The Seventh Annual Strategic Leaders Global Summit on Graduate Education

Co-hosted by the Council of Graduate Schools, Central European University, and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

14 countries to be represented

September 30 – October 2, 2013

Budapest, Hungary

Overview

From September 30 to October 2, 2013, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and Central European University (CEU) will convene the Seventh Annual Strategic Leaders Global Summit on Graduate Education. The summit will address pressing questions about technologies used to support graduate education and research:

• How are innovative technologies such as online courses, tools for assessing research productivity, and social media affecting graduate education systems around the world?
• How do we define and measure the quality of graduate education in the wake of new technologically enabled tools?
• How will emerging technologies shape research practices?

Event Details

The event will take place at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) in Budapest, with sessions open to media guests from 9 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. on October 2. This year’s summit will assemble 35 to 40 leaders in graduate education who represent a diverse range of national graduate education systems. Presentations will be made by speakers from 14 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China (PRC and Hong Kong), Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States. Attached is a list of participant names, institutions, and countries.

Topic

The 2013 summit theme, “Graduate Education and the Promises of Technology,” was chosen for its broad relevance to graduate institutions around the world. The development of new technologies for teaching, research, and communication are shaping graduate education in ways that seemed impossible only a decade ago. New online learning resources have been integrated into the “flipped” classroom; graduate institutions have developed programs that are partly or wholly delivered online; and massively open online courses (MOOCs) have become viable—if controversial—models for making graduate curricula more accessible.

In this environment, graduate deans and other university administrators are considering or using a broad range of technology-enabled resources to evaluate processes and inform strategic decision-making. Areas where such resources have transformed thinking and practice include enrollment management, program-quality assessment, bibliometric analysis of research outcomes, and student-progress tracking.

The risks and rewards of new technologies for graduate education, already a topic of discussion in national and institutional contexts, raise special questions for the global graduate community. Participants will explore these topics with the aim of developing an international statement of common values, effective practices, and priorities for future action.

Outcomes and Press Release

CGS and CEU will share the summit outcomes and resulting consensus statement at a media forum on October 2  at 12:20 p.m., which will be attended by CEU President and Rector John Shattuck and MTA President Jozsef Palinkas.

Journalists are invited to:

• Conduct interviews with the leaders of the sponsoring institutions: Debra W. Stewart, President of the Council of Graduate Schools; and Liviu Matei, Senior Vice President and COO, Central European University. Arrangements may also be made to interview summit leaders from specific countries.

• Attend an open session (9 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.) on the final day of the summit, October 2, and the media forum (12.30 p.m. to 1 p.m.). Speakers will be available to discuss the consensus statement and answer questions about topics relevant to their countries and institutions.

Background

The Strategic Leaders Global Summit is the only annual international forum for leaders in graduate education. Past summits have explored topics including program quality, dual-degree programs, graduate career outcomes, and the global mobility of graduate talent.

Press Contacts

If you wish to attend the press conference or conduct interviews with summit leaders prior to the event, please contact:

Julia Kent, CGS: (202) 223-3791 / jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Ildiko Rull, CEU: (+36 1) 327-3800 / rulli@ceu.hu

Domestic Enrollment Still a Concern, Especially in STEM Fields

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

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) reported today a 1.8% increase in first-time enrollment between fall 2011 and fall 2012. More than 461,000 students enrolled for the first time in graduate certificate, education specialist, master’s, or doctoral programs for the fall 2012, according to institutions responding to the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees, an annual survey that has been conducted since 1986.

Despite the gains in first-time enrollment, total graduate enrollment fell 2.3% following a 0.8% decline in the previous year. Total graduate enrollment was nearly 1.74 million students in fall 2012.

Institutions responding to the survey received nearly 1.98 million applications for admission to fall 2012 graduate programs. Applications rose 3.9% between fall 2011 and fall 2012. The overall acceptance rate was slightly lower than the previous year, with 39.5% of applications resulting in offers of admission for fall 2012. As CGS also reported last year, the fact that first-time enrollment trends have not matched the growth in applications may be a sign that many qualified students who wish to attend graduate school are faced with obstacles to enrolling.

First-time graduate enrollment of temporary residents increased 8% between fall 2011 and fall 2012, according to survey respondents, up slightly from the 7.8% increase in fall 2011. In contrast, the growth in first-time graduate enrollment for U.S. citizens and permanent residents between fall 2011 and fall 2012 was essentially stagnant at 0.6%. In fall 2012, more than one-half (54.7%) of all temporary resident graduate students were enrolled in engineering, mathematics and computer sciences, physical and earth sciences, or biological and agricultural sciences. Only 17.3% of U.S. citizens/permanent residents were enrolled in these fields.

