A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W PhDs in Australia, from the beginning - A brief statistical history of the Australian PhD

Oct 15, 2026

A research note traces the emergence and growth of the Australian PhD, explaining how doctoral training shifted from studying primarily in Britain and the USA to the development of local PhD awards. Using official statistical sources from 1948 onward, the study enumerates PhDs by field, university, gender, and citizenship, highlighting major disciplinary changes over time. It also summarizes scholarly debates about the first PhD awarded, comparing claims by different researchers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction and background

Purpose and statistical sources

Prior research on PhD numbers

Discipline trends over time

Policy and institutional drivers

A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W PhDs in Australia, from the beginning Ian R Dobson Monash University, Australia The Australian PhD is a relatively recent phenomenon, the first three being awarded in1948 . Before that, most Australian scholars typically went to Britain (predominantly) or the USA to undertake their doctoral studies. The aim of this research note is to provide a brief statistical history of the Australian PhD, noting changes over time between study fields, universities, genders and citizenship groups. Introduction and background The life of the Australian PhD has been a relatively short one, with Australian institutions first granting PhDs in 1948 (CBCS, 1952) . Collation of official statistical sources undertaken to prepare this paper reveals that by 2009, more than 94,000 PhDs had been awarded. The PhD isone of the three research degrees offered by Australian universities, the other two being the masters by research and the higher doctorate. The purpose of this paper is to provide an enumeration the number of PhDs awarded by Australian universities, augmented by additional information available in official statistics.These official statistics come from the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics (CBCS) (for data from 1948 to 1972), its successor, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1973 to 1982), the Commonwealth Tertiary Education Commission (CTEC) (1976–1986), and the Commonwealth government’s ‘education’ ministry (in its various guises,1987 to the present).The overlapping dates are a reflection of the fact that more than one source was available in some years. Finding the sources of the statistics used in this paper was the principal challenge. A list of the sources is attached as Appendix 1. Few studies have reported on the number of Australian PhDs awarded, but many reports and studies have reported on PhD graduations for particular periods. However, at least two scholarly studies on the Australian PhD 94 PhDs in Australia, from the beginning, Ian R Dobson have had a statistical slant. A paper by Evans, Macauley, Pearson and Tregenza (2003) reported on Australian PhDs by‘reviewing the evidence from the bibliographic data held in library catalogues of PhDs in each Australian university’(p. 1).The other major source is a PhD thesis from the University of Adelaide, the principal aim of which was to describe the history of postgraduate education inAustralia from 1851 to 1993 (Dale, 1997).The latter provides a detailed history of the development of the PhD and other postgraduate education right from the founding of Australia’s first universities in the 1850s. It is interesting that these works confidently cite different PhDs as being the first awarded in Australia. Evans et al. (2003) state that the first was awarded by the University of Melbourne toa Joyce Stone, for her work entitled ‘Virus haemagglutination: a review of the literature’. However, Dale says ‘The first PhD at Melbourne [University](and in Australia) was an arts PhD awarded to Erica Wolff (in French)’(Dale, 1997, p. 114).The second PhD, says Dale, was in science, awarded to Rupert Myers. CBCS statistics report that all of the PhDs awarded in 1948 were in arts (CBCS, 1952) . In looking to describe the brief history of the Australian PhD, it is reasonable to suggest that the main push came from‘science’, and in the early years of the award in Australia, well over half were in science. After the first 20 years, science PhDs comprised 60 per cent of all PhDs awarded. Over time, other disciplines/fields also started to award PhDs and the proportion that were in science vol. 54, no. 1, 2012 A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W gradually declined. By 2009, fewer than 30 per cent were in science.The importance of science at the advent of the Australian PhD is further affirmed in an Australian ViceChancellors’Committee publication:‘The introduction of PhD courses in Au

FAQs

What time period does the paper cover for Australian PhD awards?

It follows the development from the first Australian PhDs awarded in 1948 through later official statistics, including data reported up to 2009.

Which official sources does the paper use for its statistics?

The paper draws on CBCS for 1948–1972, ABS for 1973–1982, CTEC for 1976–1986, and the Commonwealth government education ministry for 1987 to the present.

How does the paper describe changes in PhDs awarded in science over time?

It reports that science PhDs formed well over half in the early years, reached 60% after the first 20 years, and then declined gradually so that by 2009 fewer than 30% were in science.

Oct 15, 2026

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