In 2016, CGS received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to establish the Next Generation Humanities PhD Consortium (Next Gen Consortium), a collaborative learning community for the 28 NEH Next Generation PhD grant awardees. These universities, all of which are CGS member institutions, seek to strengthen the career preparation of PhD students in the humanities. CGS provided intellectual leadership to this group and guided their mission to transform the culture of graduate education.

New resource: Inclusive language options for talking about humanities PhD careers

Other results from the project include:

• Promising Practices in Humanities PhD Professional Development: Lessons Learned from the 2016-2017 Next Generation Humanities PhD Consortium

Written to help guide applicants to NEH Next Generation Humanities PhD grants, as well as any campus team interested in pursuing the goals of the Next Gen program. Part I, Lessons Learned, summarizes the common features of Next Gen projects and outlines some of the challenges and promising solutions employed by grantee universities in pursuit of the larger goals of the grant program. Part II, Emerging Strategies, offers suggestions for additional considerations that might be included in the design of Next Gen programs. Please note that Promising Practices does not constitute evaluation criteria for the selection of 2018 grantees; rather, this document is intended to help institutions understand what practices have been most successful for past grantees, and identify ideas and approaches that are appropriate to their campuses.

• Review of Prior Work in Humanities PhD Professional Development; and

Provides a history of prior work in humanities PhD professional development, and is intended to serve as an introduction to the field for anyone interested in professional development for humanities PhDs.

• Rethinking Humanities PhD Resources

Contact

Julia Kent

Overall First-Time Graduate Enrollment Increases by 3.9%

Contact:
Julia Kent, CGS: (202) 461-3874 / jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today reported modest growth in first-time enrollments for a number of key demographic groups enrolling in graduate school. Notably, all underrepresented minority (URM) groups monitored by the survey saw greater increases in first-time graduate enrollment than their White, non-Hispanic counterparts, although their overall representation in the graduate student body still remains relatively low. Among first-time U.S. citizens and permanent resident graduate students in Fall 2015, at least 22.5% were underrepresented minorities, including American Indian/Alaska Native (0.5%), Black/African American (11.8%), Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander (0.2%), and Hispanic/Latino (10%).

CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega responded to the growth in URM graduate enrollment with cautious optimism. “The sizeable increase in overall first-time enrollments for underrepresented minorities, particularly seen among URM women, is great news, but the share of underrepresented minorities among U.S. citizens and permanent residents is similar to previous years. URMs remain proportionally underrepresented, and we must sustain this trend for several years to ensure a larger impact across graduate programs and a more diverse workforce.”

Survey results also showed increases in domestic and international enrollments. Between Fall 2014 and Fall 2015, there was an increase (3.8%) in first-time enrollments for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, the largest one-year increase since 2010. These gains contributed to a 3.9% one-year increase in all first-time graduate enrollment between Fall 2014 and Fall 2015—the largest since 2009.

First-time graduate enrollment of international students rose by 5.7%, a rate considerably lower than in recent years, though international students still constitute a robust share (22%) of first-time graduate students. At research universities with very high research activity (RU/VH), three out of ten first-time enrollees (30.4%) were temporary residents. Shares of international students among first-time enrollees were particularly high for fields of mathematics and computer sciences (63.2%) followed closely by engineering (58.5%).

Institutions responding to the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment & Degrees for Fall 2015 again set new highs for the admissions cycle, receiving more than 2.18 million applications, extending over 877,000 offers of admission in Fall 2015, and enrolling nearly 507,000 incoming, first-time graduate students in graduate certificate, education specialist, master’s, or doctoral programs.

Other report findings are summarized below. 

Findings by field

• Engineering, business, and health sciences saw the largest number of total applications for Fall 2015. Together these broad fields of study accounted for 39.3% of total applications.
• The largest share of doctoral-level applications was seen in the social and behavioral sciences, which saw 18.7% of all doctoral applications reported. Social and behavioral sciences was also the second most competitive in terms of acceptance rates (14.7%), trailing only business (13.4%).
• Consistent with previous surveys, business, education, and health sciences were the three largest broad fields of study in Fall 2015 for first-time graduate enrollments.
• Roughly one-third (33.4%) of all first-time graduate students were enrolled in master’s degree or graduate certificate programs in business and education.

