¡®Student-led¡¯ AHRC PhD places ¡®to fall by at least 60 per cent¡¯

The number of student-initiated PhD scholarships funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is set to fall by 60 per cent?when new doctoral training arrangements come into effect next year, new figures show.

Plans to drastically reduce the number of funded doctoral places have faced fierce criticism since they were?unveiled?almost two years ago, with the AHRC stating at the time that they will support just 300 scholarships a year by 2029-30, down from 425, a 29 per cent drop.

There are, however, concerns that the overall reduction in funded places masks a greater decline in the number of awards for PhDs whose topics are suggested by students and which have been overseen by universities attached to doctoral training partnerships (DTPs).

Under the new model, the AHRC will instead?grant 150 ¡°landscape awards¡± to 50 universities each year ¨C three per institution annually ¨C with the names of those institutions chosen?

While several academics have claimed these new arrangements will?represent a significant cut?in available places, the extent has not been made public ¨C partly because each of the 10 AHRC DTPs operate autonomously, with affiliated institutions match funding PhD scholarships under their funding obligations.

Internal modelling requested by?Times Higher Education?under the Freedom of Information Act, however, has revealed that the cut in numbers is likely to be substantial. Excluding institutional co-funding, the number of AHRC-funded PhD students funded under the DTP/landscape route will fall from 372 in 2024-25 to 150 in 2026-27, a 60 per cent cut, the research council says.

The funding scenario for students may, however, be even bleaker when the requirement for institutions to match fund scholarships disappears with the start of landscape awards next year, the figures suggest.

A total of 584 students were recruited across 10 AHRC DTPs in 2024-25 once co-funded students were considered, modelling shows. To sustain the same level of studentships, funded institutions would need to match fund roughly three PhDs for every doctoral landscape award they received.

¡°The projected 60 per cent decrease almost certainly masks even greater cuts since the previous DTP contracts tied institutions into match funding arrangements,¡± said Andrew McRae, professor of Renaissance studies at the University of Exeter, where he was formerly the head of its doctoral college.

¡°These were set at stretching rates, in a different economic climate, with the aim of winning DTP awards. I¡¯d expect many universities to back away from these now that they can,¡± he added.

Under the new AHRC PhD training model, ¡°centres of doctoral training¡± (CDTs), whose final cohort was recruited in 2018-19, will be revived in the form of 50 ¡°focal awards¡± a year centred on two themes ¨C the creative economy or ¡°a healthy planet, people, and place¡±. University consortia leads on these awards were?named?earlier this month.

The internal modelling confirms that the number of students pursuing a PhD through ¡°collaborative doctoral provision¡±, working with museums, libraries and other non-university partners, will remain constant at 50 per year between 2024-25 and 2026-27.

In addition, the AHRC will fund 30 PhDs a year on thematic cross-research council projects, the figures also confirm.

However, the ¡°stretch to core, discipline-sustaining provision was certainly concerning¡±, said McRae.

¡°It¡¯s almost as though the AHRC is betting on a sustained contraction in the system, and hence less need for potential lecturers five years down the track. They might well be right,¡± he said.

An AHRC spokesperson said: ¡°The changes to AHRC's doctoral funding are designed to ensure we have a balanced, sustainable portfolio, allowing us to target our limited funds at the areas of greatest need.

¡°Our approach is in line with our ambition to create a research and innovation system which is open and accessible to wide-ranging talent, and to take a strategic approach to addressing challenges through the support we provide,¡± they added.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com