What if We Made Fewer Ph.D.'s?

Autor/in	Cassuto, Leonard
Titel	What if We Made Fewer Ph.D.'s?
Quelle	In: Chronicle of Higher Education, (2012) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0009-5982
Schlagwörter	Doctoral Programs; Program Termination; Educational Change; College Admission; Graduate Study + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Doktorandenprogramm; Bildungsreform; Hochschulzugang; Hochschulzulassung; Zulassung; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium
Abstract	Whenever a discussion opens about nonacademic employment for Ph.D.s, it is not long before someone suggests reducing graduate-school admissions. "The market for full-time scholars has fallen off a cliff lately," this argument goes, "so why not just train fewer of them?" The strategy to reduce the number of Ph.D. students recurs in those conversations because it' i sensible. When there is insufficient demand for professors in the marketplace, the simplest response is to decrease supply. But is that the only or best response? Graduate enrollments are indeed dropping. Doctoral programs are admitting fewer students over all, with the most notable declines occurring in the biggest programs, and in the arts and humanities fields. It is too early to track the effects of those cuts, but they will certainly continue as programs seek to "right size." But what exactly is the "right" size? If the goal of graduate programs is to produce only enough Ph.D.s to fill the hiring needs of colleges and universities, then that number is bound to be pretty small. It is going to be so small, in fact, that it will cause drastic changes in the structure of graduate education. But the real bottom line here is not a tiny class of entering doctoral students. If professors decided to confer only enough Ph.D.s to fill vacant professorial positions, the more credible outcome is that lots of doctoral programs would go under. Some observers urge faculty members to take the initiative and start closing Ph.D. programs because of the dismal job market. In this article, the author discusses what would happen if most Ph.D. programs in the United States did close. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Chronicle of Higher Education. 1255 23rd Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 800-728-2803; Tel: 202-466-1000; Fax: 202-452-1033; e-mail: circulation@chronicle.com; Web site: http://chronicle.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10