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

While overall rates are up, some universities continue to see declines

Washington, DC —The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has published new data showing that international graduate application and first-time enrollment rates have increased at U.S. universities for the first time since Fall 2016. For Fall 2019, the final application counts from prospective international students increased by 3%, and the first-time enrollment of international graduate students increased by 4%. The proportion of first-time international graduate enrollment in master’s and certificate programs (75%) vs. doctoral programs (25%) has remained roughly the same.

The growth is driven primarily by increases in applications (3%) and first-time enrollment (4%) to master’s and certificate programs. While the overall increases are welcome news, some institutions did not see more student interest. For Doctoral Universities with Highest Research Activity (R1) and Master’s Colleges and Universities and Other Institutions (M1-3), applications and first-time enrollment increased across the board. However, for Doctoral Universities with Higher or Moderate Research Activity (R2 & R3), first-time enrollment declined in doctoral programs (-6%) and stagnated in master’s and certificate programs (-1%).

“We are pleased to see that the overall application and first-time enrollment numbers for international graduate students are on the rise. Our member universities work hard to ensure a welcoming environment for students and scholars from across the globe,” said CGS President Suzanne Ortega. “We remain vigilant, however, in monitoring obstacles, including the latest Executive Order “travel ban” and other changes in immigration and visa policy, that may negatively impact our ability to attract talented students from around the world.”

Highlights by Country of Origin

China and India continue to represent the largest shares of international graduate applications, first-time international graduate enrollments, and total international graduate enrollments. Between Fall 2018 and Fall 2019, the number of graduate applications and first-time graduate enrollments for Chinese nationals increased by 3%.

This is the second consecutive year of strong growth in graduate applications (11%) and first-time enrollments (22%) from sub-Saharan African students to U.S. graduate schools. While after two years of decline, applications (4%) and first-time enrollments (10%) from Mexican nationals rose.

Highlights by Field of Study

Across broad fields of study, international graduate applications increased in arts and humanities (6%), health sciences (7%), mathematics and computer sciences (7%), and biological and agricultural sciences (14%) between Fall 2018 and Fall 2019. By contrast, applications in engineering (-2%) and business (-3%), two of the largest broad fields of study, decreased. The largest one-year increases in first-time international graduate enrollment by broad field of study were in mathematics and computer sciences (11%), social and behavioral sciences (11%), and biological and agricultural sciences (10%).

About the survey and report

Conducted since 2004, the CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey tracks the applications and enrollments of international students seeking U.S. master’s and doctoral degrees. As the only report of its kind to offer data on the current academic year, International Graduate Applications and Enrollment: Fall 2019 reports applications, admissions, and enrollments of international master’s, certificate, and doctoral students at U.S. colleges and universities. In Fall 2016 the survey was redesigned to collect data by degree objective (master’s and graduate certificate vs. doctorate), and for all seven regions of origin, eight countries of origin, and all eleven broad fields of study, yielding the only degree-level data currently available for graduate admissions and enrollments. 403 U.S. graduate institutions who are members of CGS or its regional affiliates responded to the 2019 survey.

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And graduate educators have started to pay attention. Recently the Council of Graduate Schools announced a multiyear study to learn more about mental health and wellness in doctoral training, and to find workable solutions.

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), an association of nearly 500 universities that grant graduate
degrees, recognizes that diversity, equity, access, and inclusion are critical to the excellence of graduate
education.

Supporting diversity and inclusion in graduate education is both an economic and a moral imperative.
For a nation to prosper, drive innovation, ensure sustainability and maximize impact, its universities
must draw from a broad pool of students with the ability, curiosity, and motivation to complete a
graduate degree. In the United States, as in many countries, the progress we are making toward this
goal is steady, but slow. In order to accelerate progress, universities, funding bodies, and policymakers
must work together to develop policies and practices that help attract, retain, and support the success
of all students, and especially those from populations historically underrepresented in graduate
education.

As we pursue this goal, it is important to recognize that opportunities to learn and work in diverse
environments are essential to the preparation of all students. As countries and economies become
increasingly connected, it is imperative that all students have an equitable opportunity to think,
communicate, and collaborate both locally and globally. Given the compelling evidence that diverse
teams produce better innovations and results,¹ diverse communities will be best positioned to solve
problems of local and global scope.

