FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

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

Project will Help PhD Programs Strengthen their Professional Development and Mentoring Efforts

Washington, DC – Twenty-nine universities have been selected to participate in a collective effort to gather and use data about the careers of PhD students and alumni, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced today. Grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF grant #1661272) and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support data collection about PhD careers in STEM and humanities fields.

The universities and consortia that have been selected to receive awards to participate as funded project partners are:

These universities collectively awarded over 8,000 PhD degrees in 2013-14 alone. CGS is expanding the scope of data collection by inviting other CGS doctoral institutions to participate as affiliate partners.

Over the course of the multi-year project, universities will collect data from current PhD students and alumni with surveys that were developed by CGS in consultation with senior university leaders, funding agencies, disciplinary societies, researchers, and PhD students and alumni. The resulting data will allow universities to analyze PhD career preferences and outcomes at the program level and help faculty and university leaders strengthen career services, professional development opportunities, and mentoring in doctoral programs.

Universities will also be able to use the data to communicate the career trajectories of PhD alumni to current and prospective students, helping them to make more informed selections of PhD programs.

“Today, universities recognize that PhD students aspire to a wide variety of careers, including academic research and teaching,” said CGS President Suzanne Ortega. “Knowing what your alumni do— and how well they are prepared—is becoming the new paradigm, and our university partners are leading the way for the entire community of doctoral institutions.”

CGS will study the processes of survey administration and identify promising practices for implementation that will be shared with graduate schools nationally. Universities from across the country will be able to compare their data on PhD career preferences and outcomes with the national dataset analyzed by CGS.

Rush Holt, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), noted that the project will expand the country’s understanding of the U.S. STEM workforce. “We already know that PhD-trained scientists contribute to the STEM workforce in every sector. One of the important things this project promises to give us is a better picture of the skills needed to be successful in the wide variety of careers available to today’s and tomorrow’s graduate students.”

The initiative will also provide a deeper understanding of PhD careers in the humanities. “The initiative meshes well with comparable work on expanding career horizons and opportunities for humanities PhDs,” noted Jim Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association and a member of the committee that advised CGS on survey development. “This work will give us critically-needed information about diverse career pathways among humanists, many of whom pursue careers beyond the professoriate. Its results will empower doctoral students and alumni working to understand and expand the career options available to them.”

The first wave of the survey will be sent to PhD alumni in Fall of 2017, and CGS will begin publishing the first wave of survey findings the following Fall.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg (202) 461.3888/ khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Project will Join Humanities Initiative, Expanding Project to All Broad Fields of Study

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has been awarded a major grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF #1661272) to help universities collect data on the career pathways of PhDs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Through a competitive sub-award process, CGS will select doctoral institutions to implement surveys of STEM PhD students and alumni, gathering information about their professional aspirations, career pathways, and career preparation. The project complements a parallel endeavor to collect and analyze data on humanities PhDs through a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The project builds upon two earlier phases of CGS research: a feasibility study supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and a survey development phase supported by the Mellon, Sloan, and National Science Foundations (NSF #1534620). In the most recent phase, CGS developed two surveys—one for current PhD students and one for PhD alumni— by gathering input from senior university leaders, research funders, disciplinary societies, researchers, PhD students, and alumni.

The two surveys address important workforce questions not currently answered by existing national data-collection efforts. For example, the surveys will help faculty and university leaders understand whether participation in professional development activities is associated with certain career preferences and career pathways. Because universities will be collecting their own data, the project will ultimately allow them to conduct program-level analyses of data with the intention of improving programs.

CGS President Suzanne Ortega believes the project will assist universities in assessing their students’ career outcomes and enhancing graduate training for the next generation STEM workforce. “As we work to improve the career preparation of our students, we need to understand how the professional development experiences of PhDs align with the demands of the 21^st century workforce. This project promises to provide universities with this critical information.”

CGS has issued a Request-For-Proposals (RFP) to CGS member institutions to participate in the project as funded partners. The RFP is accompanied by the survey instruments and an Implementation Guide that offers guidance on incorporating the survey administration into existing university processes. To support broad institutional adoption of the instruments, universities that are eligible to apply for both humanities and STEM funding are encouraged to submit a combined proposal.

