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The original title: "Why are doctoral students unhappy?" Nature global survey on the satisfaction of doctoral students shows that the satisfaction of doctoral students has decreased significantly. "

Nature global postgraduate satisfaction survey shows that doctoral students' satisfaction decreases significantly compared with master's degree students. Why are they unhappy?

Recently, Nature's survey on the satisfaction of graduate students shows that compared with master's degree students, the number of people who are satisfied with their doctorate degree is much lower.

Compared with master's degree students, they are not happy to study in PhD.

Sixty-eight percent of the master's degree students surveyed said they were satisfied with their current courses, while only 60 percent of doctoral students felt the same way.

In addition, 79 per cent of master's degree students said they were satisfied with their decision to pursue a postgraduate degree, compared with 74 per cent of doctoral students.

This is the first graduate survey conducted by Nature, including master's degree students, and respondents have a lot to say about their education and their future.

The survey collected responses from 756 master's degree students worldwide, covering Asia (41%), Europe (30%), North or Central America (14%), and a small number of respondents from Oceania, Africa and South America.

Master's degree students are generally satisfied with their courses, and many are already looking forward to the next step of academic exploration. Fifty-nine per cent of respondents said they eventually planned to pursue a doctorate, while more than 1/4 were still on the sidelines.

According to Elizabeth Friedman, who led the study, students with an STEM master's degree will have many job options even if they decide not to continue their studies.

"Master's students learn transferable skills," she said. "compared with doctoral students who are highly focused on specific research topics, their career paths can be more diverse. "

Ethan Solomon, a sophomore with a master's degree in microbiology at the University of Toronto, Canada, said he had no plans to pursue a doctorate after completing his studies. This is mainly because he does not want to spend another four or five years on education.

"I don't want to spend so many years studying for a doctorate before I start my life," he said. "it's not worth it. "

Master's degree students: satisfied with the course and full of hope for the future when asked why they appreciate their academic projects, the first answer of many master's degree students is to be able to work with interesting and smart people (54%). The second most popular answer is intellectual collision (47%).

Joshua Caley, a sophomore majoring in biochemistry at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, appreciated the academic rigor of the program.

Caley says he eventually plans to pursue a doctorate because it is the only way he can continue to study his subject, which covers the basis of investigating age-related diseases.

"I am very interested in this particular field of research, and getting a doctorate is the way I can stay in this field," he said. "

Of course, there are aspects that can be improved in the master's degree program. Biology students in the United States commented that she would make several changes if she could. The first is the student allowance, which currently receives less than $23000 a year.

She says graduate students at her institution can't do outside work, which has had a big impact on their lives.

She added that she was satisfied with the relationship between the mentor and them, but she hoped that the university would evaluate the mentor and set the working standards for the position. "I have a great consultant, but I know a lot of my peers are struggling with their relationship with their mentors. "

Future career advice is an area of concern for respondents.

The survey shows that master's degree students and doctoral students have different career aspirations. Less than 1/5 of people would prefer to find a job in the industry, in stark contrast to the 32 per cent of doctoral students who intend to do so.

Friedman says the STEM master's program usually promotes and maintains interest in research by giving students the opportunity to work in the lab or in the field while developing other skills.

"if they work in geology, they will do field trips there," she says. They also learned about public speaking, written communication and project management. "

Experience may vary by department, university and field, Friedman added. She commended any efforts made to improve understanding of the trainees in this area.

A master's degree student in Canada felt the same way. She wrote this comment at the end of the survey reply: "Thank you for including master's degree students in this survey!" We are an often overlooked part of the graduate community. "

Doctoral student: when will academic bullying stop? So why are the doctoral students higher in the ivory tower unhappy?

On August 10, Nature published two articles revealing the abuse, threats, working hours and economic exploitation that foreign researchers may be subjected to under their mentors.

Article address: https://www.nature.com/ articles / d41586-022-02142-8

Article address: https://www.nature.com/ articles / d41586,022-02155-3 in the United States, 65% of postdoctoral students are subjected to workplace bullying and PUA. The proportion is only 20% at the master's level.

Later, another study surveyed more than 2000 researchers (mostly in the early stages of their careers). The results showed that most of the respondents had witnessed or experienced bullying by authoritative scholars. researchers from abroad are bullied more seriously than their local colleagues.

Visas are the "life door" of foreigners, so professors who hold visas have absolute control over their students and can ask them to do anything. "

Five researchers interviewed by Nature said they were still afraid to complain after being abused, bullied, threatened and economically exploited by their mentors because they were afraid that their temporary visas would not be renewed.

A researcher in the Middle East described how the doctoral instructor used his immigration status to bully himself.

An annual salary of 60,000: the stars and seas of mankind are so cheap

Due to visa restrictions, the salaries and benefits of foreign researchers are often manipulated to death.

Among them, postdocs from India and China are almost always at the bottom.

A biomedical chemist from China says that at the university where he does postdoctoral research, researchers from other countries generally earn lower salaries.

"my friend is also a postdoctoral student in chemistry from China with a salary of 28000 US dollars. The wages of American colleagues are at least $39000 to $40000. "

Back in 2012, when funding for the biomedical chemist's team had bottomed out, he still had a Jmur1 exchange visit visa. This means that if he does not find a new job within a month, he must return home.

So he chose to do a second postdoctoral study at another university, responsible for developing imaging methods for cancer diagnosis. However, this "job-hopping" not only did not improve the previous salary of $46000, but even lost $10, 000.

The reason is simple: the new lab director promised that as long as you accept the pay cut, I will give you a safer Hmur1B visa later.

But when his Jmur1 visa was about to expire in 2014, the person in charge backed out. He doesn't want to pay the $68000 minimum wage for the biomedical chemist's new visa.

"like all postdocs, I wanted to be a professor, but I changed my mind. "said the biomedical chemist. "if being a professor means putting students through this, then I don't want to be a professor. "

Eventually, he got a job as a technician in a state government organization in the United States.

In the survey, it can be found that most of the master's degree students still look forward to and in awe of academia. Their reasons for pursuing doctorates are also purer. Presumably this is also the mental journey of most doctoral students and scholars.

We need to protect this pure. After all, it should be more than sincerity that keeps them going.

Reference:

Https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03758-6

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: Xin Zhiyuan (ID:AI_era), edited by Xin Peng

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