Excellence depends on not only access, but the creation of communities that are inclusive – valuing
difference and promoting a sense of belonging. Toward this end, graduate schools and graduate
programs must clearly state their commitments to advancing diversity, equity, access, and inclusion,
making it clear that these values support the achievement and engagement of all students. Graduate
programs, graduate schools, and the universities of which they are a part must closely examine evidence
of what is measured, valued, and rewarded. Along with funders of graduate education, they must also
invest time and resources in better understanding the policies and practices that favor diversity and
inclusion.

By upholding these four broad principles—diversity, equity, access, and inclusion—all graduate
students, as well as their programs, communities, and nations stand to benefit.

The Council of Graduate Schools doesn’t have specific information on which graduate programs require training in pedagogy. But it has long promoted the idea that graduate programs should provide students the tools they need to be teachers in various capacities -- including at different institution types -- through the Preparing Future Faculty initiative (of which Springfield College is part).

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

Washington, DC – The Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Dr. Barbara A. Knuth, dean of The Graduate School at Cornell University, is the 2019 recipient of the Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education. Knuth received the honor at an awards ceremony held during the CGS 59th Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN.

For her invaluable contributions to the Cornell University graduate community, Dr. Knuth becomes the fourth Debra W. Stewart Award recipient. A passionate advocate for graduate education, Dr. Knuth implemented an array of student and program assessment initiatives to foster student success and continual academic program improvement including student and alumni surveys and data transparency dashboards.

During her years as dean, Knuth secured external resources to improve graduate education through multiple awards from NSF, CGS, Teagle, etc. She has fostered an inclusive and holistic approach to graduate student success through supporting programs including My Voice My Story facilitated discussions, Future Professors Institute, NextGen Professors, and Careers Beyond Academia, and is Co-PI on Cornell’s McNair program and PI on Cornell’s AGEP award.

Knuth has been involved in many CGS projects, including Understanding PhD Career Pathways for Program Improvement, Enhancing Student Financial Education and Literacy, and Preparing Future Faculty. She served on the Board of Directors of the Council of Graduate Schools, the GRE Board, the Executive Committee of the Association of Graduate Schools of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the AAU’s PhD Education Initiative Advisory Board, and on the Steering Committee for the Coalition for Next Generation Life Science.

“Barb’s colleagues in the higher education community recognize, as I do, her deep commitment to graduate education and her many leadership skills, including the ability to analyze and bring clarity to complex issues, to inspire staff and students, and to find creative ways to address problems,” said Cornell University Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff. “Dr. Knuth has been an extraordinarily effective leader for the Graduate School, improving accountability for student outcomes and graduate programs, increasing diversity and improving inclusion, and tirelessly advocating on key issues of most concern to graduate education, including immigration reform, financial aid, research support and healthcare coverage. Our university is indebted to Barb for her outstanding service.”

“Barb’s dedication and commitment to bettering the graduate school community is evidenced in many ways including the implementation of a suite of graduate student alumni surveys designed to inform program improvement and transparency regarding graduate outcomes,” said Dr. Christopher Sindt, provost of Lewis University and chair of the Council’s Board of Directors.   In addition, Sindt noted that “Barb is thoughtful, creative, and deeply committed to graduate education, both at the level of federal policy and at the level of each individual student’s welfare and success.”

The award was created in 2016 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 considers 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.

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.

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

Washington, DC – The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has awarded the 2019 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities to Dr. Nasser Mufti, associate professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The awards ceremony was held during the CGS 59th Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN.

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. Mufti becomes the award’s 49^th recipient for his book, Civilizing War: Imperial Politics and the Poetics of National Rupture (Northwestern UP, 2017). He received his PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine in 2012.

In Civilizing War: Imperial Politics and the Poetics of National Rupture, Mufti situates the place of civil war within the politics of empire by examining the “historical transformation of civil war from a civil affair into an uncivil crisis.” Through comparative readings of Thomas Carlyle, Benjamin Disraeli, Friedrich Engels, Nadine Gordimer, and others, Mufti demonstrates how these authors and intellectuals articulated a “poetics of national rupture” that came to signify the metropolitan nation and its colonial “others.” Through Civilizing War, Mufti “shifts the terms of Edward Said’s influential Orientalism to suggest that imperialism was not only organized around the norms of civility but also around narratives of civil war.”

