The research training experiences of doctoral students linked to Australian Cooperative Research Centres

This paper reports on the research training experiences of Australian doctoral students working in or funded by Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs), notes how their levels of satisfaction compare with those of their counterparts in regular university science and technology disciplines and assesses to what extent the CRC program is achieving its hopes with respect to PhD training. Findings are based on data from a survey of all enrolled PhD students in two research-intensive universities in Australia, together with supplementary data from student and supervisor interviews. Findings indicate that in the main, CRC-related PhD students fare well compared with their counterparts in regular university departments and that on a number of indicators CRC-related students recorded higher levels of satisfaction with their course experience. This situation suggests that CRCs are playing a significant and worthwhile role in research training in Australia.