Financial Support for Doctoral Students: Practices’ typologies and Perspectives

. Insufficient financial well-being of doctoral students is a crucial problem in doctoral education worldwide. This can result in a significant decrease in the effectiveness of doctoral programs and an increase in dropout rates. This problem is especially relevant for Russia because, on one hand, our country has extremely low completion rates. However, most doctoral students studying full-time are forced to pay work. A significant share of these students work outside the academy, and their work is not related to their dissertation research. Such work significantly distracts them from academic activities during their doctoral studies. To solve this problem, various financial support instruments for doctoral students are being developed and implemented by governments and universities. However, despite the widespread use of such instruments worldwide, no studies have attempted to systematize these instruments of financial support. The lack of such systematization limits opportunities for the implementation and replication of effective financial instruments in different national contexts. This study aims to construct the author’s typology of existing financial instruments based on a systematic review of publications dedicated to the effectiveness of financial instruments. Papers published between 1980 and 2024 were selected for review. Three main types of financial instruments were identified: 1) available to all doctoral students; 2) available to outstanding doctoral students and provided on a competitive basis; and 3) available to doctoral students from vulnerable social groups. The advantages and disadvantages of each type of instrument, their applicability to the Russian context, and the limitations of research on the effectiveness of financial support and directions for future research are discussed in the final part of the article.

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