Findings by degree level

• The large majority of first-time graduate enrollment in Fall 2015 was in programs leading to a master’s degree or a graduate certificate (83.6%).
• Applications for admission decreased for doctoral programs (-4.3%) and increased for master’s/other programs (3.8%) between Fall 2014 and Fall 2015.
• At the doctoral level, education (4%) had the largest one-year increase in the number of applications of all broad fields of study. At the master’s/other level, mathematics and computer sciences (11.2%) reported the highest one-year percentage increase.

Student demographics

• The majority of first-time graduate students both at master’s degree and certificate level (58.2%) and at the doctoral level (51.3%) were women.
• According to survey respondents, women earned nearly two-thirds (66.4%) of the graduate certificates, 58.4% of the master’s degrees, and 51.8% of the doctorates. Academic year 2014-15 marked the seventh straight year women earned a majority of doctoral degrees.
• Overall among first-time enrollees in Fall 2015, men were more likely to be enrolled full-time than women (72.8% and 66%).
• All underrepresented minority groups experienced larger increases in first-time graduate enrollment than in the prior year.

About the report

Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 2005 to 2015 presents the findings of an annual survey of U.S. graduate schools, co-sponsored by CGS and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Board. It is the only annual national survey that collects data on graduate enrollment by all fields of study and is the only source of national data on graduate applications by broad field of study. The report, which includes responses from 617 institutions, presents statistics on graduate applications and enrollment for Fall 2015, degrees conferred in 2014-15, and trend data for one-, five- and ten-year periods.

Full Report

Media Kit

What Is a Doctorate?

November 15-17, 2016

São Paulo, Brazil

Over the last decade, a number of global trends affecting the definition and delivery of doctoral education have materialized. Seeking to standardize and clarify various degree types, several countries, regions, and organizations have advanced degree outcomes frameworks that more clearly articulate the desired outcomes of doctoral degrees. Meanwhile, significant growth in the number and types of professional doctorates has led to new questions about the difference between PhDs and professional doctorates. Finally and perhaps most importantly, disciplinary societies, funding agencies, graduate institutions, and students themselves have begun to put serious effort into understanding and diversifying the careers of PhD alumni. 

The Council of Graduate Schools and the University of São Paulo invited representatives from 11 countries to explore these ideas and others at the Tenth Annual Strategic Leaders Global Summit on Graduate Education in São Paulo, Brazil.

Event Materials:

• Statement of Practical Actions on Definitions and Delivery of Doctoral Education
• Online Proceedings

CGS contributions to the Summit are supported by a generous gift from the Educational Testing Service (ETS).

Introduction

Diversity in graduate education, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is an issue of critical importance to the graduate education enterprise, as well as scientific community in the United States. Although the progress has been made to advance participation of traditionally underrepresented minorities¹ (URMs) in STEM graduate education, a lack of parity remains in comparison to White, Asian, and international students. According to the most recent CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees (Allum & Okahana, 2015), 19% of the 2014 first-time graduate enrollments in STEM fields were URM students. In addition, the most recent Survey of Earned Doctorates (National Science Foundation, 2015) reported that 13% of all STEM doctorates conferred to U.S. citizens and permanent residents in 2014 were awarded to URM students. This is in contrast to the fact that 36% of the U.S. population between the ages of 25 and 34 are URMs (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). In the STEM workforce, the gap is more obvious as URMs comprise only 7% of the STEM doctoral workforce (National Science Board, 2015).

