“It’s clear to me that the increase in the number of students pursuing part-time degrees is an indicator of folks looking for flexibility in when and how they access graduate education,” said CGS president Dr. Suzanne Ortega. “We don’t have the data specifically on enrollment in online programs, but we know that the areas where there’s growth in master’s and part-time are often delivered virtually.” 

"One of the positive aspects of the pandemic and our age of uncertainty is that graduate programs have gotten much better at flexibility and capacity to accommodate working adults on a part-time basis and online," said Suzanne Ortega, CGS’s president. "That had been starting to happen over time, but I think it has really accelerated over the past year."

Washington, DC — New data from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) on graduate enrollments and degrees demonstrate the continued demand for graduate education in the U.S. According to a CGS report released today, both graduate applications (7.3%) and first-time graduate enrollment (1.8%) increased overall for the Fall 2020 semester, welcome news during the disruptive COVID-19 pandemic. While international graduate first-time enrollment declined 37.4%, domestic enrollment grew 12.9% — growth driven, in part, by increases in traditionally underrepresented students. First-time, part-time graduate enrollment increased by 13.5%. These data are part of the latest CGS/GRE Graduate Enrollment & Degrees: 2010-2020 report.

“Graduate schools had to pivot quickly as the pandemic disrupted traditional modes of instruction, increasing part-time, virtual, and hybrid learning options,” said CGS President Suzanne Ortega. “To see continued growth in first-time enrollment rates during a global pandemic shows confidence in the value of graduate education and the importance of increased flexibility in delivery methods.”

Ortega added that an increase in flexible learning options has supported diversity. “It’s striking that 43.4% of graduate students are enrolled part-time and these students are more likely to be women and students from traditionally underrepresented groups. We’ve long believed that improved access would further diversify the graduate student body, and these data provide supporting evidence.”

Between Fall 2019 and Fall 2020, first-time enrollment among underrepresented minorities grew at a healthy pace. First-time graduate enrollment of American Indian/Alaska Native students increased 8.8%, with corresponding increases of 16.0% for Black/African American students and 20.4% for Latinx students. While this growth is encouraging, Black/African American students constitute 12.8% of U.S. citizens and permanent resident graduate students overall, and remain considerably underrepresented in physical and earth sciences (3.8%), engineering (6.2%), and biological and agricultural sciences (6.6%). Similarly, Latinx students constitute 12.0% of U.S. citizens and permanent resident graduate students, and remain considerably underrepresented in mathematics and computer sciences (9.9%) and physical and earth sciences (10.4%).

Institutions responding to the CGS/GRE Survey of Graduate Enrollment & Degrees for Fall 2020 enrolled more than 1.7 million graduate students. Nearly three quarters (72.9%) of total graduate enrollment was in master’s programs. Over one million of those graduate students, or 59.7%, were women. Education (63.8%), business (53.0%), and health sciences (43.0%) continue to be the three largest broad fields of study and the fields with the largest proportions of part-time graduate students.

About the report

Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 2010 to 2020 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 includes responses from 558 institutions and presents statistics on graduate applications and enrollment for Fall 2020, degrees conferred in 2019-20, and trend data for one-, five- and ten-year periods.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

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

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced a cooperative agreement with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF# 2105723) to lead the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Innovation Acceleration Hub, which is designed to foster learning and collaboration among awardees of NSF’s IGE program and the broader STEM graduate education community. The Hub aims to amplify the impact of the NSF IGE grantees’ projects by providing mechanisms to support creative, widespread, and sustainable change across U.S. graduate institutions.

Over the five-year project, CGS will work with IGE grantees to design Hub activities, develop strategies for greater visibility for the grantees’ work, and engage a broader audience of stakeholders. By creating opportunities for IGE project teams to communicate regularly, the IGE Innovation Acceleration Hub will provide a platform for participants to share lessons learned, promoting scalable, successful practices within and across grantee institutions. Increasing the number and competitiveness of proposals from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), other minority-serving institutions (MSIs), and other institutions serving underrepresented populations will be a core component of the project.

“The goals of NSF’s Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program are closely aligned with CGS’s core mission of advancing master’s and doctoral education and research, and we’re well positioned to leverage our role as a membership organization to broaden awareness for the wonderfully innovative work developed by IGE awardees,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. “We’re dedicated to facilitating the development and implementation of bold, transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training.”