CGS President Debra W. Stewart viewed the data for first-time graduate enrollment with cautious optimism. “It’s certainly good news that the number of new students enrolling in U.S. graduate programs is trending upward. However the trend must accelerate if we are to gain ground against previous losses.” Stewart added that this is particularly the case for domestic students. “An increase of less than one percent in first-time enrollment for domestic students is worrisome given that the U.S. economy will have an increasing need for highly-skilled talent in order to thrive. Our country must do more to address the economic factors, like student debt, that discourage many students from enrolling in U.S. graduate programs.”

One piece of encouraging news contained in the report is that first-time enrollment for underrepresented minorities has increased. Among survey respondents, first-time graduate enrollment rose 7.4% for Hispanic/Latinos, 5.7% for American Indians/Alaska Natives, and 4.6% for Blacks/African Americans between fall 2011 and fall 2012.

Other report findings include: 

Trends by field

• The largest one-year changes in graduate applications between fall 2011 and fall 2012 occurred in mathematics and computer sciences (11.1%), health sciences (9.6%), and engineering (9.3%).
• Applications to graduate programs in business rose 0.7% between fall 2011 and fall 2012, much slower than the 4.3% growth in the previous year.
• First-time enrollment in education programs grew 2.5% for fall 2012, compared to a sharp drop of 8.8% in fall 2011.
• The largest fields by total enrollment were education and business, respectively accounting for 20% and 16% of total graduate enrollment at responding institutions in fall 2012.

Trends by degree level

• About 74% of all graduate students in fall 2012 were enrolled in programs leading to a master’s degree or a graduate certificate, according to survey respondents.
• Responding institutions awarded approximately 67,200 doctoral degrees, 540,000 master’s degrees, and 31,900 graduate certificates in 2011-12.
• Between fall 2011 and fall 2012, first-time enrollment increased by 5.0% at the doctoral level and 1.2% at the master’s level.

Student demographics

• About 58% of all first-time graduate students in fall 2012 were women, according to survey respondents.
• According to survey respondents, women earned nearly two-thirds of the graduate certificates, 60% of the master’s degrees, and 52% of the doctorates. Academic year 2011-12 marked the fourth straight year women earned a majority of doctoral degrees.
• Over the 2011-2012 period, first-time enrollment for Whites fell by 0.9%.

About the report

Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 2002 to 2012 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 covers enrollment in all fields of graduate study and is the only source of national data on graduate applications. The report includes responses from 675 institutions, which collectively confer about 73% of the master’s degrees and 91% of the doctorates awarded each year. The survey report presents statistics on graduate applications and enrollment for fall 2012, degrees conferred in 2011-12, and trend data for one-, five- and ten-year periods.

The results of the latest International Graduate Admissions Survey show that offers of admission increased 9% between 2012 and 2013.

To learn more about this report, please visit the International Graduate Admissions Survey page.

Contact:
Nate Thompson
nthompson@cgs.nche.edu
(202) 223-3791

Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) reported that initial offers of admission from U.S. graduate schools to prospective international students increased 9% from 2012 to 2013, following an increase of 9% last year. The new data marks the fourth consecutive year of growth in international graduate admissions.

In contrast to previous years, however, the report uncovered a wider divergence between applications and offers of admissions trends. For fall 2013, the final overall growth in the number of applications was 2%—much lower than the stronger gains of 9% in 2012 and 11% in 2011—even as the year-to-year increases in initial offers of admission have remained steady over the 2010-2013 period.

Debra. W. Stewart, President of the Council of Graduate Schools, commented that “For now, the year-to-year decline in applications has not appeared to have a measurable impact on the overall number of international students who are offered admission to U.S. graduate programs. This is a sign that U.S. graduate programs continue to see international applicants to U.S. graduate programs as competitive, high-caliber students.”

Admissions trends by country

The increase in the overall number of offers of admission to U.S. graduate schools was driven by a 27% increase in initial offers of admission to prospective students from India, a sharp turn upward following the previous year, in which there was no change in offers of admission to prospective students from that country. Admission offers also grew by 5% to prospective students from China, even though there was a 3% decline in the number of applications from that country. The data for fall 2013 marks the eighth year in a row of increases in the number of offers of admission for prospective Chinese students. Offers of admission to students from the Middle East rose 12%, marking the sixth year of significant growth, and offers of admission to Brazilian students rose 46%. (It should be noted that offers of admission to prospective students from Brazil make up only 1% of the total number of offers of admission to prospective international students.) However, offers of admission to students from South Korea, the third largest sending country of international students to U.S. graduate programs, declined 10%.