“We are so pleased to present this year’s Arlt award to Dr. Mufti for the outstanding scholarship in his recent book Civilizing War. The Arlt award recognizes exceptional work by early-career humanities faculty, and Dr. Mufti’s work is an important contribution to understanding the complexities of imperialism and the inherent incivility of civil war,” said Dr. Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools.

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 World Language and Literature, Comparative Literature, and Drama/Theater Arts. The winner receives a $1,000 honorarium and travel to the awards ceremony.

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

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced grant funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for The Humanities Coalition, a new effort that will expand CGS’s work to understand and support the careers of PhDs. This latest endeavor seeks to further enhance our understanding of humanities PhDs and their careers and to refine humanities-specific strategies for curricular change and program improvement. One component of the new initiative is additional research to better understand the nature of early career transitions for humanists.

The project, a component of CGS’s Understanding PhD Career Pathways for Program Improvement project, builds upon three earlier phases of CGS Best Practice and research initiatives: a feasibility study supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; a survey development phase supported by Mellon, Sloan, and the National Science Foundation (NSF); and a data collection phase supported by Mellon and NSF.  There are currently 70 universities contributing data to the project.

Through a competitive sub-award process, the new effort will select ten U.S. doctoral-granting institutions to develop and assess initiatives for better supporting humanities PhD students transitioning from graduate school into the workforce. CGS has also received additional support from Mellon to expand the number of institutions currently collecting data about the careers of PhD students and alumni in the humanities.

“The PhD Career Pathways project has already provided valuable information about the careers of humanities PhD alumni and the career aspirations of humanities PhD students,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “With The Humanities Coalition, we hope to learn more about the kinds of transitions humanities PhDs face as they move from graduate school to career. Humanities PhDs have a wide variety of career pathways in front of them. We need to make sure they know what they are and how to access them.”

Richard Kurin, distinguished scholar and ambassador-at-large at the Smithsonian Institution and member of the CGS Employer Roundtable, provided a perspective from a large employer of humanities degree holders. “We know from CGS’s work on PhD career pathways that humanities PhDs are employed in all major sectors of the economy, and there is no doubt they play a critical role in leading and supporting cultural institutions,” Kurin said. “I am delighted to see that CGS is building on its important work by helping universities develop and refine practices that will help support successful transitions from humanities doctoral programs to a wide variety of career pathways. This can help fulfill the professional aspirations of talented, creative and accomplished scholars and also improve the institutions and causes they serve.”

Over the five-year project, an advisory committee (listed below) will guide CGS’s efforts to increase the impact and reach of the project and provide insights for addressing challenges and opportunities specific to various humanities disciplines. CGS will issue a Request-For-Proposals (RFP) to CGS member institutions to participate in the project as funded partners and will continue to work with its current partners to collect data in both STEM and humanities fields.

Advisory Committee Members:

• Carlos Alonso, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University
• Antoinette Burton, PI, Humanities without Walls; Director, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities; Professor of History and Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Susan Carvalho, Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School, The University of Alabama
• Joy Connolly, President, American Council of Learned Societies
• Elizabeth Dolan, Deputy Provost for Graduate Education, Lehigh University
• Patricia Easton, Executive Vice President and Provost, The Claremont Graduate University
• Daniel Fisher, Project Director, Humanities for All, National Humanities Alliance
• James Grossman, Executive Director, American Historical Association
• Paula Krebs, Executive Director, Modern Language Association
• Preselfannie Whitfield McDaniels, Dean, Division of Graduate Studies, Jackson State University
• Mary Papazian, President, San José State University
• Rob Townsend, Director of the Humanities Indicators and Director of the Washington Office, American Association of the Arts and Sciences
• Maren Wood, Co-Founder, Beyond the Professoriate

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First-time enrolment of Indigenous and Latinx students in US graduate-level programmes rose between autumn 2017 and 2018, according to a report from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) in Washington DC, which represents more than 500 universities, mainly in the United States.

Nearly two-thirds of deans that the Council of Graduate Students surveyed last year said they strongly agreed or agreed that current graduate students struggle to maintain their mental health more than students five years ago.

This lack of straightforwardness in career paths does not just affect graduates of four-year degree programs, said Hironao Okahana, associate vice president for research and policy analysis from the Council of Graduate Schools.