A third of PhD students are unhappy with the careers advice offered by their supervisors as more consider jobs outside academic research, a new report has found.
Highlighting how the number of research positions has failed to keep pace with the growth in PhD students in the UK, the study, from the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), argues that universities must do more to support their students into a range of careers.
Fresh analysis of a survey of PhD students conducted by Nature shows that 46 per cent still name academia as their first-choice sector. But 31 per cent said they wanted to work in industry, with the rest split across non-profits, government and medical sectors.
Despite this, many respondents said their supervisors did not support them to consider careers beyond academia.
Thirty-five per cent felt their supervisors did not make time for frank conversations about their future careers and only 27 per cent thought their supervisors had useful advice for careers in other sectors.
