A petition released last week by staff and students across all three South Australian universities said the stipend for PhD students had remained relatively stagnant for years and was “below minimum wage”.

Known internally at universities as Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students, a stipend is available to PhD students and masters students, with the petition to raise it pointing to rising costs of living.

“Despite South Australia recording one of the highest inflation rates in the country, none of the South Australian universities have, to date, committed to raising the stipend,” the petition read.

“This undervalues the important work being done by HDRs and disproportionately affects low income earners.

“We as students, staff, and alumni in the South Australian higher education sector, ask that the University of Adelaide, University of South Australia and Flinders University commit to matching the UNSW funding.”

The petition was begun after interstate universities made commitments to raise their stipends.

The Australian National University recently raised its to $34,000, the University of Sydney to $35,500 and the University of New South Wales to $35,000 in 2023 and to $37,684 in 2024.

After inquiries by InDaily, The University of Adelaide announced that its PhD scholarship funding would rise from $29,863 to $32,500 per annum from next year.

Flinders University said its stipend would increase to a minimum of $33,000 per annum in 2023 – up from $28,854.

The University of South Australia made no commitment to lifting stipends for all students.

“We review our stipends regularly and this year have increased the stipend for Aboriginal students to the maximum rate. This is in line with the University of South Australia’s commitment to Aboriginal Peoples,” the statement read.

Second-year University of Adelaide Mathematics PhD student Sean McGowan said the increases were a move in the right direction.

“The increase will allow Adelaide students to live a bit more comfortably, – I know there have been people who have been struggling financially,” he said.

“But (UniSA) hasn’t announced anything and Adelaide hasn’t given a plan for an increase in the future like UNSW has.

“For me personally, the increase will give me a bit more freedom to do research without having to rely on tutoring and marking pay.”

McGowan said increasing resources for PhD students made sense, particularly when the universities of Adelaide and South Australia were now considering a merger.

“They want it to be a top 100 University and there’s ideas of trying to create South Australia a big academic state,” he said.

“But at the same time, there’s not enough priority on PhD students in South Australia right now because they haven’t raised the stipend.

“Surely we should be paying PhD students because we want good PhD students.”

Second-year University of Adelaide PhD student Sophie Heath said undertaking a PhD rather than seeking industry work was a difficult decision.

“Whilst the change is very much welcome, the overall increase isn’t really enough, I’ll still be taking on the same amount of hours marking and teaching,” Heath said.

“It equates to about $70 a week which of course is welcome, but without money going into super, there is still a loss in the long run, I think the cost of living has gone up more than $70 lately.”