Admissions trends by field

The survey results show that initial offers of admission increased in all broad fields of study except the life sciences and education, where numbers of admissions declined by 4% and 3% respectively. Engineering, physical and earth sciences, and ‘other fields’ saw the largest increases in admissions offers, with gains of 16%, 11%, and 10% respectively. Gains also occurred in arts and humanities (7%), business (3%), and social sciences and psychology (3%).

Admissions trends by institution size

Increases in international offers of admission in 2013 were equally strong overall at institutions awarding larger numbers of graduate degrees to international students and at institutions awarding smaller numbers of graduate degrees to international students, with both cohorts showing a 9% increase in offers of admission to prospective international students. At institutions awarding larger numbers of graduate degrees to international students, stronger increases were seen on average for offers of admission to prospective graduate students from China, Mexico, and Europe. By contrast, increases in offers of admission to prospective graduate students from Brazil, India, Canada, and Africa were larger on average at the institutions outside the largest 100.

Admissions trends by region

As was the case last year, offers of admission by U.S. graduate schools to prospective international students increased in all four major regions of the United States. The Midwest saw the most growth (12%), followed by the West, the South, and the Northeast, with 11%, 8%, and 6% increases respectively.

About the report

Findings from the 2013 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey, Phase II: Final Applications and Initial Offers of Admission is based on the second phase of a three-part annual survey of international graduate student applications, admissions, and enrollment among U.S. member institutions. The survey had a response rate of 57%, including 79 of the 100 institutions that award the largest number of graduate degrees to international students. The report is posted at http://www.cgsnet.org/benchmarking/international-graduate-admissions-survey.

The purpose of the Florida A&M Student Financial Education (FAMU SFE) Program is to train and mentor graduate students to conduct research in the areas of financial literacy, debt management, paying for college, and financial decision-making within minority and low-income communities, while educating graduate and undergraduate students on the aforementioned topics through the use of seminars, workshops, publications, and programs. The FAMU SFE Program provides financial decision-making activities, including paying for college and managing student loan debt, to FAMU’s graduate and undergraduate students.

Project plan and activities:

Program informational pamphlets, calculators, and t-shirts are distributed to participants to raise and reinforce the awareness of the program. Students are also reached through social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, and FAMU’s radio and TV stations.

The evaluations, assessments, written program curriculum, and best practices from each year are posted on the new FAMU SFE website, and used to strengthen and replicate the activities in different settings to assess the replication of the findings in other student and community settings.

The program uses multi-media formats such as YouTube, PowerPoint, and web-based information online and via Blackboard to deliver educational workshops and financial coaching sessions. Additionally, the FAMU SFE Program developed a train-the-trainer financial decision-making education program that can be delivered to graduate and undergraduate student populations in the future. A graduate student from each of the Business Administration, Counseling Education, and Community Psychology programs works with faculty members to assist staff from the FAMU Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to deliver the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) financial education program in the SFE seminars and workshops. Financial decision-making seminars focus on financial literacy, debt management, and paying for college, and are available each fall and spring semester for FAMU students.

FAMU faculty and SFE fellows (the graduate student mentees) will present and publish FAMU SFE research findings, while providing others the opportunity to replicate and extend the research.

More information on the project can be found here.

Winthrop University’s project is designed to promote student financial education for its highly diverse student population, which is made up of 40% minority, 45% low income, and 31% first generation students. The project includes incorporating financial literacy education into existing courses, a series of professional development seminars, and a new financial literacy website.

Project plan and activities:

A module on financial education was incorporated into the required undergraduate freshman course, “Principle of the Learning Academy (ACAD 101).” All sections of ACAD 101 address financial education at the same point in the semester in order to ensure a common experience and encourage substantive conversations outside of class. Resident Learning Coordinators in each freshmen residence organize “common conversations” in each freshmen residence hall to build upon the discussions in ACAD 101. Students who live in the residence halls also have available an annual, online workshop program, ranging in topics from note-taking to online course software to financial education.

Also available to undergraduates is the existing course, Personal Finance (FINC 101), which added two additional sections and be marketed to both business and non-business majors campus-wide.

