🚀 go-pugleaf

Michael Kyba (kyba@bcu.ubc.ca) wrote:
: There seems to be some confusion regarding graduate student wages.

: In the sciences, graduate students are essential members of any
: universty laboratory research team.  Because of this, their
: departments specify certain minimum monthly salaries that the
: grad students should receive.  Many have grants, many get paid
: off their supervisors' grants, and many do TA work for their
: department.  As a TA, although you are needed because of your
[snip]
: While it is questionable whether departments are justified in
: paying thier graduate students poverty-line salaries, it is
: unquestionable that the payment scheme should be changed.  Grad
: student salaries ought to reflect the value of the work that
: they actually do.  And their most valuable work is research.

: Any comments, grad. students out there?

: Michael Kyba

Michael, I couldn't agree with you more. Graduate students 
are an essential part of the research process. With 
respect to PhD students, I think that there are two 
problems here that can be rolled into one solution.

The first problem is the current glut of PhDs in a 
shrinking university system. This has led some in the 
research establishment to muse publicly about the need for 
"birth control for PhDs."

The second problem arises from the fact that the 
"compensation package" for the PhD student implictly 
includes the expected present value (EPV) of the PhD 
credential. But, due to the glut, the EPV of a PhD is 
getting to be a rather small number. So the PhD student's
compensation package has shrunk. Simple Free Market 
Economics.

Let's kill two birds with one stone. Trash the archaic 
concept of a "PhD degree" and a "PhD student". The Free 
Market demands it --- supply exceeds demand. But the work 
in the labs still needs doing. So, rather than doing the 
work as Phd students, the same people can be hired on as 
Advanced Research Technicians (ARTs). They can be paid 
whatever the Free Market says they're worth...well, at 
least within the constraints of the minimum wage law.

Problems solved.


Dan Walker dwalker@geology.ubc.ca