Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers

REPORT BRIEF
Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers

The graduate education of scientists and engineers -- an activity of growing importance in an increasingly technological world -- must change to reflect developments in science, engineering, the economy, and the broader society. With more than half of new PhDs going to work in nonacademic settings, graduate education needs to impart a broader range of skills. At the same time, the PhD should retain the features, including an original research experience, that have made it a world model.

The result of these changes, writes the Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy in its report Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers, would be a new kind of PhD, one that emphasizes adaptability and versatility as well as technical proficiency. COSEPUP, a joint committee of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine, recommends that graduate programs provide a broader exposure to experiences desired by both academic and nonacademic employers. Faculty and institutions also should offer better career information and guidance to students so that they can make well-informed decisions in planning their academic and professional careers. Graduate education should prepare students for an increasingly interdisciplinary, collaborative, and global job market and should not be viewed only as a byproduct of immersion in an intensive research experience. The primary objective of graduate education should be the education of students.

The changing job market. Scientists and engineers with PhDs and other advanced degrees play a central and growing role in American industrial and commercial life. They contribute directly to the national goals of technological, economic, and cultural development -- not only as researchers and educators but in a wide variety of other professional roles. And as the country responds to expanded economic competition, urgent public health needs, environmental degradation, new national security challenges, and other pressing issues, widening variety of professions and organizations are hiring the approximately 25,000 people who receive a PhD each year (up from about 18,000 a decade ago).

But a mismatch between the numbers of new PhDs and traditional research-oriented jobs in academia has led to considerable frustration and disappointment among young scientists and engineers. Fewer than one third of those who received PhDs in science and engineering in 1983-86 were in tenure track positions or had tenure in 1991. New PhDs are spending more time as postdoctoral fellows while they wait for permanent jobs to become available. Downsizing and restructuring in industry and government also have reduced the number of jobs focused on basic research in those sectors.

Despite the difficulties finding jobs in basic research, hiring in other areas has been vigorous enough to keep the overall unemployment level of PhDs relatively low. An increasing number of doctorate recipients are doing applied research, development, and management in industry, working in government or nonprofit institutions, or teaching in elementary and secondary schools.

A new PhD. COSEPUP found a common theme in its examination of the job market for PhDs. Many future job opportunities will favor students with a greater breadth of academic and career skills than graduate students typically acquire today. The committee therefore recommended a new model of PhD education that incorporates the following changes:

• More versatility. Graduate programs, especially at the departmental level, should provide options that allow students to gain a wider variety of academic and career skills. Students who intend to seek a career in basic research should have a grounding in the broad fundamentals of their fields and should have some personal familiarity with several subfields. In addition, experiences that supply career skills beyond those gained in the classroom and laboratory, such as off-campus internships, could make graduates more effective in business, government, and academia at all levels. Many institutions have been experimenting with such innovations, providing a rich array of reproducible models.

  Employers in all sectors value the requirement for original research that is the hallmark of the PhD. Hybrid degrees that do not involve such research have not been successful in the past. But a student interested in working in nontraditional fields should have the option to design a dissertation that meets high standards for originality but is more flexible in terms of time required, subject matter treated, and approach taken.

• Better career information and guidance. The lack of accurate, timely, and accessible data on employment trends, careers, and sources of student support is a serious flaw in the graduate education system. A national database that covers such issues as financial aid, time to degree, and placement rates -- including information gathered and disseminated through the Internet -- could help students and their advisers make informed decisions about professional careers.

• Less time to degree. The median number of years between receipt of a bachelors degree and a PhD in science and engineering has risen to more than eight years, an increase of about 2 years since 1960. The reasons for this increase are largely unknown, but some of it may be a result of students working as highly specialized research assistants or as teaching assistants in ways that do not directly contribute to their education. Each institution should set its own standards for time to degree and enforce them.

  

• Education/training grants. The heavy reliance on research assistantships for graduate student support has tended to make the needs of research projects rather than the students' educational needs paramount. Education/training grants awarded competitively to institutions and departments that emphasize adaptability and breadth could help develop and sustain locally developed programs.

  COSEPUP saw no reason to recommend limits on enrollments or on the number of foreign students in graduate programs. Greater flexibility and more information in graduate programs will enhance the system's ability to mesh with the job market. And these changes, combined with better precollege education, will attract more American students to graduate education -- particularly women and minorities, who remain seriously underrepresented in some fields of science and engineering.

A shift in perspective. In the past, graduates schools typically have seen their mission as producing the next generation of academic researchers. But scientists and engineers now contribute to national needs in many other ways. To contribute most effectively to the need for highly trained scientists and engineers, graduate schools need to review their missions and consider new approaches. If they do so, graduate education could play an even more important role in society than it has played in the past.

