The Invisible University: Postdoctoral Education in the United States. Report of a Study Conducted Under the Auspices of the National Research Council. [Richard B. Curtis, Study Director] (1969) / Chapter Skim
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Pages 1-6
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From page 1... ...
In the division of biology at the California Institute of Technology, which has long been a center of postdoctoral education, postdoctoral s outnumbered professors four to one in 196768.1 At the Harvard Medical School in 1967-68 there were more postdoctoral research fellows than medical students.2 The postdoctoral scholar is not easy to describe. He can be a doctor of philosophy (PhD)
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From page 2... ...
On many campuses the title of research associate is given both to short-term postdoctoral scholars receiving support from research project funds and to long-term research staff. The title of postdoctoral fellow is equally imprecise.
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That this large a number of holders of the doctorate should be welcome at several hundred different host institutions implies that something is very right about postdoctoral study. The eagerness with which former postdoctorals are sought by university departments for faculty positions suggests that the experience and/or the selectivity of the postdoctoral appointment makes this group particularly attractive.
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From page 4... ...
When asked why his university encourages postdoctoral education, one graduate dean replied: "I am not sure we could be said to have a rationale; we permit rather than promote postdoctoral study." For the most part, postdoctorals come to a university provided with their own support, seeking the use of certain facilities, or they come as employees under a faculty research grant. The administration is aware that the faculty member wants the postdoctoral in his laboratory to assist with his research, but it seldom asks why the postdoctoral seeks such a position.
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From page 5... ...
The recruiting officer of a major industrial firm has expressed concern over the large number of science graduates who are hired by universities to do research with funds supplied by the federal agencies. Others have suggested that the availability of postdoctorals has enabled universities, with their lower overheads, to compete successfully for federal research contracts that might otherwise have gone to industry.
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From page 6... ...
Although the dimensions of postdoctoral education have increased steadily, particularly since World War II, this is the first time that it has been the subject of a comprehensive study. Bernard Berelson, in his well-known Graduate Education in the United States, published in 1960, devoted ten pages to postdoctoral education.
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