While overall enrollment of URM students in STEM fields is on the rise (Allum & Okahana, 2015), more needs to be done to ensure that the U.S. STEM workforce, including the professoriate, reflect the diversity of the communities which they serve and the nation as a whole. Also, studies on graduate education are much needed in order to address America’s national capacity to innovate and to prepare graduate students to compete on a global scale (Walker, Jones, Golde, Conklin Bueschel & Hutchings, 2008; Council of Graduate Schools and Educational Testing Service, 2010 and 2012; Gumport 2011).

With generous support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has embarked upon an effort to examine patterns of completion and attrition among URM doctoral students in STEM fields and to explore factors likely to affect their ability to complete their doctoral program. The project, Completion and Attrition in AGEP and non-AGEP Institutions (NSF grant #1138814), collected the largest dataset of its kind, encompassing student-level data and other qualitative data from twenty-one U.S. graduate schools with large STEM doctoral offerings (Sowell, Allum, & Okahana, 2015).

In April 2015 the selected findings from the project were release in a CGS publication, Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion (Sowell et al., 2015). Subsequently, findings and implications of the publication were discussed at the Spring 2015 CGS Research and Policy Forum, which was held in Washington, DC on May 28, 2015. This paper summarizes the proceeding from the forum, in which four authors of this paper participated as speakers. The paper begins with a discussion of URM STEM doctoral completion and attrition rates and programs and initiatives aimed at facilitating success of URM STEM doctoral students, followed by a discussion on directions for future research, and concluding remarks.

National Benchmark for URM STEM Doctoral Completion

As a benchmarking tool, Sowell et al. (2015) is one of the most robust resources available to U.S. graduate schools to describe URM STEM doctoral completion. According to the data collected as a part of the project, the ten-year degree completion rate for URM students in STEM fields was 54% (Sowell, et al., 2015). Although this is not a direct comparison, the result is very close to the 55% ten-year completion rate for all domestic students in STEM fields reported in the  CGS’ PhD Completion project (Sowell, Zhang, Bell, & Redd, 2008). While the participation of URM students in STEM doctoral programs lags behind non-URM students, the data in aggregate suggests that once URM students are in doctoral programs, their success is equally as likely as that of non-URM students.

It is important to highlight the fact that within the URM student body, completion rates varied by student characteristics, such as gender, race/ethnicity, broad fields of study, and prior master’s degree status. For example, URM women had a higher STEM doctoral completion rate than their male counterparts (56% and 52%, respectively), and Hispanic/Latino students had a higher STEM doctoral completion rate than their Black/African American counterparts (58% and 50%, respectively). Even after controlling for broad fields of study and prior master’s degrees awarded, these differences between men and women, and Black/African American students and Hispanic/Latino students appear to persist.² Findings of this project corroborate much of the prior literature, which tends to focus on URM educational attainment up to the baccalaureate level (See College Board, 2010, Lee & Ransom, 2011, Harper, 2006 for examples), suggesting that men and Black/African Americans are among the more vulnerable subsets of the URM population in terms of educational attainment.

Figure 1: 10-year Doctoral Completion Rates of URM STEM Students³

Workshop Proceedings, Social Media Offer New Picture of Issues on the Horizon

Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg
(202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, D.C. — On January 27-28, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) convened approximately 40 scholars and leaders in graduate education, scholarly publishing, academic libraries, and disciplinary associations to deliberate the future of the doctoral dissertation.  Over a two-day workshop supported by ProQuest, the group considered trends shaping the format and dissemination of dissertation research, including new modes of scholarly communication and publication, open access, emerging technologies, diversifying PhD career paths, and changes in disciplinary cultures.

Brief papers prepared and circulated ahead of the workshop enabled attendees to focus on big-picture questions affecting the enterprises of scholarly communication and graduate education, including:

• What is a dissertation? What is its purpose? Who are its audiences?
• What skills are or should be gained as a result of writing a dissertation?
• What new dissertation formats should be considered?
• How should dissertation research be archived, accessed, and disseminated?
• What is the role of the dissertation in the employment marketplace?

