Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
1441. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for a detailed breakdown of funding provided to PhD researchers via State supports, HEI funds and other sources, including details on numbers in receipt of each type of funding and the stipends awarded per researcher. [36745/23]
View answer1442. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to provide a breakdown of the number of part-time PhD researchers in receipt of stipends; and to account for numbers who may be in employment outside of their research, conducting their PhD research with employer support. [36746/23]
View answer1444. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to provide a complete breakdown of numbers of non-EU/EEA PhD researchers registered in Ireland; and to provide an estimate for the total fees paid by non-EU/EEA PhD researchers to Irish HEIs. [36748/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1441, 1442 and 1444 together.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) is responsible for the collection, analysis and dissemination of all student and graduate data returned to the HEA from all HEA-funded institutions via the Student Record System. The latest data available relates to the academic year 2021/2022.
With respect to funding allocated to PhD researchers, the table below (extracted from the Review Co-Chairs' first report) outlines public expenditure on stipend supports for PhD researchers.
|
Funded by
|
Enrolments |
Stipend |
|
SFI/ IRC
|
3,000 |
€19,000 |
|
Higher Education Institutions
|
2,000 |
€9,640* |
|
Other Competitive Funders**
|
1,000 |
€18,500 |
|
Self-funded (may be in receipt of external financial supports (from home country, etc), employed, or self-financed)) |
4,000*** |
- |
|
Total |
~10,000 |
|
* HEI awards are wide-ranging, typically anything from €5,000 to €18,500. The estimated average per awardee was €9,640
** EU Marie Curie excluded; assumed to be not significant.
*** Excluded on the basis that these are not publicly-funded.
With regard to part-time enrolments, according to the HEA statistics, 1,660 part-time PhD researchers were in Irish HEIs for the academic year 2021/2022. The HEIs also reported 331 part-time Research Master students to the HEA for the same time period. Data on their funding sources are not available. Those who are supported by their employer, home country, etc., i.e. not publicly funded, may be in receipt of some form of financial assistance from these other sources but this data is not collected centrally by the HEA or by the individual HEIs.
On the number of non-EU/EEA PhD researchers registered in Ireland, the HEA reports that there were 2,677 Non-EU PhD enrolments in the academic year 2021/2022 (hea.ie/statistics/data-for-download-and-visualisations/students/).
Data on fees paid is not available as the matter rests with the individual higher education institutions (HEIs).
