IP: National Doctoral Program Survey results

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Reply-To: <geoffd () speakeasy org>
> From: "Geoff Davis" <geoffd () speakeasy org>
> To: <farber () cis upenn edu>
>
> Dear Prof. Farber,
>
> I think you and the readers of Interesting People will find this study
> suitably interesting.  A student group and I put together a survey that
> asked graduate students to evaluate their programs' educational
> practices.  Over 32,000 responded, and we've compiled report cards on
> 1300+ departments.  The results are at http://survey.nagps.org
>
> I'd love to hear what you think!
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Geoff Davis
> http://www.geoffdavis.net
>
>
> 32,000 GRADUATE STUDENTS GRADE THEIR DOCTORAL PROGRAMS :
> POOR REPORT CARDS IN CAREER GUIDANCE, PREPARATION FOR TEACHING
>
> (WASHINGTON, D.C.) Tables were turned this week as 32,000 graduate
> students and recent Ph.D.'s graded doctoral programs in a groundbreaking
> online survey conducted by the National Association of
> Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS). Students graded their doctoral
> programs' implementation of educational practices recommended by the
> National Academy of Sciences, the Association of American Universities,
> and other educational leaders. Report cards for more than 1300 doctoral
> programs, generated from the survey results, are available online at
> http://survey.nagps.org/ .
>
> "Graduate students often report feeling overwhelmed by the process of
> higher education and helpless to change things," said NAGPS President
> Kimberly Suedkamp Wells, one of the survey authors and a doctoral
> student at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "Our survey is important
> because it provides students with the opportunity to feel like they can
> actually make a difference in their educational experience."
>
> Students are most satisfied in doctoral programs where they have the
> freedom to pursue a broad range of career options, to make informed
> choices about their own education, and to have those choices respected.
> While 81% of students reported satisfaction with their programs overall,
> only 45% are satisfied with their preparation for teaching and 38% with
> career services. According to Adam Fagen, survey author and a doctoral
> student at Harvard University, "even programs that excel at research may
> get an incomplete when it comes to preparing students for non-research
> aspects of their careers."
>
> "It's a real problem when Ph.D.'s can't function outside the
> university," said survey author Geoff Davis, a Dartmouth math professor
> turned software developer. "Getting science and engineering Ph.D.'s into
> industry is the best way to get new research and ideas out of the lab
> and into the world." While 89% of survey respondents believed their
> doctoral programs are doing a good job of preparing them for academic
> careers, only 52% felt prepared for nonacademic careers.
>
> A particular area of concern is the lack of information about the career
> outcomes of former students. Only 30% of respondents reported receiving
> information on graduation rates for their programs during the
> application process, and only 35% received information on job placements
> for recent program graduates.
>
> Women and underrepresented minority students were less satisfied with
> their experiences than their counterparts. Twenty-eight percent of women
> and 40% of minority students said that their programs did not provide
> supportive environments for members of underrepresented groups. "If the
> climate of doctoral programs is not supportive, all the recruiting in
> the world is not going to make a difference," said Kimberly Suedkamp
> Wells.
>
> The survey results highlight model doctoral programs, and they suggest
> strategies that faculty and administrators can use to improve students'
> educational experiences. Involving graduate students in decisions that
> affect their education, providing them with more information about
> program outcomes, and providing greater curricular breadth in graduate
> training were all found to increase student satisfaction. Most of these
> strategies are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement.
>
> NAGPS is an advocacy organization representing 900,000 graduate and
> professional students across 200 campuses in the U.S. More information
> on NAGPS can be found at www.nagps.org. The online survey was funded by
> a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
>
> ###


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