muttaQin

“Hi there…,  another academicals slave.”  These cynical words are shouted by a PhD student, a friend of mine, when we meet each other. He is a very senior Australian, more than 60 years old. I and my Chinese friend always laugh hearing that “sarcastic” joke. Although it is just a joke, I think it reflects actual protest behind the words.

In Australian context, PhD students are doubting about government ability to provide job that suitable for Ph.D graduates. The amounts of scholarships are also questioned because they got scholarship, according to them, in relatively low. In fact, monthly stipend from Australian government for Australian students is twice times more than that is provided for non Australian. Let’s say Ausaid scholarship gives about $20 thousand AUD per non Australian students per year; its mean Australian students can receive about $40 thousand AUD a year. Nevertheless, they are still protesting because, as a comparison, a low level air conditioning technician can earn more than $50 thousand AUD a year! They are questioning why the government do not appreciate PhD students’ brain because they actually also work, developing new theories and inventories.

Let’s do another comparison and take a glance looking at scholarship from other institutions. A Brunei student told me that they got about $6 thousand AUD a month. Saudis students got scholarship including family allowance that I guess no less than $10 thousand AUD a month. A friend of mine who is studying in Uni of Wollongong reporten to me that Indonesian army who studying there receive $3,000.00 AUD a month. Comparing to other scholarships, then, who are the real ‘academicals slave’? Are I and many friends of mine who got only $1.5 thousands AUD a month, which is frequently coming late, are the real and low level of ‘academicals slave’?

For me, academicals slavery is not based on how much stipend we get every month, but it is based on how free we are to develop theory and knowledge in our project. We are not academics slave as along as we can access information we want freely. We are not academicals slave as long as we can determine our own intellectual trajectories. Otherwise, no matter how much one earns monthly stipend but his/her intellectual vision are banned and restricted by certain body, he or she is the real ‘academicals slave’.

No related posts.