The politicization of the PhD and the employability of doctoral graduates: An Australian case study in a global context

In this chapter, we reflect on current debates on the employability of doctoral graduates and related concerns about PhD graduates' work skills (or their lack) using recent Australia policy debates and developments (2008-2014) as a case study. The chapter proceeds in three sections. We begin with a global overview of the political attention being directed to the PhD and frame this politicization of the PhD as one consequence of the rise of knowledge economy discourses. We then survey the broad contours of the employment of PhD graduates debate and its contradictory elements, which simultaneously present cases for there being too many and too few PhDs. We argue that this is due to the operation of different frameworks for understanding the meaning, function and objectives of PhD education. The chapter then turns to Australia and a brief overview of the politicization of the Australian PhD under successive Federal governments since the 1990s. Political attention on the PhD has been intense in Australia since 2008, with the pursuit of an ambitious government-led research and innovation agenda with implications for the framing of the employability of PhD graduates and curriculum responses to address this issue. We conclude with some critical reflections on way this policy debate has been framed, highlighting some unexamined assumptions, and the failure to incorporate what is known about the diversity and prior work experience of the Australian PhD cohort

Qualitative inequality: experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education

This article examines the lived experiences of women in Ethiopian higher education (HE) as a counterpoint to understandings of gender equity informed only by data on admission, progression and completions rates. Drawing on a critical qualitative inquiry approach, we analyse and interpret data drawn from focus group discussions with female students and academic women in two public universities in Ethiopia. Individual accounts and shared experiences of women in HE revealed that despite affirmative action policies that slightly benefit females at entry point, gender inequality persists in qualitative forms. Prejudice against women and sexual violence are highlighted as key expressions of qualitative gender inequalities in the two universities. It is argued that HE institutions in Ethiopia are male-dominated, hierarchical and hostile to women. Furthermore, taken-for-granted gender assumptions and beliefs at institutional, social relational and individual levels operate to make women conform to structures of disadvantage and in effect sustain the repressive gender relations

In pursuit of the African PhD: A critical survey of emergent policy issues in select sub-Saharan African nations, Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa

After decades of decline, African higher education is now arguably in a new era of revival. With the prevalence of knowledge economy discourse, national governments in Africa and their development partners have increasingly aligned higher education with poverty reduction plans and strategies. Research capacity has become a critical development issue; and widening participation to doctoral education is seen as an instrument for enhancing this capacity. Against this backdrop, this paper presents a review of emerging initiatives and policies that have some bearing on the PhD in select sub-Saharan African nations, namely Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa. The findings show a shared optimism about the economic value of higher education, and explicate divergences and convergences in the framing of problems and policy responses related to doctoral education across the three nations. In the conclusion we reflect on challenges and policy omissions in the pursuit of the African PhD

Designing Strategies to Support a Transformation of Agriculture in Ethiopia

The paper consists of three parts. The first part of the paper is a review of agricultural performance in Ethiopia over the past forty years. The second part diagnoses agricultural system performance and food security problems in Ethiopia and discusses some tentative practical strategies for promoting an agricultural transformation, and with it, increased productivity, income growth, and food security over the long run. The third part describes the general approach to promoting an agricultural transformation and food security for Ethiopia. It is conceptual and procedural. It draws from the lessons of economic history and theory applied to the current situation in Ethiopia.food security, food policy, Ethiopia, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Q18,

PhD crisis discourse: a critical approach to the framing of the problem and some Australian 'solutions'

A feature of HE reform discourse is the tendency to construct the rationale for reform in terms of averting calamity and risk. We refer to this risk talk as 'crisis discourse'. This study examines the formulation of PhD crisis discourse internationally and in Australia. We find that a key feature of PhD crisis discourse is that universities are producing too many graduates for too few academic jobs; and graduates lack skills that enable them to be productive in jobs outside academia. In Australia, the discourse has shifted from one dominated by efficiency concerns from the late 1990s to the present focus on graduate skills and employability. The policy solution to the efficiency crisis in the Australian PhD resulted in system-wide changes in research training funding focused on increased efficiency. The current unemployability discourse has as yet prompted isolated institutional responses, the introduction of new PhD programs or re-badging existing offerings as pro-skills development offerings. Following an examination of three Australian institutional responses, we conclude that the crisis discourse signals tensions surrounding the PhD: should achievement in doctoral education be measured by outcomes in intellectual excellence or the responsiveness of qualification to the current needs and priorities of society