The initiative complements other CGS endeavors to support career diversity for PhDs, such as a recently-completed project to understand the professional development needs of graduate students in STEM fields. Through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), CGS has also established the Next Generation Humanities PhD Consortium, a collaborative learning community for the 28 NEH Next Generation PhD grant awardees. 

Released this week, the Trump Administration’s FY2018 budget, “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,” calls for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). As one of the organizations that recommended the founding of NEH, we affirm our belief that humanistic study and professional activities are in the national interest and merit continued federal funding support.

The current administration has argued that cuts must be made to rebuild and prepare our military for the future. Yet one of our military’s greatest assets is knowledge of the history, languages and cultures of the countries and regions where we are engaged. Indeed, the humanities have played a critical role in the United States’ efforts to protect our country since September 11, preparing our servicemen and women to better navigate the complex religious and cultural landscapes where they are deployed; enabling our diplomats to build alliances with key partners; and empowering our intelligence officers to brief our leaders on military strategy.

The NEH strengthens our nation’s preparedness and commitment to its soldiers through programs such as Teaching the Middle East, which provides resources for K-12 teachers to introduce their students to the history, cultures, and languages of the Middle East, and Our Warrior Chorus, which trains Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans to connect with the civilian public through “modern stories anchored by the shared experience of classical works.” 

The humanities and the arts also serve the national interest by helping us to explore what is common to all human experience—to seek peace, and to resolve conflicts that drain human and material resources both at home and abroad. Created Equal, a film series about the struggle for African American equality in the United States, is one notable example among many in NEH’s history.

NEH grants have benefited every state, region, and territory of the United States, and its programs serving rural areas have stimulated growth and preserved important history that may otherwise have been lost. For example, NEH supports Appalshop, a cultural center, which “celebrate[s] the culture, voice and concerns of people living in Appalachia and rural America.”  NEH’s digital initiatives bring important and rare texts into the hands of students, researchers, and interested readers across the country, including one preserving and digitizing the papers of President George Washington. Regional cultural museums supported by NEA not only enrich our understanding of American culture, but contribute to local economies by attracting tourism.

A skeptic might reply: Americans can still benefit from the humanities and arts without federal support. But philanthropic organizations do not have as their mission to support the national interest. If our goal is to protect this interest and preserve our history, we must continue to preserve the NEH and NEA, two of America’s great and historic institutions.

Suzanne T. Ortega                          
President                                                                           
Council of Graduate Schools                                       

Contact:

Julia Kent, jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Other Statements of Support:

Earl Lewis, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Pauline Yu, American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Employers, Graduate Schools Aim to Narrow Gap between Workforce Needs and Graduate Training

Washington, DC — Graduate schools and programs play a key role in preparing students for the knowledge workforce, but more work needs to be done, according to a new report by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). Currently, the preparation of US graduate students is too narrowly focused on academic research skills, at the expense of professional skills such as communication, teamwork, mentoring, and leadership.

Most STEM PhDs and master’s degree recipients work in careers outside the academy. To improve graduate student preparation for multiple career pathways, CGS conducted a two-year project to map the landscape of STEM professional development programs with support from the National Science Foundation (#1413827). Project activities included a survey of over 900 university deans, STEM faculty, and professional development staff at 226 institutions; interviews with employers from across the STEM workforce; and a workshop of industry leaders, federal science agencies, entrepreneurs, graduate deans, researchers, and recent PhDs and postdocs.

“The good news coming out of this project is that graduate institutions are devoting considerable time and resources to broadening the professional preparation of students in STEM graduate programs,” said CGS President Suzanne Ortega. “But to ensure that students succeed, we will need to make it easier for them to access high-quality resources. Our ultimate goals should be supporting student success in a range of career paths, and promoting the health and competitiveness of the STEM workforce.”

Sharing a perspective held by many employers, Brian Fitzgerald, CEO of the Business-Higher Education Forum, said that innovation increasingly relies on a workforce that possesses cross-cutting skills, preferably those in technology. “Many employers seek to collaborate with universities to address the STEM skill demand. Businesses benefit from these partnerships because they get critically needed talent, and universities benefit because their students graduate with job-ready skills.”

Key Project Findings

1. Employers outside the academy seek broad “transferable skills” as well as specific scientific skills in graduates with advanced STEM degrees. Skills most frequently mentioned by employers as lacking include data science and big data skills; science policy; governance, risk, and compliance; and time-, project-, and budget management. Currently only about one in 10 programs addresses these needs.