For the graduate population, Winthrop utilized the CGS online resources, built additional online resources, and created four one-hour professional development seminars that are administered by faculty/staff to students in person throughout the academic year. Faculty in the four colleges also incorporated these seminars and online materials into the requirements for their graduate courses. Content focuses on budgeting and cash flows, managing debt, taxes and insurance, and investing for your future.

In addition to using the CGS-generated online resources, Winthrop University built a website that overviews the financial education programs, includes videos of faculty and staff covering financial education topics, links to resources, makes available a loan calculator to students, and provides access to other tools for financial education.

More information on the project can be found here.

The University of South Florida (USF) seeks to raise awareness of current student loan, debt, and hiring issues, and to develop a peer-to-peer advising system. The program focuses on individual financial planning as well as on refining the University of South Florida’s cost-of-attendance calculator such that the various costs charged by the university, predominantly tuition and the range of fees assessed students, are substantially more transparent.

Project plan and activities:

This program enhances the extensive existing undergraduate program, including the required freshman online financial literacy module Financial Literacy 101 and the program “Bull 2 Bull.” Two full-time staff and 10 undergraduate (seniors) peer counselors meet with students individually to discuss their financial concerns and needs. Additional financial education programs are offered during all new student orientations and in residence halls.

The core of the funded project revolves around a ‘peer-to-peer’ financial mentoring program in the Office of Financial Aid as a resource, not only for enrolled graduate students, but also for undergraduate students considering continuing their education at the graduate level. Graduate students are counseled by a graduate assistant and two graduate advisors, who head the graduate financial counseling. Graduate students also receive specialized materials focusing on topics such as How to Budget, Appropriate Use of Credit Cards, Loans, Long-Term Financial Ramifications of Academic Decisions, Debt, and Building Credit. These materials are available on-line as a downloadable PDF, through the Leadership Institute, Graduate Ambassadors, graduate students enrolled in the Summer Program, graduate student orientations, and recipients of graduate student fellowships and scholarships.

These services are offered to all students, but especially focus on several subgroups, including undergraduate students considering graduate school, students who are full fee paying and funding their own education, students who have been impacted by the limitations of ‘Satisfactory Academic Progress’ on receiving continued federal student loan support, and GAs who are receiving stipends, tuition waivers, and health insurance but also have a debt load.

The project also developed a new online financial calculator that clearly differentiates between tuition and the various fees that are also charged. This was developed so that the tuition can be differentiated based on the variable rates in place for undergraduates and graduates as well as allowing for in-state and out-of-state rates to be calculated by simply inputting the number of credit hours that a student plans on taking.

The Office of Graduate Studies, in conjunction with the Office of Financial Aid, developed a series of informative curricular tools that detail the nature of the current ‘debt crisis’ as it applies generally to students, but with an emphasis on those elements that most effect graduate students.

More information on the project can be found here.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s (UMBC) project, entitled Go Live, assists undergraduate and graduate students in developing sound financial behaviors in three segments: Cultivation of New Graduate Students (undergraduate students), Success Seminars and Workshops (undergraduate and graduate students), and PROF-it Professors-in-Training (Graduate Students). The content of UMBC’s project focuses on funding graduate education, debt reduction, budgeting, and planning for good financial health following graduate school.

Project plan and activities:

The program Go Live implements flexible programming/curricula to strengthen and enhance the financial literacy of UMBC’s diverse student population. Go Live involves transitioning existing print and online materials to “live mini-workshops,” geared towards financial literacy. These workshops are incorporated into the annual Graduate Student Success Seminar curriculum for the professional development of graduate students and into the PROF-it Professors-in-Training (a Preparing Future Faculty-type program) workshop schedule. Some of these sessions were videotaped and webcasted, to be used as self-paced learning aids and as content material to supplement future in-person workshops. The GoLive financial education series includes, how to save money and avoid debt when you make less than $30,000/year; how improving your credit rating improves your competitiveness for jobs that require security clearance and lowers mortgage rates; planning your move from a “student” budget to a professional paycheck; and a regional personal finance expo featuring sessions on insurance, annuities, mortgages, spending, and credit.

To engage undergraduate students, UMBC worked with the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Student Government Association, Office of Student Life, and UMBC’s scholarship programs. Modules on financial education were added to the freshman “Introduction to an Honors University” seminar course.  In addition, they leveraged the Annual Summer Horizons program for undergraduate students, and added a session on “Financial Preparations for Live after College.”

