Some also attributed the drop in enrolment to limited post-doctoral opportunities in the Indian tech industry. Also, since more opportunities have opened at the entry level, graduates are more likely to join industry.

A PhD programme typically spans over five years. The central government offers a Rs 37,000 a month stipend for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), which is for a two-year duration while for the remaining three years, the stipend is Rs 42,000 per month, which is called Senior Research Fellowship (SRF).

Shairik Sengupta, a research scholar in final year of his PhD at the IISc, Bengaluru, said the number of graduates opting for PhD has been on a downward slope mainly because of the pay-gap. Also, there are many, who with the additional pressure of supporting their families, drop out of the programme when they feel that they are not able to sustain.

“Also, it’s the research culture in India where you are just working informally under a guide for years while in the developed countries, PhDs are seen as working positions. People in this age want to be recognised as formally working with an actual job. Hence, most just join the industry. One has to feel more stable and secure in the system. The budget on research funding needs to be hiked to establish more confidence among young graduates to take up research,” Sengupta said.