These questions contributed to a wide-ranging conversation about why the dissertation exists and whom it serves. For some participants, the dissertation is of primary importance to the student-author and an opportunity to build skills, demonstrate expertise, and earn a credential. For others, the main audience of the dissertation is the student’s committee or the disciplinary community. Still others wondered whether the dissertation should contribute something of value to society at large.

By the workshop’s conclusion, it was clear that the many futures of the dissertation depend on the purpose of doctoral education as a whole. In her closing remarks, CGS President Suzanne Ortega shared her view that the goal of graduate education is to educate “individuals who can ask and answer questions of importance.” For Dr. Ortega, the dissertation represents both students’ “demonstration of the capacity to utilize the tools (theoretical, methodological) of their discipline to identify and address a relevant question” and an “opportunity to develop a set of intellectual skills and habits of mind that have broad utility.”

Austin McLean, Director, Scholarly Communication and Dissertations Publishing at ProQuest said, “We are delighted to support this workshop related to the future of dissertations, an area of great significance to ProQuest.  Dissertations make an important contribution to the scholarly record, raise the profile of an institution and their authors, and are vital tools for researchers of all fields in all countries.  By convening this important conversation about the future of the dissertation, the Council of Graduate Schools is ensuring that graduate education will continue to produce graduates with valuable skills needed as part of a 21^st century workforce.”

Proceedings may be accessed at http://cgsnet.org/cgs-future-dissertation-workshop and the parallel conversation that emerged during the workshop on Twitter may be found at #DissFwd. The event was the capstone of a CGS Best Practice project on the Future of the Doctoral Dissertation. 

Nominations for the 2022 award will be accepted until August 31, 2022. 

Description

Created by the CGS Board of Directors to recognize outstanding leadership in graduate education, this award is given annually to an individual who exemplifies the leadership qualities of the Council’s fifth president, Debra W. Stewart. The selection committee gives serious consideration to nominees with a strong reputation for ethics and integrity, a history of active participation in the graduate community, and a record of strategic vision and actions resulting in meaningful impacts in areas such as, but not limited to, evidence-based innovation, program development, diversity and inclusion, student learning and career outcomes, personnel management, policy advocacy in support of graduate education and research, and fiscal responsibility.

Eligibility

• The current graduate dean (IHE1) at any CGS “Regular” or “Associate” member institution is eligible to be nominated for the award. 
• Members of the CGS Board of Directors are not eligible to be nominated for the award during active years of board service.
• Please see the Frequently Asked Questions provided in the Call for Nominations for additional considerations.

How to Submit a Nomination Package: A complete nomination package includes the following five components:

• A completed nomination form;  
• 300-word summary of the nominee’s achievements in the relevant areas of leadership; 
• The nominee’s curriculum vitae (5 pages maximum);
• Signed letter of endorsement from the president or provost at the nominee’s institution; and 
• Three additional letters of recommendation supporting the nomination. A combination of internal letters (submitted by individuals at the nominee’s home institution) and external letters is encouraged. Letters should be addressed to the “DWS Award Selection Committee.”

Note: The nomination package must be as a single pdf document to Anna M. Naranjo. Mailed or faxed paper submissions will not be accepted.

Contact

Anna M. Naranjo

Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg
(202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, D.C. — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) today released a report that outlines the findings of a year-long research project on holistic graduate admissions. Supported by Hobsons, the project takes a look at emerging best practices and surveys more than 500 university admissions professionals to better understand the current state of graduate admissions at U.S. institutions.

Around the country, colleges and universities are adopting holistic graduate admissions processes in response to research finding that quantitative measures of student merit, such as standardized test scores and GPA, may not accurately predict success in graduate school and may disadvantage underrepresented, non-traditional, and older students. Holistic review, also known as whole-file or comprehensive review, considers a broad range of characteristics, including noncognitive and personal attributes, when reviewing applications. Higher education leaders consider holistic review a promising practice for achieving diverse cohorts of students with varied experience, backgrounds, and expertise.

“This is an opportune moment for graduate schools and programs to prepare to re-evaluate their admissions processes, as graduate institutions await the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Fisher II and continue to grapple with what it means to create inclusive campuses,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “This timely report provides context and guidance for graduate schools and their institutional partners.”

