Reshaping the Graduate Education of Scientists and Engineers (1995) / Chapter Skim
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4 DISCUSSION OF MAJOR RELATED ISSUES
4 DISCUSSION OF MAJOR RELATED ISSUES
Pages 65-74
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From page 65... ...
We are aware of the reports of unemployment and underemployment among new doctorate recipients, and survey data indicate that recent PhDs are finding it harder to make the transition from graduate school and postdoctoral study to career positions (see Chapter 2)
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From page 66... ...
~ is ~ The committee cannot measure employment difficulties precisely, but the evidence received from witnesses and other contributors is persuasive that problems exist in at least some sectors. Some recent PhDs have indicated that they regretted having spent time and money on doctoral work that turned out not to be useful in their permanent jobs.
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From page 67... ...
Thus, even if PhD production does fall in the near term, science and engineering graduate students might do well to prepare themselves for an increasingly diverse set of career paths. Limitations of Supply-Demand Models for Forecasting Science and Engineering Personnel Needs Supply-demand models are not now adequate for predicting whether there will be an undersupply or oversupply of trained scientists and engineers (Fechter, 1990; Leslie and Oaxaca, 1990; NSB, 1993; Vetter, 19931.
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From page 68... ...
Understanding the dynamics of and trends in career paths of scientists and engineers with advanced degrees in the various employment sectors is especially important. The results should be disseminated to prospective graduate students, to graduate students, to postdoctoral fellows, and to the faculty who advise them.
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From page 69... ...
Foreign citizens achieved a majority of science and engineering postdoctoral appointments in the United States in 1991. Support of Foreign Graduate Students Immigration laws have been changed to place some restrictions on foreign citizens with temporary student visas who are enrolled in US graduate science and engineering programs.
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From page 70... ...
Critics of increased graduate enrollment of foreigners also have charged that cultural and language differences make many of them ineffective in the classroom and limit their ability to succeed in the labor market, that their graduate training has been unfairly subsidized by American taxpayers, that they depress salaries and thus interfere with an important market signal that would attract more American students, and that their presence discourages defense-related research in industry and on campus (CRS, 19921. A bill was introduced in 1992 2 In addition, an unknown number of foreign citizens come to work in the United States after receiving their PhDs from foreign institutions.
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From page 71... ...
To the extent that there is a limit on the number of departmental "slots" for graduate students, we are inclined to believe that the real issue is the lack of US students, rather than the increasing presence of foreign students in our graduate science and engineering programs, but it is difficult to assess the claim that the easy access to foreign students has prevented an adequate response of the system to declining US student interest. If graduate programs are filled with foreigners, the programs do not have to make adjustments in enrollments or in content to make them more relevant to US students.
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From page 72... ...
The committee discussed the issue of longer time to first permanent position, the possible causes, and the significance. We are concerned about the costs of increased time to first permanent position and the role of increased TTD in it, but we hesitate to recommend a particular time limit for completion of the PhD or a particular length of postdoctoral study, partly in recognition of the great diversity of graduate students, disciplinary requirements, and educational institutions missions.
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From page 73... ...
Other institutions allow students to receive teaching assistantships for only 4 years; still others limit the time that a student can work on a single research project. Whatever the institutional guidelines are, they must be implemented, monitored, and enforced to ensure that graduate students are never used to provide inexpensive labor on research projects or in teaching.
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