2. Approximately six out of 10 universities reported offering structured professional development programs to help STEM graduate students develop skills beyond academic research. While programs vary in content, the most common emphasis is on preparation for academic careers and on transferable skills such as written and oral communication and interdisciplinary and intercultural teamwork.


3. Low student participation in professional development programs is a common challenge for most universities. Two factors that can prevent students from obtaining valuable skills needed for career success after graduation are student concern that faculty do not value broad professional development and careers outside academia, and federal funding structures that do not give incentives for broad professional preparation for STEM graduate students.


4. Graduate schools play a key leadership role in shaping, supporting, promoting, and sustaining professional development for graduate students who will pursue a broad array of advanced STEM and non-STEM careers. Most graduate schools do so in collaboration with staff and/or STEM faculty, combining centralized and program- or department-based activities.

Report Recommendations

The report includes recommendations for improving professional development of STEM graduate students in research degree programs. These include:

1. Improving coordination among graduate schools, graduate programs, employers, alumni, and federal funding agencies to ensure graduate student financial support and graduate education are more strategically aligned.


2. Increasing efforts to ensure professional development experiences provided to advanced STEM graduate students are relevant to employers.


3. Gathering and sharing more evidence about the effectiveness of different models for delivering relevant professional development programs to graduate students.


4. Improving assessments of professional development programs, addressing efficacy as well as student satisfaction. Best practices are also needed in the use of these data to inform graduate degree programs and professional development programs.

Survey findings were used to develop a searchable online database of university professional development programs for graduate students, which universities can use as models for developing new programs or improving existing ones.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                             

Contact: Julia Kent

(202) 461-3874 / jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Board of Directors has announced its officers for the 2017 term. CGS is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors drawn from member institutions. Board members serve for set terms.

Dr. Nancy Marcus, dean of the Graduate School at Florida State University, was announced the 2017 Board Chair at the conclusion of the 2016 CGS Annual Meeting. Appointed graduate dean in 2005, Marcus’ responsibilities include oversight of the education of approximately 8,500 graduate and professional students. During her tenure as Dean, Marcus has sought to enhance and complement the experience graduate students gain in their individual academic units by establishing programs such as the Office of Graduate Fellowship and Awards, The Fellows Society to promote interdisciplinary engagement, fellowships for international study, and an online tracking system to monitor graduate student progress.

“CGS is honored to have Dr. Marcus’ expertise during this important time in graduate education. She has provided exceptional leadership to The Graduate School at Florida State University and will help advance CGS’ mission to meet the evolving needs of our member institutions,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega.

The new Chair-elect, Dr. Karen Butler-Purry has served as the associate provost for graduate and professional studies at Texas A&M University since 2010. In addition, Butler-Purry is a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering and has experience in graduate education as a faculty member, administrator, researcher, and program leader. Under Butler-Purry’s leadership, the TAMU Office of Graduate and Professional Studies (OGAPS) added a new initiative to promote and support graduate student participation in professional development opportunities aligned closely with the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan, Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime.

Beginning their three-year terms on the board on January 1, 2017, are Dr. John McCarthy, senior vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School at University of Massachusetts Amherst; Dr. Paula McClain, dean of the Graduate School and vice provost of graduate education at Duke University; and Dr. Josephine Nalbantoglu, dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies at McGill University.

Dr. M.J.T. (“Mark”) Smith, dean of the Graduate School at Purdue University, will remain on CGS’s Executive Committee for one year as immediate past chair.

“Dr. Smith has provided outstanding leadership during his term as CGS Board Chair,” Ortega said. “He has contributed greatly to the success of graduate students at his own institution and to graduate education more broadly in his efforts to improve faculty diversity.” 

For Immediate Release

Contacts:

Julia Kent, Council of Graduate Schools

(202) 461-3874 | jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Tom Ewing, ETS

(609) 683-2803 | tewing@ets.org

Washington, DC – Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Educational Testing Service (ETS) presented Cornell University with this year’s ETS/CGS Award for Innovation in Promoting Success in Graduate Education: From Admission through Completion. Dr. Barbara Knuth, senior vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, accepted the co-sponsored award on Cornell’s behalf during the 56^th Annual Meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).