Holistic Review in Graduate Admissions reports the results of a survey of over 500 universities on their current practices and emerging needs in graduate admissions; a two-day intensive workshop of researchers, graduate deans, admissions professionals and other experts; and a review of the scholarly literature. The study surfaces promising practices and recommendations for graduate institutions seeking to learn more about or to implement holistic admissions processes, and provides an overview of existing resources for institutions.

Among the report’s key findings:

• Decentralized graduate admissions processes pose special challenges for implementing holistic review.
• More data is needed: 81 percent of graduate school staff respondents called for more data that demonstrate the link between admissions criteria and student success in graduate school.
• Articulating their diversity objectives and tying them to the missions of their institutions will make it easier for graduate schools to build a compelling case for the need to review admissions practices.
• Holistic review is widely viewed as a useful strategy for improving diversity of higher education; early evidence also suggests that holistic admissions processes are associated with improved student outcomes.
• The graduate education community would benefit from a clearer understanding of what constitutes a truly “holistic” graduate admissions process for master’s and doctoral candidates.
• 58 percent of all survey respondents reported that limited staff and faculty time is the greatest barrier to performing more holistic admissions processes.

The report recommends deliberately tying admissions processes to institutional and program missions and emphasizes the importance of data-driven decisions. It also encourages universities to ensure that all students, once admitted, are provided learning environments that make it possible for them to succeed.

“While academic achievements are important, we know that long-term student success depends on a variety of factors that make up a whole person,” said Stephen M. Smith, President of Advising and Admissions Solutions at Hobsons. “We’re proud to support the work of CGS to increase access to graduate education and improve graduate student outcomes by helping institutions find applicants who are the right fit during the admissions process and then to provide support on campus until they reach their goals.”

A complimentary copy of the report can be accessed at http://cgsnet.org/innovation-graduate-admissions-through-holistic-review.

Workshop Agenda - Evaluating International Research Experiences
Executive Summary - Evaluating International Research Experiences
Final Report - Evaluating International Research Experiences
CGS Webinar Presentation Slides: Measuring International Experiences
Webinar Recording: Measuring the Impact of International Experiences

February 16, 2016

Workshop Objectives

To develop a set of common research questions that institutions and organizations involved in graduate education can use to evaluate the benefits of international experiences by their graduate students, especially those related directly to structured research activities.

Workshop Description

There is interest in evaluating the impact of funding for graduate student international research experiences on student success, both in the short and long terms. A relevant body of literature at the undergraduate education level exists on what is broadly termed “global competency,” which includes study abroad and other similar cultural experiences. These studies generally assess student learning outcomes, and not career success. There is little equivalent research at the graduate education level. As the definition of success continues to broaden to include multiple career paths, both intrinsic and extrinsic measurements of success, and across disciplinary boundaries, the difficulty in defining and assessing relevant outcomes continues to increase. We seek to develop a list of research questions and assessable outcomes along with their associated analytical tools that can be used to evaluate the impact of international experiences for graduate students, both longitudinally and across disciplinary boundaries, especially those involving structured research experiences.

Workshop Agenda

8:00 AM     Continental Breakfast

Morning Sessions: What Do We Know?

8:30 AM     Welcome and Overview

Brian S. Mitchell, Council of Graduate Schools/National Science Foundation Dean-in-Residence
Max Vögler, Director, North American Office, DFG
   Supporting Document WO.1.A      Supporting Document WO.1.B      Supporting Document WO.1.C

8:45 AM     Session I:  Funding International Research Experiences: Two Program Evaluations

This session will focus on recent evaluations of funding programs relevant to the international research experiences for graduate students. The presenters will discuss the background of the programs, the reason for the evaluation, and give methods and results.