The range of Hub activities will include assessment of needs and interests among Hub participants, the development of a dedicated website, workshops, and a range of activities that engage disciplinary societies and other organizations with a strong commitment to graduate education. An external evaluation will help CGS to continuously refine Hub activities to support participants’ needs and advance the goals of the IGE program.

“This cooperative agreement with the Council of Graduate Schools will accelerate national innovation in graduate education in STEM and broaden participation in the IGE program,” said Sylvia Butterfield, acting assistant director for NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate.  “The IGE Innovation Acceleration Hub will strengthen and expand the community of researchers, educators and administrative leaders engaged in identifying and implementing evidence-based best practices in graduate education.”

The Hub Advisory Committee members include:

• Lisa Amini, Director, IBM Research Cambridge; Member, CGS Employer Roundtable
• David Asai, Senior Director, Science Education, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
• Lorelle Espinosa, Program Director, DEI in STEM Education, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• Norman Fortenberry, Executive Director, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
• Cynthia Fuhrmann, Assistant Dean of Career and Professional Development, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UMASS Medical School; Principal Investigator, pd|hub
• LaTrease Garrison, Senior Vice President, Education and Membership, American Chemical Society
• Ann Quiroz Gates, Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs and Director, CAHSI INCLUDES Alliance, University of Texas at El Paso
• Juan Gonzalez, Dean of the Graduate School, University of Texas at Dallas
• Clay Gloster, Vice Provost of Graduate Research and Dean of the Graduate College, North Carolina A&T State University
• Sara Hernández, Associate Dean, Inclusion and Student Engagement, Cornell University; Chair, CGS Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee
• Maureen Hoyler, President, Council of Opportunity in Education (COE)
• David Kieda, Dean of the Graduate School, University of Utah
• Christine Ortiz, Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT; Founder, Social Entrepreneur, Station1
• Michelle Penn-Marshall, Vice President for Research and Associate Provost, Hampton University
• Talitha Washington, Director, Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC) Data Science Initiative

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Below are downloadable figures and tables from Graduate Enrollment and Degrees, 2010-2020. Each figure is available as a PDF. Each table is available as an Excel file and a PDF. 

CGS summer intern Kay Gomes Saul chose the New York City campus of Pace University for her undergraduate education because she thought it would offer her a lot of opportunities. She also wanted to stay in a major metropolitan city. Saul spent the majority of her childhood in South America, moving to New York during high school, and she feared the discrimination she could face if she moved to a less diverse city.

Double majoring in English and sociology/anthropology, she planned to attend graduate school to earn a PhD in either sociology or anthropology, but her plans were upended. “I was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease called Keratoconus,” said Saul. “So, I was slowly going blind during undergrad, and I eventually went completely blind at the start of my junior year. I was fortunate to have two corneal transplants, and I started to think about medical school as an option, but I realized it was not the right fit for me.”

After interning at a few non-profits, Saul received a job offer in the private sector right before graduation. She worked with several small businesses and started to notice a significant lack of leadership. “I was motivated basically by having really bad bosses. I realized how many small business owners were looking for direction. A lot of them were first-generation entrepreneurs from immigrant populations, and I saw an opportunity to help guide them with strategy and project management,” said Saul. “The lack of empathy in leadership started to get to me.”

Saul began working for a business that implemented upward evaluations. This meant that the 10-person team she managed had the opportunity to give her feedback. “It was an interesting experience. I scored pretty low on EQ, and I realized that I was contributing to the same problem I had identified in my own managers. I didn't have a mentor in the workplace to teach me how to be a more empathetic leader. I started reading books on leadership, took a ‘leading with EQ’ course, and really invested in being a better manager and leader. The curiosity grew and inspired me to pursue an MBA. I chose the University of Illinois – Gies College of Business because of their mission to democratize graduate education and make MBAs more accessible.” From Saul’s perspective, being an expert in a field is very different than leading people in that field. “It's like the difference between knowing something and teaching something. Leadership is all encompassing; it's teaching and learning to relate to others. It's also about being vulnerable and willing to put the needs of your employees ahead of your own.”

