At this year’s National Two Sessions, renowned scholar Professor Ding Hong proposed important suggestions regarding the improvement of the graduate education mechanism and the enhancement of graduate student welfare. He emphasized the need to significantly increase the welfare of graduate students, especially PhD candidates, and suggested using the welfare level of post-doctoral researchers as a reference to determine a reasonable ratio.
Graduate students are the backbone of scientific research and are crucial to the innovation of science and technology. This is particularly true for outstanding doctoral students, many of whom are the best among their peers of the same age. However, the current treatment of doctoral students is considerably less compared to the income of graduates in the market. Taking the C9 League of China’s top universities as an example, a report shows that their doctoral students’ annual income is only between forty thousand to fifty thousand yuan, a stark contrast to the average annual salary of 2022 graduates, which has already exceeded one hundred and twenty thousand yuan.
Professor Ding Hong pointed out, “Currently, some supervisors regard graduate students as cheap labor rather than being truly responsible for their growth and training. If the treatment of graduate students can be significantly improved, this situation will ameliorate.”
For current graduate students, enhancing their treatment is an urgent issue. In China, the income of doctoral students on a broad level is still low. In addition to paying high tuition fees, many doctoral students state that the existing subsidies are far from sufficient to cover daily living expenses.
For instance, a PhD student from a university in Beijing revealed that despite annual academic expenses reaching forty thousand yuan, the monthly subsidy received from the school is only one thousand five hundred yuan. Similarly, official data from a top university in the west shows that the annual average “income” of a doctoral student is only thirty-four thousand two hundred yuan, which is approximately two thousand eight hundred and fifty yuan per month. Researcher Sun Wanru pointed out that with the rising cost of living and living standards, the low subsidies significantly decrease the quality of life for graduate students without family support.
These research workers pursuing their doctorates in school, though highly skilled, are compelled by inadequate subsidies to bow under the heavy burden of making ends meet. Such dire conditions present not only a great challenge for them personally but also damage the entire academic research environment, leading many ambitious students to hesitate before pursuing further studies.
Compared to doctoral students, master’s students face even more financial difficulties, with some academic master’s monthly income amounting to only a few hundred yuan. An article titled “Research on Adjustment of National Scholarship Amount for Master’s Students” reveals that over the past five years, despite rapid economic development in various regions of China and continuous increases in consumer spending levels, the financial aid standard for master’s students has not correspondingly increased and is no longer sufficient to meet their basic needs.
Although master’s students can supplement their income with scholarships, loans, teaching assistantships, and various kinds of subsidies in addition to their scholarships, the sources of funding usually have restrictions and are not guaranteed to cover all master’s students. The need to improve treatment is imminent.
In response, substantive reforms have been implemented in different regions and universities. In Jiangxi Province, proposals have been made to enhance the scale and treatment of doctoral students in science and engineering, in order to support local economic and educational development. It is suggested that the annual salary for doctoral students in science and engineering should at least reach 100,000 yuan. The Jiangxi Provincial Education Department indicated that it could consider using “Double First-Class” initiative funds to improve the living subsidies for doctoral students in science and engineering and to reward those who have achieved outstanding results based on their accomplishments.
Nationwide, there have also been initiatives to raise the treatment of doctoral students. For example, it has been suggested that the national subsidy for full-time doctoral students be raised to 10,000 yuan per month, and an additional 10,000 yuan per month be provided as a scholarship for those engaged in basic research and high-end science and engineering research. Voices from the educational sector, such as the proposal by Liu Yuanchun, the President of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, advocate for raising the monthly income of doctoral students to 10,000 yuan. Professor Shing-Tung Yau, a distinguished professor at Tsinghua University, has established scholarships for graduate students through fundraising to support outstanding domestic students and attract global talent.
The wave of reform is not just in proposals; some universities have already taken action. For instance, starting from September 1, 2022, the average amount of scholarships and grants for doctoral students at Sun Yat-sen University increased from 46,000 yuan to 58,000 yuan per academic year, a 26% increase, with funding coming from national financial allocations, the university’s own funds, and contributions by supervisors. Harbin Engineering University also released the “Implementation Measures for the Harbin Engineering University Doctoral Student Scholarship and Grant System,” clearly indicating that supervisors will provide at least 24,000 yuan of research assistance allowance in the fifth year of the doctoral student’s studies, further supporting their academic research.
Many higher education institutions are actively adjusting their scholarship policies for doctoral students. A typical example is Henan University’s announcement that every full-time doctoral student can enjoy an additional 5,000 yuan per year as a scholarship during their four-year basic educational period. Other universities, including South China University of Technology, Nankai University, and Guangdong University of Technology, have made corresponding adjustments to their doctoral student scholarship and grant funds.
As an important reserve force in the country’s scientific research strength, doctoral students play an indispensable role in the construction of China’s talent team for scientific research. To cultivate more outstanding research talents, it is crucial to improve the treatment of doctoral students. This is beneficial not only for establishing and perfecting China’s doctoral training mechanism but also for creating a stable research environment for doctoral students. Undoubtedly, enabling doctoral students to lead a relatively decent life will inspire them to focus more on their research work, which has positive significance for pushing forward China’s technological innovation and development.
