Perceptions of the Practices and the Experience of Securing Supplemental Funding among Doctoral Students

Insufficient financial support for doctoral students is a significant obstacle to increasing the number of on-time dissertation defenses. Many countries and universities, striving to enhance the effectiveness of their doctoral programmes, employ practices of additional funding awarded on a competitive basis to those candidates who are most likely to successfully defend high-quality dissertations on time. However, there is currently a lack of sufficient empirical research that fully assesses the effectiveness and implications of additional financial support for doctoral students. Drawing on the analysis of data from an online survey of Russian doctoral students (N = 231), this article examines the specifics of the students’ experience with the competitive application process for additional funding including both successful and unsuccessful attempts, their perceptions of the consequences of such funding, as well as the obstacles they face in securing it. The data analysis revealed that additional funding plays a significant role for doctoral students under the age of 30 who reside in university housing and are enrolled in mathematics and natural science programs. The majority of doctoral students rate the ability of such funding to resolve their financial problems and eliminate the need to seek supplementary income as low. However, they highly value the role that winning a competitive grant play in enhancing their integration into the academic community and boosting their confidence in their ability to complete their dissertation defense on time. In contrast to grants and direct monetary payments, employment for doctoral students is associated with a higher degree of integration into the academic community, greater confidence in the successful defense of their dissertation, as well as more positive assessments of their own financial well-being and their ability to focus on their dissertation research. The primary obstacles to applying for and obtaining additional funding are the insufficient amount of support, the low probability of securing it, and the lack of timely and accessible information about available funding opportunities. Informed by the findings of this study, the article’s conclusion discusses prospects for future research and outlines potential improvements to doctoral student financial support measures.