The award recognizes promising, innovative proposals to enhance student success and degree completion at the master’s or doctoral levels while promoting inclusiveness. The winning institution is selected on the strength of its proposal to meet the award’s goals and to serve as a model for other schools. The winner receives a two-year, $20,000 matching grant.

Through the project: Innovative Inclusion Interventions (I3): Promoting Graduate Student Success through Advancements in the Climate of Graduate Education Cornell University intends to promote graduate student success and a more inclusive climate through four innovative interventions supporting the academic and social engagement of graduate students across identities. These interventions include: a summer success symposium, an interactive theatre project, an intergroup dialogue project immersion program, and an inclusive teaching institute for graduate students and postdocs.

Knuth commented, “Our goal is to achieve a campus climate in which all graduate students feel valued and accepted by faculty and peers, and where incidents of bias are minimized. This recognition from ETS and CGS will help us to provide an environment in which all members of our graduate community understand and value the diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives present on our campus.  I am honored to accept this award on behalf of my Graduate School colleagues and our partners across many offices at Cornell.”

“The practices showcased by this award competition greatly benefit the graduate education community, and we especially want to thank ETS, whose support makes possible this novel way to promote best practices among the graduate community.” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega.

“Pursuing and completing master’s or doctoral level study is challenging, and a program such as this that provides both academic and social engagement goes a long way to ensuring higher levels of student success,” said David G. Payne, Vice President and COO of ETS’s Higher Education Division. “ETS congratulates Cornell University for their innovative and inclusive approach.”

This year, the selection committee chose one institution to be named as Honorable Mention: North Carolina State University for a project titled GradPath: A Graduate Student Success App. Led by Maureen Grasso, dean of the Graduate School, this project’s aim is to develop a mobile-friendly tool to give graduate students timely access to critical academic data and professional development information in real time. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Washington, DC – The Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Dr. Karen DePauw, vice president and dean for graduate education at Virginia Tech University, is the 2016 Winner of the Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 56th Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

The award was created by the CGS Board of Directors to recognize outstanding leadership in graduate education, and particularly those leadership qualities exemplified by the Council’s fifth President, Debra W. Stewart. The selection committee gives 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. Areas of special consideration include 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.

Dr. DePauw becomes the award’s first recipient for her invaluable contributions to the Virginia Tech graduate community. Her many accomplishments include: success in building a strong, diverse graduate community in multiple locations in Virginia; establishment of the national award-winning, Innovate Graduate Life Center; creation of the signature academic initiative: Transformative Graduate Education; initiation of 14 unique interdisciplinary graduate education programs; and promotion of work-life management programs that foster thriving (not surviving) during graduate studies.

“We applaud the Council of Graduate Schools’ recognition of Dr. DePauw’s many contributions to graduate education,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands.  “Her work has significantly advanced the quality of our student’s experience, and her dedication to the wellbeing of our graduate community exemplifies the Virginia Tech spirit of service.”

“Karen DePauw’s leadership has contributed greatly to the success of graduate students at her institution and to the enterprise of graduate education worldwide,” said Dr. M.J.T. Smith, dean of the Graduate School at Purdue University and chair of the Council’s Board of Directors. “Dr. DePauw’s innovative use of technology and life-long commitment to building a diverse and inclusive graduate community sets a standard of leadership for deans of graduate education across the globe.”

Nominees for the award must be a current senior, graduate dean at a CGS member institution (Regular or Associate) and cannot be an active member of the CGS Board of Directors. Nominations are made by CGS member institutions and are reviewed by a selection committee of former graduate deans in the CGS community. The winner receives a $4,000 prize to support continuing innovations at the awardee’s institution.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2016 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Barlow J. Elmore, assistant professor of environmental history at The Ohio State University. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 56th Annual Meeting.

The Arlt Award is given annually to a young scholar-teacher who has written a book deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to scholarship in the humanities. Dr. Elmore becomes the award’s 46^th recipient for his book, Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism (W.W. Norton, 2014). He received his PhD in history from the University of Virginia in 2012.

Citizen Coke chronicles the making of what Dr. Elmore calls “Coca-Cola capitalism,” a system for making money deployed by many twentieth-century businesses, one that involved scavenging on natural capital stockpiles generated by vertically integrated industrial empires, agribusinesses, and government-run utilities. Dr. Elmore argues that Coca-Cola capitalism ultimately weighed heavily on host communities, especially in regions where the company was able to capture precious water resources in arid regions of the country. The book has been praised in media outlets ranging from The Wall Street Journal to Times Higher Ed.

