I've been wondering about the motivation for departments to take on a lot of PhD students. Is it a substantial source of income for them? Do you think they are encouraged to take on as many as possible, even when they would rather not due to their own workload and employment prospects?

I ask because in my department, each lecturer has about 6 PhD candidates (it's a small department). Some of these are coming straight from undergrad degrees in the same dept and I'm genuinely concerned that the supervisors motivations aren't entirely honourable and that they can't realistically support 6 at a time, while doing their own teaching/research/admin.

I know this is part of a broader problem, but I am curious as to the monetary benefit of taking on each student.

I was horrified to find out that mine were supervising about 12, at least (from what I could work out). They certainly didn't support me and I don't know how the others are doing as I largely worked from home. One of my supervisors puts themselves forward for absolutely everything and they are not put under pressure to do so. Just very obsessed with getting their name out there, in my opinion.

======= Date Modified 07 Mar 2012 12:54:19 =======
12 is a huge amount... although I suppose it works out roughly the same as 6 where they are the sole supervisor. Each candidate only has one in my university. I'm sure having two can just make them both think the other one will provide the help when they don't! I know how useless yours were. :-s

I'd imagine the PhD fees go to the University in the first instance and departments get a certain amount based on a number of factors (number of students, overheads of the department to name just two) but I wouldn't be entirely sure.

======= Date Modified 11 Mar 2012 20:44:56 =======
Some supervisors have so many students because they like to get their name out there and what better way to do it by accumulating lots of students whose papers they hope to co-author despite not being very helpful!!!! In some departments time supposedly spent supervising students equates to time off teaching duties so if 1 student is worth half a module 12 could come in very handy!!!!!

PhD students are seen as outputs of the dept so the more the better as they get brownie points and it increases their ratings!

I am unaware of the monetary benefit but I guess they can claim expenses for them as more students equates a "more" successful department so they can maybe claim a larger research budget, more office and lab space (expanding the dept) and a raised profile within the uni.

The department I work for apparently makes a loss on non research council-funded PhD students these days. We have been told to reduce numbers and raise the threshold on qualifications. I'm quite pleased as there's massive over-production of PhDs in my subject, academic jobs are for a small minority and there's no obvious alternative path unless you do a really policy-oriented topic (soc sci). Given that it feels a bit unethical to persuade UK/EU people to self-fund if they weren't strong enough to get ESRC funding anywhere. And thank goodness they've also raised the IELTS English scores needed by international students as letting people start paying massive fees for a PhD, when their English just wasn't strong enough to have a chance of passing upgrade, always turned my stomach.

Bewildered, I admire you. You worked hard and are in a post you strived for but you seem to keep your feet firmly on the ground and give a good overview of academia which helps people get an insight and make informed decisions. I hope you always remain like that. In the department I was with they totally sold the benefits of doing a PhD to me (tried to encourage me to consider self-funding) but being astute I knew the reality of what the future would most likely be. I groan when I see or hear of people that self-fund because it may be a poor investment in terms of time and money. I feel very fortunate that I was funded and due to the recession and lack of other opportunities I suppose I had time to spend on it.