When Saul graduates with her MBA from the Gies MBA program, she hopes to work for a larger company. “I want to help corporations expand internationally in ways that are socially and environmentally sustainable. There are enormous opportunities in other countries, but business expansion should avoid exploitation of the people and the land at all costs.”

Saul says her best advice for prospective graduate students is to find a mentor you can relate to, someone who you see aspects of yourself in. “I went through undergrad and most of my career without that, and I think about how my life would be different if I’d taken the opportunity to find a mentor who I saw myself in. I’m multiracial, multicultural, and an immigrant and I felt I was really different from everyone else for a long time. I had a very complex racial identity, and I didn't know where I fit. If you see someone you admire, tell them, and don’t be afraid to ask for guidance.”

In addition to pursuing her MBA and working, Saul is a competitive power lifter. She’s faced additional health challenges in recent years and says she’s learned lessons from being a competitive athlete that she’s applied to her work and her studies. “Part of my recovery was rebuilding strength, which led me to power lifting. My coach is an extraordinary leader, and he’s been very influential. Watching his leadership in action helped lead me to pursue my MBA and has helped me learn to set small, achievable goals.”

Saul credits her ability to self-motivate with getting her though all the adversity and obstacles she’s faced. “When you realize tomorrow isn’t promised, you feel this internal drive to do more and be better. I look forward to the day when I feel content.” Until then, Saul will be finishing her MBA, working part time, serving as a board member of UIUC’s Students Advising Graduate Education (SAGE) and as a course assistant (CA) for the MBA program, volunteering, and she hopes to be an MBA-program mentor next spring. “From my perspective, leading doesn't have anything to do with being the boss.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

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

Washington, DC — The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has announced that Lisa Tedesco, currently vice provost for academic affairs – graduate studies and dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies at Emory University, has been named the CGS Dean-in-Residence for 2021-2022.  Tedesco, a long-time advocate for graduate education, has served as a member of the boards of CGS and the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and as president of the Association of American Universities (AAU) Association of Graduate Schools.

CGS established the Dean-in-Residence program to incorporate a campus-based perspective across the Council’s projects and initiatives. The program offers an opportunity for graduate deans and associate or assistant deans at member institutions to spend an academic year at CGS’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Each year the CGS president selects one applicant to pursue projects aligned with the dean’s interests and the Council’s needs.

Tedesco will help the Council on projects connecting best practices for mentoring and mental health/well-being. 

“Lisa has spent her academic career dedicated to building environments where students can do their best work, supporting student mental health and well-being, creating opportunities for interdisciplinary study and professional development, and ensuring equitable access to quality graduate education,” said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega. “Her expertise in health promotion and wellness will help CGS members better understand the power of high-quality mentoring, in addressing the value of wellbeing for student success.”

In accepting the appointment, Tedesco expressed her readiness to join the CGS team. “I’m so looking forward to this opportunity. Much of my academic career has focused on collaboration across teams. The dean-in-residence role will allow me to work on connecting and expanding best practices representing the commitments and values of CGS and the graduate communities served by our leadership. The Council is an essential resource for anyone interested in graduate education, and I look forward to contributing to its mission.”

Tedesco received her doctorate in educational psychology from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Before her time at Emory, she was a professor and associate dean in the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan (UM) and also served as UM’s Vice President and Secretary and as Interim Provost. She will step down from her current role at the end of August; her Dean-in-Residence position begins on Oct. 1.

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As CGS summer intern Lydia Gandy-Fastovich was finishing her bachelor’s degree in human development at the University of California, Davis, she knew she wanted to do something in education. “I was really interested in education and how it’s a springboard for people to expand opportunities. In the K-12 setting, it’s also something that everyone in the U.S. experiences and it’s a very impactful time. But, teaching didn’t feel like a future career for me,” said Gandy-Fastovich. So, she worked in the human resources office at a school district and learned the business side of education and how the administration functions, but she didn’t feel like she was making an impact.

After applying to a few different graduate programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Gandy-Fastovich settled on the educational leadership and policy analysis doctoral program. She had been drawn to education policy but had no experience in it.  She says, “The ELPA program was one I felt very connected to, and it had a social justice oriented focus that I thought would be important for my training.”

