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Letter to community from Chair of Education, Training and Careers Committee – 23 May 2007
**This page was archived on 09 June 2009 as the content is out of date**
2007 Quota Studentships Allocations Exercise
In November 2007, the Council's Education, Training and Careers (ET&C) Committee will undertake the biennial quota studentships exercise to allocate studentships to university departments for the 2008 and 2009 academic years. This provides information on important changes to the 2007 quota exercise. These will include the award of studentships funds through doctoral training grants, with funds based on three and a half years of funding for each student, and the targeting of studentship allocations to priority areas of the science programme.
In preparation for the 2007 quota exercise, ET&C Committee reviewed the fixed allocation model of three and four year studentships, implemented at the 2005 quota exercise. The review took into account feedback from departments on operating the fixed allocation model and the view from the majority of departments that four year PhDs should be supported across the whole studentships programme. The main argument for four year studentships was the need to improve the quality and depth of PhD training to ensure that UK students were competitive at international level. The Committee concluded that there were persuasive arguments for four year PhDs to become the norm across the studentships programme and recommended to Council that all quota studentships awarded from the 2007 quota exercise should be funded for four years. In addition, ET&C Committee recommended that funds for quota studentships should be allocated through doctoral training grants in order to give departments maximum flexibility over use of funds, based on student training requirements and PhD programmes.
Council accepted in principle the requirement for four year PhDs across the studentships programme and endorsed the move to training grants, but did not approve an increase in the studentships budget to fund all studentships for four years. Council considered that there would still be a requirement for some three year studentships and that the flexibility offered by training grants would enable departments to fund studentships of three or four years duration as well as to part fund students from other sources.
The allocation of studentships support to departments will be managed within the planned budget for the 2007 quota studentships exercise, which has been costed on annual allocations of 100 studentships at four years, 160 at three years plus c.20 studentships from the nuclear physics area at three and a half years. ET&C Committee explored a number of options for funding allocations of studentships to departments and concluded that the fairest approach would be to use a student unit cost of three and a half years for all studentships. The Committee agreed that following completion of the peer review of quota applications in November 2007, a unit cost of three and a half years would be used to convert the approved number of studentships for award to each department into cash sums for payment as doctoral training grants. Notification both of the number of students at 3.5 years and the estimated cash value of each department's doctoral training grant will be included with the feedback information sent to departments. Doctoral training grants will cover all funds currently paid on studentships apart from overseas fieldwork and disabled students allowances. These funds will be administered separately and will be payable as additional funds to training grants.
Doctoral training grants
The funds awarded on doctoral training grants will cover studentship allocations for the 2008 and 2009 academic years. A single grant will be announced to each department that has been awarded a quota allocation. Training grants will start on 1 October 2008 and will end in September 2013, with payments paid quarterly to the central university finance. Doctoral training grants will be governed by the joint Research Councils' doctoral training grant terms and conditions.
Doctoral training grant terms and conditions give departments considerable flexibility over the use of funds to support either three or four studentship programmes. Students may start at any point in the academic year and it will be permissible to part fund studentships from the training grant and other sources. In cases of part funding, at least 50% of the total cost of the studentship must come from the doctoral training grant.
Funds for overseas fieldwork and disabled students allowances will be managed through claims and paid as additional costs to the training grant. Departments will need to apply for these funds after a student has started. Application forms with guidance on seeking approval and reclaiming these costs will be available via the studentships page of the STFC website. Approved funds will be released against claims and paid in the next quarterly profile on the training grant.
Assessment
The assessment criteria for applications to the 2007 quota exercise will include numbers and productivity of research active staff, the research environment and the research and broader skills training offered by departments to students. A new criterion from previous quota exercises will be the explicit consideration of departmental studentships programmes in relation to Council's scientific priorities as defined in the STFC Particle Physics and Astronomy research programmes roadmap. The Committee will of course take into account the need for studentships support for areas such as nuclear physics, which following the establishment of STFC have not as yet been reviewed for the roadmap and will keep in mind the need to fund innovative areas of research to be pursued by students. Future quota competitions will include assessment of how departments have used doctoral training grants to recruit and train students for priority areas of the STFC science programme.
How to apply
Departments will be required to submit a single application via the Je-S system. The form, help text and assessment criteria will be available in August 2007. The closing date for submission of applications of 27 September 2007. The call for applications will be published on the Studentships page of the STFC website. In addition, notification that the form is available will be sent to all departments likely to seek a quota allocation of studentships.
Contacts for further enquiries:
Professor James Hough, FRS
Chair, Education, Training and Careers Committee
Page last updated: 09 June 2009
by Steve Cann
