Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
1459. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the projected cost of increasing the stipend support for PhD researchers funded by SFI/ IRC, higher education institutions, and other competitive funders to €28,000 per annum; how many researchers are expected to be supported in 2024; the number currently supported in 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36902/23]
View answerAccording to the HEA (hea.ie/statistics/data-for-download-and-visualisations/key-facts-figures/), 10,013 students were pursuing PhD studies for the academic year 2021/2022, compared with 9,532 in 2020/2021. Enrolment figures for 2023 and 2024 are not available yet but we are not anticipating major changes.
According to the Co-Chairs's first report, the following is a breakdown of estimated current levels of stipend support:
|
Funded by |
Enrolments |
Stipend |
|
Science Foundation Ireland/ Irish Research Council |
3,000 |
€19,000 |
|
Higher Education Institutions |
2,000 |
€9,640* |
|
Other Competitive Funders |
1,000 |
€18,500 |
|
Self-funded so excluded (may be in receipt of external financial supports (from home country, etc), employed, or self-financed)) |
4,000 |
N/A |
*HEI awards are wide-ranging, typically anything from €5,000 to €18,500. The estimated average per awardee was €9,640.
Based on these figures, if enrolments remain at current levels and if the stipend was increased to €28,000, the additional budgetary requirement would amount to €73.2m per annum as per the table below.
|
Funded by |
Enrolments |
Stipend change |
Additional annual budgetary requirement |
|
SFI/ IRC |
3000 |
€9,000 |
€27,000,000 |
|
HEIs |
2000 |
€18,360 |
€36,720,000 |
|
Other funders |
1000 |
€9,500 |
€9,500,000 |
|
Total |
6000 |
|
€73,220,000
|
