Students seeking to transfer to graduate schools could be at an even bigger disadvantage compared to regular applicants and other transfers. That being said, Suzanne T. Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools, told Teen Vogue it’s “hard to imagine that any graduate school isn’t going to take the current circumstances into consideration when assessing future graduate applications.”

CGS is providing information, networks, and a resource hub for member institutions as they work to support their students throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A list of CGS resources for navigating the pandemic can be seen below. New resources and opportunities to connect with your colleagues and CGS leadership will be added, so check this page frequently.

• The Graduate Community’s Response to COVID-19: A Conversation with Graduate Deans
• President Suzanne Ortega’s Office Hours
• Dean’s Discussion Board
• April 15 Resolution

Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools, said that many graduate programs admit students conditional on their achieving certain scores on the TOEFL or an equivalent exam. Those exams aren't available now in China and elsewhere, so graduate schools are working on other ways to evaluate students' English ability.

This page is designed to provide information on COVID-19 that may be relevant to your graduate programs and students. As this public health situation evolves, CGS may begin adding links to CGS member resources and communications.

April 15 Statement

• Click here to read CGS's update on how COVID-19 will impact the April 15 resolution.

Federal Agency Guidance (please note these are subject to updates/changes)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

Guidance for Institutions of Higher Education with Students Participating in International Travel or Study Abroad Programs

Interim Guidance for Administrators of US Institutions of Higher Education

Department of Homeland Security:

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Potential Procedural Adaptations for F and M Nonimmigrant Students

COVID-19: Guidance for SEVP Stakeholders

USCIS Temporarily Suspends Routine In-Person Services

Department of Education:

COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel

National Science Foundation:

Interim Guidance for Travel, Merit Review Panels, and NSF-Sponsored Meetings

RAPID Research on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Dear Colleague Letter (DCL)

NSF Supporting Research to Address Coronavirus Disease blog

National Institutes of Health:

General Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)- Proposal Submission and Award Management Related to COVID-19

University Responses

• APLU offers general guidance as well as a list of responses from its member institutions to the virus.

Additional Resources on International Issues

• NAFSA maintains a hub of news and information on education abroad, international students and scholars, and regulatory information.
• Educational Testing Service (click here for GRE and here for TOEFL), Cambridge English, IELTS maintain web pages with updates to information for international English and GRE test takers.

Additional Resources on Student Financial Aid Issues

• National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) maintains information related to COVID-19 on their Today’s News page.

CGS COVID-19 Legislative and Regulatory Updates

This resource hub includes resources on federal legislative and regulatory actions related to COVID-19, in addition to highlighting letters CGS has signed requesting specific actions to Congress and the Administration.

• Summary of higher education and research provisions in the CARES Act
• Table of individual legislative proposals to address COVID-19

To submit a resource for consideration, please email Matthew Linton. 

Although data released by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) this month shows increased graduate applications and enrollments at U.S. universities for the first time since fall 2016, the Graduate Management Admissions Council’s (GMAC) most recent application trends report documents a steep 13.7% decline in international applications to American business programs from 2018 to 2019.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced a partnership with the University of Maryland’s PERVADE: Pervasive Data Ethics to identify ways to enhance and influence the training graduate students receive when using big data methods in their research. The project, which will convene thought leaders from the big data ethics community and graduate deans from research-intensive institutions, has received funding support from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and Elsevier.

An increasing number of research disciplines and industry leaders embrace big data approaches as they pursue important research questions and product development. However, the methods used to assemble large datasets, and their applications in decision-making contexts, challenge existing ethical paradigms for data management, data integrity, human subject protections, and data use. Unfortunately, current attempts to identify and address these challenges are often focused within specific disciplines or corporate settings and offer little opportunity to integrate these evolving ethical concerns within master’s and doctoral programs.

“Graduate deans often oversee professional development and Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training curricula and are uniquely positioned to present the ethical concerns of big data research to their university communities and to bridge potential silos that impede the sharing of best practices to address these evolving challenges,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega.

CGS has long been interested in scholarly integrity in graduate education, including training graduate students in the ethical use of big data. The CGS 2015 Global Summit (“Implications of ‘Big Data’ for Graduate Education”) brought together policy experts from 15 countries to discuss the implications of big data in research but did not develop specific strategies to train graduate students in the ethical issues arising from its use to study human behaviors and activities. The 1.5-day workshop, which will take place in June 2020, will address a critical gap in our training of graduate students and future researchers: understanding the unique ethical challenges of data ownership and data management within the context of big data research.

Workshop goals include identifying specific ethical challenges that arise from the use of big data resources in graduate student research, critiquing existing resources for training, identifying potential levers for change, and formulating strategies for deploying and embedding resources for big data ethics within the RCR training curriculum. This conversation will empower graduate deans to expand our current training paradigms for scholarly integrity to address the evolving ethical challenges presented by big data.

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International graduate application and first-time enrollment rates have increased at U.S. universities for the first time since fall 2016, reported the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).

After two consecutive years of declines in international graduate student applications and first-time enrollments, U.S. institutions reported increases in both categories for 2019. That’s the key takeaway from a just-released survey of American graduate schools conducted by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).

First-time enrollments of international students at U.S. graduate schools increased by 4 percent in fall 2019 compared to the previous fall, according to new survey results from the Council of Graduate Schools. Applications from prospective international graduate students also increased by 3 percent.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                  

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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