Curtin University’s Postgraduate Student Committee has increased the minimum full-time stipend for higher degree by research students to $32,250 per annum, an 11.8 per cent increase from 2022 where it was $28,854.

The decision was made after Curtin’s Postgraduate Student Committee lobbied to the university, presenting data that showed the 2022 stipend was below the poverty line.

According to the Curtin Guild, the change also applies to students who hold RTP and University Strategic scholarships.

“The increased stipend will provide HDR students with greater financial security, enabling them to focus on their studies and research without worrying about financial stress,” their website reads.

A stipend is a fixed sum paid fortnightly to someone who studies or engages in unpaid work, offsetting cost-of-living expenses such as groceries, petrol and rent.

Higher degree by research students usually engage in 37.5 hours of full time research a week limiting them in their ability to spend extra time to work, meaning a stipend is their only form of income.

Guild Postgraduate Student Committee President Mitchell Craig says although the stipend is tax free, it is still below the minimum wage.

“Students entirely rely on that [stipend as an] income and if you’re doing outside work you’re actually taking time away from doing the research and completing your degree,” he says.

Doctor of Philosophy’s (PhD) typically take students between three to five years to complete, however stipends are not provided to students after three and a half years.

“If your stipend expires at the maximum time you still have to finish the degree somehow but you have no income,” Craig says.

“Students are struggling really hard.”

Many HDR students work at Curtin as causal academics, however students receiving a stipend are capped at working only eight hours a week. Students who choose to work more than eight hours have their stipend reduced.

Although the increased stipend has been well received by students Craig says, ‘it’s really not enough.’

“The feedback has been positive. Students are happy the stipend has increased and they’re very grateful for that, but they still want it to be a lot higher,” he says.

“I did engineering and so you could be earning five times as much [as the stipend] if you went straight into the industry.”

“We are losing highly skilled, really great minds that would be well suited for research because it’s simply not enough to live on when the stipend rate is so low,” he stresses.

The University of Western Australia is among the top three Australian universities that provide students with the highest stipend, $35,000; 8.53 per cent higher than the stipend offered for Curtin students.

Craig is concerned Curtin’s stipend is low in comparison to other universities, making the university unattractive to prospective students.

“It’s not just about living expenses,” he says.

“[The stipend] makes Curtin less competitive and less attractive in hiring high quality students.”