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County program used a multitude of social media avenues to engage students, including the Graduate School website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, a career portal, and Dissertation House blog. Financial literacy modules were followed by Go Live in-person mini-discussions on topics such as: CashCourse video, Credit, Easy Living on a Budget, Managing Your Bank Accounts, Basic Investing, and Financing Your Education.

More information on the project can be found here.

The University of Kentucky launched a set of programs and events on topics of student financial management skills as part of its larger Student Success initiative 2013-2015. The project includes activities and modules for first-year students and especially for graduate students who will in turn educate and guide undergraduates. Special emphasis is placed on first-generation undergraduate and graduate students.

Project plan and activities:

Potential students and parents have access to a newly developed online module about financial smarts for incoming students, which is also used in floor meetings by RA’s with first year students.

This project also created a required online module and live discussion for University-wide TA Orientation, “Understanding Undergraduate Student Financial Issues,” to prepare new TA’s to deal with students in financial distress.  Also available is an online module for Directors of Graduate Studies, Directors of Undergraduate Studies, and TA Developers, titled “Advising Students in Tough Financial Circumstances.”

A Financial Resources website was developed through a partnership with the Senior Vice Provost for Student Success and the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education as part of the University’s Student Success web initiative.

Activities targeted for advanced undergraduate and graduate students included a series of live workshops and online video resources on financial management, developed through partnership with the local University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union, local office of TIAA-CREF, Departments of Business Administration and Family Sciences, and the Stuckert Career Center.  Students can also watch a series of YouTube digital shorts, made in collaboration with the student standup comics of the “Cat’s Den.” These are peer-to-peer 3-minute comic online videos that are aimed at sophomores, juniors, 5^th years, master’s and doctoral students.

This program leverages the current Managing in Tough Times (MITT) program in the University of Kentucky Agricultural Extension Service to create a life-skills simulation event for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.

Graduate students are able to take a one-credit course, “The Undergraduate Student of the 21^st Century,” in the Preparing Future Faculty program, to include units on financial aid, issues in money management, and family stress. This course helps graduate students gain knowledge on current issues today’s undergraduate students face and help them become better equipped as future faculty.

More information on the project can be found here.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s project expands on its existing Center for Economic and Financial Education and Financial Wellness Program to reach a greater number of students though more tailored programming and targeted marketing.

Project plan and activities:

The Center for Economic and Financial Education works to improve the economic and financial well-being of consumers and their families by providing the latest in educational resources, evaluation tools, and cutting-edge research, and offers comprehensive training and support to financial education providers. The Financial Wellness Program offers educational programming to the community and student organizations, through both interactive presentations tailored to specific audiences and one-on-one consultations. Each semester, 10-15 students work as Peer Educators who develop outreach materials. The Program maintains a YouTube channel, posts articles on its Facebook page, and sends tweets though its Twitter account. Relevant resources are also available from the University of Illinois Student Financial Services and Cashier Operations Student Money Management Center (SMMC).

In addition to these existing resources, this project engages students by leveraging existing programming, initiating more aggressive marketing, offering in-person and webinar workshops, expanding the work of Peer Educators, and developing modules to incorporate in existing programs for undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs. Workshops and seminars were developed that are short, specific and timely to attract students and to increase relevance and impact. Workshops are also offered separately for undergraduate and graduate students, to ensure targeted students obtain relevant information for their academic level.

This project emphasizes collaboration with specific academic departments to offer more intensive discipline- and stage-specific programming. The university incorporates financial literacy and debt management sessions into Preparing Future Faculty programs to develop best practices that can eventually be expanded campus-wide.

Program content is tailored to students’ academic stages. Beginning undergraduates receive education on basic budgeting and cash flow, comparing college funding options, understanding interest, living on vs. off campus, and taxes. More advanced undergraduates learn about salary negotiations, loan repayment options, cost/benefits of graduate school, and funding graduate studies. Content for beginning graduate students include education on health insurance, living expenses, residency issues, funding options, costs of extended time-to-degrees, and buying vs. renting a home while in graduate school. Advanced graduate students and postdocs receive information on salary/benefit negotiation, paying back loans, retirement savings plans, and weighing employment options.

Finally, program directors work with the University Administration and Graduate College offices on issues of institutional responsibility and sustainability by incorporating greater concerns for student finances and financial literacy into the infrastructure of the university. Data collected is used to prompt and inform strategic, high-level conversations about what Illinois can do to better help undergraduate and graduate students make sound financial decisions.

More information on the project can be found here.