Myths and realities: Casual employment and postgraduate study

In late 1995 and early 1996, the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), in conjunction with the National Tertiary Education Union, conducted a pilot survey of casually-employed postgraduate students at three Australian universities. The survey was distributed through postgraduate associations, faculties and departments. The survey focused on the experiences of postgraduate students in casual or part-time employment, looking specifically at issues such as the impact of employment upon study, conditions of employment, and employee satisfaction. The survey will be distributed to a wider target group upon collation of the preliminary results.

The survey forms will seek answers to a number of questions and should shed light on the actual conditions under which postgraduates undertake their study. For instance, do employment conditions have a negative impact on the studies of research students? Is there a potential for an individual's dual roles of staff and student to inflect upon each other, to the occasional detriment of both? Would the position of casually-employed postgraduate students be considerably helped by the development of national policy guidelines which would regulate employment conditions and practices?

Preliminary results of the survey are yet to be collated, but there are a number of issues for consideration. How many postgraduate students work within their departments? Are the standards of facilities for casually-employed postgraduates adequate? What sort of support can these students expect from their supervisors? Does casual employment at the postgraduate level necessarily lead to permanent or contract employment following completion? Finally, and most importantly, are postgraduates as happy to be casually-employed during their candidature as myth would have it, and do they find the experience of undertaking research positive or negative?