Carter Epstein, Abt Associates Inc.
Ten Years of the Partnerships in International Research and Education (PIRE) Program
   Supporting Document I.1.A            Supporting Document I.1.B

Sebastian Granderath, Program Director, International Research Training Groups, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
The International Research Training Group Program 2015 Evaluation
   Supporting Document I.2.A            Supporting Document I.2.B

Moderator: Denise Manahan-Vaughan, Director of the International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

9:30 AM     Session II:  International Research Experiences: The Institutional Perspective

How do institutions and organizations support international research experiences for graduate students?  How can they facilitate the assessment of international research experiences and how would they make use of these assessment results?

Thomas Jorgensen, Head, Council for Doctoral Education, European University Association
FRINDOC: Evaluating the Institution
  Supporting Document II.1.A           Supporting Document II.1.B 

Karen DePauw, Vice President and Dean of Graduate Education, Virginia Tech
International Research Experiences: Challenges and Opportunities for Graduate Students
  Supporting Document II.2.A           Supporting Document II.2.B

Moderator: Henning Schroeder, Vice Provost & Dean of Graduate Education, University of Minnesota

10:15 AM     Break

10:30 AM     Panel Discussion:  International Research Experiences: The Participant Perspective

Why do graduate students engage in international research experiences? How do they feel the experience has helped them scientifically and professionally? What were barriers and what are the opportunities that have developed later in their careers?

Kara Spiller, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University

Andrea Stith, Assistant Director, Interdisciplinary Education, University of Colorado Boulder

Lisa Deuse, IRTG Participant, Universities of Aachen/Pennsylvania

Moderator: Julia Kent, Assistant Vice-President, Communications, Advancement and Best Practices, Council of Graduate Schools

11:15 AM     Session IV:  International Research Experiences: The PI Perspective

How do the labs and institutes in which the PIs work profit from sending /receiving graduate students? How do PIs deal with and manage exchanges? How is the length of stay a factor? What barriers exist?

Gerhard Erker, Professor, Organish-Chemische Institut, U. Münster, Germany
   Supporting Document IV.1.A         Supporting Document IV.1.B

Judith F. Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Women's Studies, The Pennsylvania State University
Lessons from PIRE: An international network for graduate research and training in cognitive neuroscience and linguistics

Moderator: Max Vögler, Director, North American Office, DFG

12:00 PM     Networking Lunch

Afternoon Sessions: What Can We Do?

1:00 PM       Session V:  Tracking the Outcomes of International Research Experiences

What assessment practices and evaluation tools are currently being used to evaluate international experiences at any level, and can they be adapted to research experiences at the graduate level?  Are there existing models that can track the long-term impact of early international experiences on career success?

Mary Besterfield-Sacre, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Measuring the Impact of Global Preparedness and Competency in Students
   Supporting Document V.1.A          Supporting Document V.1.B

Doris Rubio, Director, Center for Research on Health Care, University of Pittsburgh: A Career Success Model
A Career Success Model
   Supporting Document V.2.A          Supporting Document V.2.B

Moderator: Rick Tankersley, Program Officer, Division of Graduate Education, NSF

1:45 PM       Conversation Cafe:  What Questions Should We Ask and How Should We Ask Them?

Participants will be placed into groups with similar interests and will be asked to develop a set of relevant questions that could be used to evaluate international research experiences for graduate students.  Instructions and handouts will be provided.  Time will be provided for groups to share their results with all participants.

Facilitator: Maresi Nerad, Director, Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education, University of Washington
   Supporting Document CC.1            Supporting Document CC.2            Supporting Document CC.3

3:30 PM       Wrap-Up:  Open Discussion and Next Steps

What should be the products of this workshop?  What are the one or two things you would like to see coming out of this workshop as the next steps?

Suzanne Ortega, President, Council of Graduate Schools

Rebecca Keiser, Office Head, Office of International Science and Engineering, NSF

Denise Manahan-Vaughan, Scientific Member, DFG Senate Committee on Research Training Groups

Moderator: Dean Evasius, Director, Division of Graduate Education, NSF

4:00 PM       Adjourn

​

​

​Summit Program and Compilation of Papers*

*Individual papers below have been updated and edited for the electronic proceedings.

