§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps are being taken by the Government to encourage PhD students into university research departments.
Mr. JacksonApproximately 60 per cent. of full-time PhD students are supported from Government sources,224W primarily through grant in aid from the Department of Education and Science to the research councils and the British Academy. Three thousand nine hundred and ninety six new research studentships were awarded by these bodies in 1989, an increase of 134 over 1988. The postgraduate award-making bodies are better placed than Government to assess national needs for PhDs and to determine the optimum distribution of these studentships between different departments and subjects.