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Four out of Britain’s five research councils are failing to meet the
government’s target for 85 per cent of postgraduate students to complete
their PhDs within five years. While 91 per cent of students sponsored by
the Agricultural and Food Research Council complete their PhDs in this time,
only 64 per cent of the Economic and Social Research Council’s students
manage the same. At the Science and Engineering Research Council, which
funds four out of every five PhDs, only 78 per cent completed in time.