“The Arlt Award has a long and prestigious history of recognizing exceptional humanities scholarship generated by early-career humanities faculty,” commented Dr. Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “The Council of Graduate Schools is delighted to recognize Dr. Elmore for his important contributions to the field of History.”

Created in 1971, the Arlt Award honors the first president of CGS, Gustave O. Arlt. The winner must have earned a doctorate within the past seven years, and currently be teaching at a North American university. Nominations are made by CGS member institutions and are reviewed by a panel of scholars in the field of competition, which rotates annually among seven disciplines within the humanities. This year’s field was History. The winner receives a $1,000 honorarium, a certificate, and travel to the awards ceremony.

For Immediate Release

(Updated February 1, 2017)

Contacts:

Julia Kent, Council of Graduate Schools

(202) 461-3874 | jkent@cgs.nche.edu

Beth Dempsey, ProQuest

(248) 349-7810 | beth.dempsey@proquest.com

Awards recognize outstanding research by graduates in the fields of Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering & Social Sciences

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honors for doctoral dissertations, were presented to Scott Cushing and Michael Muthukrishna at an awards ceremony during the Council’s 56th Annual Meeting. Dr. Cushing completed his PhD in 2015 at West Virginia University in Physics, and Dr. Muthukrishna received his PhD in 2015 from the University of British Columbia in Psychology.

Bestowed annually since 1982, the awards recognize recent doctoral recipients who have already made unusually significant and original contributions to their fields. ProQuest, an international leader in dissertation archiving, discovery, and access, sponsors the awards and an independent committee from the Council of Graduate Schools selects the winners. Two awards are given each year, rotating among four general areas of scholarship. The winners receive a certificate, a $2,000 honorarium, and funds for travel to the awards ceremony.

“The Distinguished Dissertation Awards demonstrate the dramatic impact young scholars have on their fields,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “It’s a testament to the vitality and value of graduate education when recently minted PhDs contribute and expand upon knowledge to raise the level of understanding in their fields.”

Austin McLean, director, ProQuest Scholarly Communication and Dissertations Publishing said, “ProQuest is passionate about the impact dissertations make in advancing both research and learning through their fresh insights and innovative thinking. Dr. Cushing and Dr. Muthukrishna have produced works that will be of tremendous value for generations to come. We’re very proud to partner with CGS in honoring them.”

The 2016 Award in Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering was presented to Dr. Cushing for his dissertation, Plasmonic Enhancement Mechanisms in Solar Energy Harvesting. Plasmonics, the study of the interaction between electromagnetic field and free electrons in a metal, appear to offer advancement in the efficiencies of solar energy conversion. Cushing’s thesis investigates why plasmonics rarely appear in top performing solar architectures given their potential. Using his findings, Cushing developed a theoretical framework to optimize the application of plasmonics in solar energy conversion. Cushing notes that, “Based on this framework, several top performing solar-to-fuel devices were created which use sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Additionally, the developed plasmonics technology is being incorporated into a commercial photovoltaic panel for turning sunlight into electricity.” Dr. Cushing is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Leone Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Muthukrishna received the 2016 Award in Social Sciences for his dissertation, The Cultural Brain Hypothesis and the Transmission and Evolution of Culture.  His project introduced two theories: the Cultural Brain Hypothesis and the Cumulative Cultural Brain Hypothesis. The first theory “explains the increase in brain size across taxonomic groups. In doing so, the theory makes predications about the relationships between brain size, knowledge, group size, social learning, and the length of the juvenile period, which are consistent with existing empirical literature.” The second theory, Cumulative Cultural Brain Hypothesis, makes predications about the conditions under which these evolutionary processes lead to a positive feedback loop between brain size and knowledge. Muthukrishna argues that these conditions are the key to what makes the human pathway unique and explains various aspects of our psychology and our large brains. Dr. Muthukrishna is currently an assistant professor of economic psychology at the London School of Economics.

This year the following scholars received honorable mentions: Adam Behrens, nominated by the University of Maryland; and Deblina Sarkar, nominated by the University of California at Santa Barbara.

More information about the CGS / ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award is available at www.proquest.com/go/scholars or at www.cgsnet.org.

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

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