AAU urges review of graduate education
Archived article from Dec 4, 1998
By Douglas Frank
The Association of American Universities (AAU) issued a report Nov. 11 encouraging research universities to reexamine the size, scope and performance of their graduate-education programs.
This message was reported to the Board of Governors Nov. 13 by President Francis L. Lawrence, who served on the AAU's Committee on Graduate Education, which developed the report, and who chaired the Subcommittee on Institutional Policies Governing Graduate Education.
Two key sections of the report -- Institutional Responsibilities for Graduate Education and the Recommendations for Best Practices -- were the work of Lawrence's subcommittee.
The committee was headed by William H. Danforth, chair of the board of Washington University in St. Louis, and composed of presidents, chief academic officers and graduate deans from 14 AAU universities. AAU represents 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada.
While the AAU believes that "graduate education in the United States is widely recognized as the best in the world," Lawrence said, "it is criticized for overproduction of Ph.D.s, narrow training, an emphasis on research over teaching and insufficient mentoring of students.
"It is important that the institutions primarily responsible for graduate education lead the efforts to improve it," he said.
The report concentrates on doctorate education because that is the focus of national debate on graduate education, he added.
Lawrence said the committee report emphasizes the following institutional perspectives:
-- The overriding purpose of graduate education must be the education of graduate students. Student interests should not become subsidiary to conflicting institutional or faculty interests.
--Student interests should also be paramount in designing graduate curricula that prepare graduate students for a broad array of careers and in building a diverse student body.
--Not enough is known about Ph.D. placement and employment. Universities need to track the placement of their doctoral students at least to their first professional employment.
--Institutions also should maintain program-performance and student-evaluation information for both internal and external evaluations.
--Foreign students who remain in the United States enrich the nation's talent pool.
The committee's guidelines for best practices include the following:
--The graduate curriculum should equip students with the knowledge and skills needed for a broad array of postdoctoral careers.
--Departmental descriptions of goals and expect-ations for graduate programs should be periodically compared against departmental performance data.
--All admitted students should be given accurate information about the costs they will incur and realistic assessments of future prospects for financial support.
--Institutions should maintain data on Ph.D. completion rates, time to degree and placement in first professional employment and provide it to all student applicants.
The report is available on the AAU Web site at
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