PhD -- It is what you do for work

Recently I have read news that the Japanese government will again reduce the stipend of international graduate students under the scholarship of the Ministry of Education (MEXT).

So, as expected, a lot of people start to complain about it, saying they can´t live anymore, they are getting screwed, etc. And then, also as expected, a lot of OTHER people start to complain about the complaints, saying that the complainers should be happy for being given any money at all, that they are just guests, among other things.

This amount of missing the point, it hurts me so much.

Graduate students often have this terrible misconception that because they are ¨students¨, they are not working. This sometimes shows as an inferiority complex, where they think that what they do is not work; that any money they receive is not earned; that they should hurry up and get a ¨real job¨. No, the academic career is as real a job as any other, even though is not seen as one. You, as a PhD student, is no less a worker than someone who just joined a company. Your research will be used by your advisor to justify the grants that he receives, and his standing inside the university and funding agencies. You are working, results are expected of you, and you are being paid for those results. That stipend is your earned salary.

Of course, as in many things, there is another face to this coin. I´ve seen people use the ¨I´m just a student¨ mentality to avoid responsibility. These people will act as if they were on extended paid vacations. For them, the same thing applies: Your stipend is your salary, and you are expected to work for it. A PhD diploma and a thesis is nice, but the body of your work/contacts/classes/research activities is what is really being expected of you.

Back to the fact of the scholarship reduction itself, I think it is really unfortunate. Yes, it is possible to live in Japan, even in Tokyo, with the new current scholarship. But this current value means that you will earn almost as much money flipping burgers in Mac Donalds in Japan (or, as is more often the case, making sandwiches in some bento factory), than you will performing research. Going to Japan for a PhD is not exactly an easy decision to make (language barrier, social barrier, distance from family and friends), and the high scholarship should reflect the incentives for taking this decision.

Of course, Japan is not exactly in an economic golden age at the moment, but I think it would give much more bang to the buck if they reduced the number of scholarships, and improved the selection process.

Finally cutting the scholarship for those who are already mid-way through their courses is just a dickish move any way you see it.