The pay rise for PhD students agreed in January has failed to materialise in some departments, despite them having a full six months to get organised.
Those in Maths seem particularly hard done by, as they were being short-changed by as much as £2,000 a year by their department, having one of the worst levels of postgraduate pay in the college. Computing - which was underpaying by £1,100, a full month's stipend - has also failed to deliver the increase, but promises that the relevant paperwork will be completed this month.
Civil Engineering and Physics appear to be more organised, with their students receiving the full £14,300 stipulated by the EPSRC.
Live! has no data from other departments at the moment, but we are keen to hear from any postgraduate researchers with information. The lack of a pay rise comes at a particularly bad time for the union to respond, with no GSA chair to co-ordinate matters, the ICU President away on jury service and the new Deputy President (Education & Welfare) at NUS training for the rest of the week.
The increase was agreed after lobbying from ICU at the start of 2007, when it became apparent that PhD stipends in many departments fell short of the amounts recommended by the research councils. The EPSRC recommends £14,300 per year, however not all of this money was reaching students - it transpired that many departments were offering less money per person, but bringing in more students. The pay increase was not back-dated, meaning many students have effectively had thousands of pounds taken from their pockets by College.
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