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10 Facts & Figures about Science and Engineering Graduate Education in the United States

1. How many institutions offer graduate degrees in science and engineering?
More than 600 public and private institutions offer master's or doctoral degrees in science and engineering fields.

2. How many graduate degrees in science and engineering are granted each year?
Approximately 80,000 master's and 25,000 doctoral degrees in science and engineering were awarded in 1993. This compares with 72,000 master's and 19,000 doctoral degrees awarded in 1986.

3. How many people employed in the US workforce have doctoral degrees in science and engineering?
The number of people who have doctoral degrees in science and engineering from US universities and who work in this country was 437,000 in 1991.

4. What is the primary work activity of scientists and engineers with doctoral degrees?
In 1991, 36% were working in research and development (14% in basic research, 16.4% in applied research, 5.6% in development work), 15.6% were employed in management and administration, 22.7% in teaching, 9.1% in professional services, with the remaining 16.6% in a variety of other activities.

5. Where are scientists and engineers with PhDs employed?
In 1991, approximately 36% were employed in business/industry, 45% in 4-year colleges and universities, 6% in federal government (civilian), 2% in state/local governments, 3% in hospitals/clinics, 4% in other nonprofits, and the remainder in other activities. As of 1991, 31% of those who received PhDs in 1983-1986 had tenure or were in tenure-track positions in academic institutions.

Over time, the percentage going into academe has fallen steadily (from 57% in 1973 to 45% in 1991), and the percentage of those working in business/industry has increased (from 24% in 1973 to 36% in 1991).

6. What is the unemployment rate for scientists and engineers with PhDs?
The employment picture for scientists and engineers, especially for recent graduates, is not clear, partly because the pertinent national surveys of new and recent PhD recipients lag by several years. The picture is complicated by wide differences among fields, some of which are shrinking as others grow.

Overall, the 1993 unemployment rate of 1.6% for all scientists and engineers with PhDs and 2% for recent recipients of science and engineering PhDs compares favorably with the overall unemployment rate of approximately 6% or more, the rate of 2.6% among general professional occupations, and the rate of 3% among those with at least a college degree.

Although relatively low, the level of unemployment among science and engineering PhDs has increased over time (from 0.8% in 1985 to 1.6% in 1993 for all; from 1.5% in 1985 to 2% in 1993 for those 1-2 years after receiving their PhDs).

At the same time, however, recent surveys by new graduates looking for jobs in the first few months after earning their PhDs have reached double digits in some fields, much higher than in the 1980s, indicating that it is taking longer to find an initial position.

7. Is science and engineering graduate school enrollment increasing or decreasing?
Growth in the total science and engineering graduate-student population has averaged about 2.5% per year since 1982. Most of the net growth in recent years was due to an increased number of foreign students with temporary student visas. This group received 32% of the doctorates in 1992 (up from 19% in 1982). Historically, about half of these students leave the US after receiving their degree or after serving a postdoctoral appointment.

The total number of women in graduate schools rose by about 3% per year compared with about 1% for men. In 1992, women received 28.5% of the science and engineering doctorates, compared with 23.7% in 1982. The percentage of science and engineering doctorates awarded to underrepresented minorities rose from 4.1% in 1982 to 5.5% in 1992.

8. How long does it take to attain a graduate science and engineering degree?
The median number of years between receipt of the bachelor's degree and a doctorate in science and engineering has increased from 7.0 years during the 1960s to 8.7 years for those who received doctorates in 1991. Graduate students in the physical sciences have shorter-than-average overall completion times -- about 7 years -- and social scientists have longer than average completion times -- about 11 years. The median time registered in doctorate programs of 6.7 years is shorter than total time to degree because many graduate students take some time between college and graduate school to work, and some take time off during graduate school.

9. How are full-time graduate science and engineering students supported financially?
In 1992, 41% received their primary support from their institutions, 31% provided most of their own funds, and 20% depended primarily on federal sources, in the form of research assistantships, graduate fellowships, and training-grant positions. Federal support for students in the biological and physical sciences was higher (34% and 36%, respectively). One-fourth of those with institutional support received it in the form of research assistantships, half received teaching assistantships, and the remaining one-fourth were supported by a mix of fellowships, traineeships, and other forms of support. However, the preceding discussion probably underestimates the amount of federal support, because the source of a graduate student's support typically changes from year to year.

10. How many postdoctoral appointees are there?
There were approximately 24,000 science and engineering postdoctoral appointees in doctorate-granting institutions in the fall of 1992. About 53% of them were foreign students.

Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1995.

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