Training PhD students to bridge the Academia–Industry gap

It is now well understood that the career paths of PhD students are diverse and not all PhD graduates strive for a career in academia1. Even if the opposite were true, the number of PhD graduates greatly exceeds the number of currently available and projected academic positions2. It is clear that the PhD as it is traditionally understood has to evolve. With the changing outcomes of the PhD has come the requirement to provide students with training that will equip them with marketable skills vital for success in real-life workplaces, extending them beyond their discipline-specific research and knowledge with skills applicable to industry, academia, government, the community and possibly entrepreneurial activities. This article describes a training module ‘From Project to Product’, which has been developed at Monash University to engage students with industry and introduce them to career pathways outside of academia.