WORKSHOP LEADER
Diana Bartelli Carlin
RAPPORTEUR
Rolf Hoffmann,
Fulbright Commission Germany
The workshop series International Dialogue on Education Berlin is a joint initiative of the British Council Germany, the German Academic Exchange Service, the German-American Fulbright Commission, the Australian Group of Eight and the Canadian Bureau for International Education in Berlin.
Through the contributions of international participants the series aims to enrich the debate on science, research and higher education policy in Germany, to place German perspectives in a global context and to learn from positive examples from other countries.
Workshop 1 - USA
U.S. Graduate Education: Multiple Approaches and a Changing Landscape
Of the 2707 colleges and universities in the United States that offer bachelor's degrees, approximately 800 also offer master's degrees and 700 offer doctoral degrees. Some institutions offer degrees in one or two fields such as education or business, and others offer hundreds across STEM, social science, humanities, and professional disciplines. The number of master's degrees awarded annually is around 560,000 and the number of doctorates is 60,000. Nearly 500 U.S. universities belong to the Council of Graduate Schools (which also includes Canadian members). The Council is the only organization that is devoted solely to issues of graduate education and best practice development and dissemination.
Within a university, graduate programs are usually overseen by a graduate school or division of graduate studies. Typically a faculty graduate council promulgates policies and graduate deans administer them, but deans often have a significant impact on raising consciousness of policy needs and developing programs to support a university's graduate mission. Graduate schools are charged with overall quality assurance through program approval and program review systems. Some graduate schools administer funds for teaching assistantships and award fellowships or other financial support. Within the STEM disciplines the majority of full-time students are supported through research grants or fellowships. In the humanities and social sciences the majority serve as teaching assistants. Most professional degree students are self-funded and often receive student loans. Law degrees are considered first professional degrees since there are no undergraduate law majors. Medical degrees do not fall under the graduate school purview.
Over the past ten years significant changes have occurred in graduate education in the U.S. This workshop will examine the current state of U.S. graduate education with an emphasis on changing trends including professional development programs, greater emphasis on ethics education, expansion of master's degree programs in the sciences to support workforce needs, attention to retention and time to degree issues, and internationalization of graduate programs.
