PhD Funding and Research Performance ………./2016 From: Horta H., Cattaneo M., Meoli M. 2016, «PhD funding as a determinant of PhD and career research performance», Studies in Higher Education
PhD degrees A PhD degree is the starting point for an academic career A large number of PhD students is needed to promote cultural and technological innovation in a «knowledge society» Source: The Guardian 2014 - Securing funding is launchpad to your academic future. Photograph: Alamy Source: EUA Funding Observatory 04/01/2017 2
Motivation Notwithstanding the benefit of a PhD degree: On the one side… The number of PhD students in Italian university has dramatically decreased since the onset of the recent financial crisis Number of PhD students in Italy 41000 -21% 39000 37000 35000 33000 31000 29000 27000 25000 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 04/01/2017 3
Motivation On the other side… There are issues related to the financial sustainability of PhD programs (e.g. in the UK context) e.g. in the academic year 2011/12, 40% of UK PhD students did not receive any support from any financing entity (The Guardian) 22% of PhD students enrolled at the University College London was self-financed during the academic year 2011/12 (The Guardian) There are «new stories» to tell… 04/01/2017 4
Objective This study aims to analyse the effects of financing support on the research performance of PhD students, looking at different dimensions: Horizon: 1. Performance during the PhD 2. Performance during the whole research career Performance measure: 1. Scientific productivity (all, international) 2. Scientific visibility (all, international) Type of support: 1. PhD grants by the central government 2. Project-related grants 04/01/2017 5
Methodology Our analysis covers a sample of Portoguese PhD students who received their doctoral degree before December 2009 (Source: 2009 CDH - Careers of Doctorate Holders - OECD) Empirical analysis: In order to analyse the impact of PhD funding on scientific productivity, accounting for unobservable individual features (such as motivation), a propensity score matching was implemented We make use of multivariate regression analyses controlling for observable individual features (i.e. gender and age) and institutional characteristics (i.e. prestige) 04/01/2017 6
Variables Productivity (PhD) : Number of papers published per year during the PhD program Visibility (PhD) : Number of citations per paper per year during the PhD program Productivity (Career) : Number of papers published per year after the accomplishment of the PhD program Visibility (Career) : Number of citations per paper per year after the accomplishment of the PhD program 04/01/2017 7
Analyses Productivity (PhD) Visibility (PhD) 0,25 4,5 4 0,2 3,5 3 0,15 2,5 0,1 2 1,5 0,05 1 0 0,5 Finanziati Non finanziati PhD Funding No Grant 0 PhD Funding Finanziati No Grant Non finanziati Productivity (Career) Visibility (Career) 0,8 11 0,7 10,5 0,6 10 0,5 0,4 9,5 0,3 9 0,2 8,5 0,1 0 8 PhD Funding PhD Funding No Grant No Grant Finanziati Non finanziati Finanziati Non finanziati 04/01/2017 8
Results 1/2 Performance during the PhD: Being granted a doctoral scholarship positively impacts 1. on research performance (productivity and visibility); Nevertheless, a project-related scholarship has a 2. negative impact on the visibility of the scientific production. 04/01/2017 9
Results 2/2 Performance during post doctoral academic career Being granted a doctoral scholarship positively impacts 1. on research performance (with the exception of the international profile) A project-related scholarship has a negative impact on all 2. research performance measures 04/01/2017 10
Research Centre for Higher Education at the University of Bergamo Scientific Director: Professor Stefano Paleari
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