In the early stages of her dissertation research, Gandy-Fastovich will focus on K-12 education, specifically working with parents who have children receiving special education in public K-12 schools. Of particular interest to her is working with parents of color and parents who aren’t native English speakers to learn more about their experiences navigating the system. According to Gandy-Fastovich, those communities are often left out, and data show there’s a disproportionate number of students of color in special education classes, especially Black boys. “I’m trying to unpack that a little bit. There’s federal law about special education that requires a parent be involved and provide a more holistic view of the child. I wonder if there are inconsistencies or gaps in how some parents are included that hinders that holistic view. A child not doing well in school doesn’t necessarily mean they need special education.”

While unclear as to what comes after her doctorate, Gandy-Fastovich has enjoyed working in higher education and could see herself following the higher education administration path, but she’s also enjoyed learning about the public policy and government affairs side of higher education during her time at CGS. “Understanding how advocacy happens, and all the ways you have to be plugged into what’s happening in the public policy arena has been eye opening. I’m learning how to translate complex policy so that it’s more accessible to a broad audience, and I’ve found that to be very exciting and really important work.”

Along the way, Gandy-Fastovich’s been fortunate to have good mentors. As an undergraduate, she had a graduate student mentor who was instrumental in helping her feel confident that graduate school was an option. For the last three years, she’s worked in the UW-Madison Graduate School’s Office of Professional Development. “I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t had that job opportunity and met my two supervisors, Eileen Callahan and Amy Fruchtman,” said Gandy-Fastovich. “The focus was always on us as students first, and then leveraging what we learned to build stronger professional development opportunities for graduate students. I actually knew a bit about CGS before my internship, because we used the CGS PhD Career Pathways data to determine programming and develop resources.”

Gandy-Fastovich’s advice to prospective graduate students is simple: connect with graduate students and mentors and learn as much as you can from them. “I’ve found that graduate students really appreciate the opportunity to talk about their work, so if you reach out to someone, they’ll generally be excited to talk to you.” Gandy-Fastovich also recognizes that people’s experiences and levels of comfort vary and believes the hidden curriculum is a challenge for many. “My family always assumed I would go to college; that was never a question. But, that’s not everyone’s experience and keeping perspective is so important.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                                                 Contact: Katherine Hazelrigg

August 18, 2021                                                                           (202) 461-3888 / khazelrigg@cgs.nche.edu

Washington, DC — Today the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced grant funding from The National Science Foundation (NSF# 2100343) to explore the role of master’s education in preparing, upskilling, and reskilling the STEM workforce. The project will expand our understanding of how master’s education across all fields prepares the STEM workforce, examining the extent to which skills, expertise, and competencies instilled through master’s education align with rapidly evolving jobs and industries of the future.

Understanding Roles of Masters Education in Entry Into, and Upskilling and Reskilling for, the STEM Workforce, will contribute to the development of a data infrastructure for future research on master’s education while providing more nuanced insights into labor market outcomes of master’s degrees by various fields of study, gender, race/ethnicity, and career stages. Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reveal that many of the fastest-growing fields will require master’s degrees, but little information exists about professional pathways. This research will shed light on how master’s education may facilitate transitions to STEM careers for non-STEM undergraduate majors.

“This project has the potential to bolster institutional capacities to gather comprehensive outcomes data on master’s education at the program level. This is critically important for graduate programs seeking to better align their curricula with core competencies and to make career outcomes more transparent to prospective students,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. Ortega noted that the project will also address the role of master’s programs in creating a more diverse STEM workforce. “By illuminating the role of master’s education in entering and advancing in STEM careers--- not to mention building bridges to STEM doctoral education— the project has the potential to inform efforts to broaden the participation of women and persons of color in advanced scientific and engineering occupations.”

The value of this project is echoed by members of the CGS Employer Roundtable. “As a leading government contractor, Peraton’s ability to support national security missions of consequence relies on employing a diverse group of people who have the deep technical knowledge demanded in the space, cyber, defense, homeland security, and citizen services markets,” said Chris Valentino, chief strategy officer, Peraton. “I support this new CGS project because it will help us better understand the role of master's education in preparing students for careers in critical STEM fields.”

Over the three-year project, a census of all master’s degree recipients will be conducted through an exit survey at ten CGS institutions, serving as a complement to the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED). The ten universities will be chosen through an RFP process that will assess applications based on the number of master’s programs offered and degrees conferred. The RFP will be issued in fall 2021.

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