CHENNAI: In a major step towards understanding the academic experiences and challenges faced by PhD scholars, the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE) has rolled out a state-wide survey among the research scholars.
A comprehensive questionnaire containing 29 questions is being sent out to over 45,000 research scholars across 13 state universities functioning under the higher education department. The questionnaire aims to gather detailed information from PhD candidates about their research journey from admission to thesis submission.
Divided into six key sections, the questionnaire covers critical areas such as the admission process, coursework, supervisor guidance, institutional support, financial aid and thesis progress.
Earlier this year, TANSCHE had found from data submitted by the 13 state universities that only 29.4% of the total PhD students were able to complete the course within five years.
“The questionnaire has been designed in such a way that it will provide a complete insight into the struggles of PhD scholars. We are sending the questionnaire directly to the individual email ids of the scholars. We have not involved the varsities in any way in this as we don’t want them to influence the scholars in any way,” said MP Vijayakumar, TANSCHE vice chairman.
“Along with answering the questionnaire, the scholars can elaborate about their problems of any kind to us. We will examine their complaints and initiate action without disclosing their identity. I urge the PhD scholars to fill it to help us understand their problems better,” added Vijaykumar.
He said, “This is not just data collection. It’s about identifying and addressing roadblocks that delay research, demotivate scholars, and dilute academic contributions’ quality.”
TANSCHE officials said the initiative marks a major move towards evaluating and improving the PhD research environment in TN, by identifying gaps and challenges that need attention at both institutional and policy levels.
In the first section, the questionnaire asks scholars to rate the ease of admission, and whether they had access to resources like supervisor profiles and equipment details before applying. The second addresses coursework quality; the third focuses on the role of the supervisor and research progress; the fourth deals with institutional support; the fifth section looks into the financial support system, and finally the sixth section is targeted at scholars who have crossed three years or more to understand reasons for delay. It also asks whether scholars are expected to personally pay foreign examiners, raising questions about transparency in the evaluation process.