We invite you to explore the electronic proceedings of the 2015 Global Summit, Implications of "Big Data" for Graduate Education. Panel summaries provide an overview of the papers and discussion, with individual papers accessible at the links below.

International Applications Up 2% for Fall 2015

Contact:
Julia Kent
jkent@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Washington, DC—New data from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) provides a first-ever breakdown of international graduate applications by degree objective. The report, 2015 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey: Preliminary Applications, collects data on international graduate applications by all geographic regions and fields of study, revealing trends important to the graduate research enterprise and our understanding of the global competition for top talent. Conducted annually since 2004, the survey was expanded this year to distinguish between applications to programs at the doctorate and master’s & certificate levels. 

The findings show that degree objectives of international applicants vary dramatically by country of origin and field of study, and in some cases contrast with those of their domestic U.S. counterparts.

No sending country favored master’s studies more than India, where 84% of graduate applications were for admission to master’s & certificate programs. The master’s share of graduate applications was also large among students from China (64%) Saudi Arabia (60%), and Taiwan (52%). Smaller shares of graduate applications went to master’s programs from prospective international graduate students from Mexico (50%), Canada (45%), Brazil (43%), Europe (35%), and South Korea (30%).

Overall, international students applied to doctoral programs in higher proportion than their domestic U.S. counterparts. Thirty-seven percent of international graduate enrollments were in PhD programs, compared to only 17 percent among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, according to the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees.

According to CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega, the additional data on degree objectives is illuminating for U.S. graduate schools, even as it leads to more questions about the goals and motivations of international graduate students. “Now that our international survey offers data by degree objective, we will have a more nuanced picture of the encouraging growth we have seen in international applications to U.S. graduate programs,” Ortega said. “Our challenge is to investigate what these new data can tell us about the market for advanced skills. Are students preparing for careers in the U.S. or at home after earning their degree? Are they drawn here by academic reputations, employment prospects, or professional advancement? How do economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad influence international graduate enrollments?”

Trends by country of origin

International graduate applications for Fall 2015 increased 2% from Fall 2014, for a total 676,484 applications received by the U.S. institutions responding to the survey. For the third consecutive year, applications from China were down (-2%) while applications from India posted double-digit growth (12%). China remains the largest source of prospective students for U.S. programs, representing 39% of all international graduate applications. India continues to narrow the gap between first- and second-largest source country, reaching 28% of international applications for Fall 2015. South Korea, the third-largest sending country, increased 4% after three straight years of declines.

Trends by field of study

Growth in applications was driven by engineering and physical & earth sciences, which gained 4% and 14%, respectively. Together these STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields account for 50% of all applications to U.S. graduate programs from prospective international students for Fall 2015. This makes international graduate students crucial to U.S. research and workforce needs. Experts (including CGS) have pointed out the American economy’s demand for advanced STEM skills is unlikely to be met by homegrown talent alone, as only 16% of U.S. citizens and permanent residents enrolled in graduate programs are studying in STEM fields, according to the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees.  

In another finding of the Preliminary Applications report, international applications to graduate programs in business fell 2%, the first decline in this field since the survey launched in 2004. Nevertheless, business was the third largest field of study, accounting for 13% of international graduate applications.

About the report

Findings from the 2015 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey: Preliminary Applications are based on an annual survey of international graduate student applications among U.S. institutions. Some responding institutions may continue to receive international applications after the completion of the report. For this reason the figures are preliminary. Final application, admission and enrollment figures will be reported in late 2015. Final application numbers have traditionally tracked very closely to the preliminary numbers. Analysis from the 2015 Preliminary Applications report includes responses from 377 schools, including 80% of the top 100 institutions awarding the largest number of degrees to international graduate students. Collectively, the respondents to this year’s survey award about 70% of the degrees granted to international graduate students in the U.S. The full report is available at http://cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Intl_I_2015_report_final.pdf.