report: Graduate Education: The Backbone of American ... · America’s continued leadership in innovation and competitiveness. We face the risk of losing the highly trained workforce

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GraduateEducationThe Backbone of AmericanCompetitiveness and Innovation

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Herbert AllisonChairman, President and CEOTIAA-CREF

G. Jay Gogue ChancellorUniversity of Houston - TX

Ann Weaver HartPresidentTemple University

Karen A. HolbrookPresidentOhio State University

Peter LehrerChairmanLehrer, Inc.

E X - O F F I C I O

Debra W. StewartPresidentCouncil of Graduate Schools

Harold L. MartinSenior Vice President ofAcademic AffairsUniversity of North CarolinaSystem

Mary Ann Mason Dean of the Graduate DivisionUniversity of California,Berkeley

Suzanne Ortega Vice Provost and Dean of theGraduate SchoolUniversity of Washington

William B. Russel Dean, Graduate SchoolPrinceton University

Michael A. SmyerDean of Graduate StudiesBoston College

Ronald D. TownsendPresidentOak Ridge AssociatedUniversities

Richard WheelerDean of the Graduate CollegeUniversity of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign

Irving Wladawsky-BergerVice President, TechnicalStrategy and InnovationIBM

Advisory Committee on GraduateEducation and American Competitiveness

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GraduateEducationThe Backbone of AmericanCompetitiveness and Innovation

A report from the Council of Graduate Schools Advisory Committee on Graduate Education and American Competitiveness

Contents

Executive Summary page 1

Overview page 5

A Graduate Education Policy Framework page 9

An Action Agenda to Strengthen U.S. Competitiveness and Innovation page 24

Conclusion page 28

About the Council of Graduate Schools page 30

Acknowledgements page 30

It is tempting to be complacent about the futureof American competitiveness. The United Statesis the world’s largest economy and our higher

education system is the envy of the world. As thehome of Google, Genentech, and other path-breaking enterprises, we are known for our innova-tion and creativity. Our investments in scientificresearch have produced products and processes thathave improved prosperity and national security.

But as our world flattens, we face new and growingcompetition. We can no longer take for grantedAmerica’s continued leadership in innovation andcompetitiveness. We face the risk of losing thehighly trained workforcethat is essential to maintainour economic leadership.The warning signals arethere. For example, asreported by the NationalScience Foundation (NSF),i

the number of scientificpapers published byAmericans has fluctuatedaround a constant numberover the past decade.Meanwhile the number ofscientific papers published in other countries hasgrown by over 30 percent. U.S. scientific and tech-nological leadership has until now been assured bythe combination of graduate programs unparalleledin excellence and the steady supply of the world’smost talented students. However, other countriesare significantly increasing their investments ingraduate education and attracting top students.

This report—Graduate Education: The Backbone ofAmerican Competitiveness and Innovation—urges policymakers, business leaders, and higher educa-tion officials to unite together in making theinvestments necessary to enhance U.S. innovationand national security through stronger support forand attention to graduate education.

A highly trained workforce is essential to America’sfuture economic competitiveness and nationalsecurity. Graduate education, a vital part of theU.S. education system, must be strengthened aspart of a national strategy on innovation and competitiveness. The work of graduate students

contributes directly to oursustained economic growthand prosperity. Graduate students conduct ground-breaking research in univer-sities, national laboratories,and private industry.

This report provides a frame-work of graduate educationpolicies that will enhanceU.S. competitiveness. Itspecifically addresses the role

of graduate education in ensuring that the knowl-edge creators and innovators of tomorrow have thecultural awareness, skills, and expertise to competeeffectively in a knowledge-based global economy. Itprovides an analysis of accomplishments, areas forimprovement, and associated recommendations.The action agenda that follows is designed tostrengthen U.S. competitiveness and innovation

1

Executive Summary

“We can no longer take for granted

America’s continued leadership in innovation

and competitiveness.”

through a renewed commitment to graduate educa-tion. The program includes the following:

Develop a highly skilled workforce by fostering collaboration among leaders inhigher education, business, and government

The role of universities:n Encourage graduate schools to urge their

students to become citizen scholars by usingtheir knowledge and skills in a real-world setting to gain scholarship and experiencethrough service to the community, the state, the nation and the world

n Identify successful models that incorporateentrepreneurship across graduate curricula, aswell as future directions for exploring the powerof entrepreneurship in graduate education

n Provide more opportunities for doctoral studentsto evaluate the entire range of career options invarious nonacademic settings, so that they canmake sound career choices and successfully prepare for and pursue nonacademic careers

n Continue to expand innovative professional master’s degrees in order to address pressingnational needs in such critical fields as mathe-matics, science, engineering, social sciences, and humanities

n Continue to provide exposure to the array ofroles and responsibilities graduate students faceas part of the professoriate of the 21st century

n Broaden awareness of the risks associated withunderfunding graduate education and theimpact on innovation and national security.

The role of business leaders:n Urge support for new federal legislation that

authorizes funding for professional master’sprograms as an important component in build-ing the nation’s innovation infrastructure

n Engage in collaborative ventures with graduateschools

n Broaden awareness of the risks associated withunderfunding graduate education and theimpact on innovation and national security

n Adopt hiring practices that offer interdiscipli-nary thinkers a “home” to commercialize their abilities

n Expand career tracks that link promotion andadvancement to risk-taking basic research, particularly among technical employees.Develop reward systems for team contributionsand promote individuals who want to pursueinterdisciplinary projects.

The role of policymakers:n Provide support for students at both the

master’s and doctoral levels in science, technol-ogy, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)fields, including social sciences, as well as disciplines that foster global understanding oflanguages and culture

n Increase federal funds for graduate educationprograms by at least 10 percent at every agency

n Fashion graduate support and research programs to reward creativity and risk-taking as a key component of a U.S. strategy on innovation.

Expand participation of underrepresentedgroups in all fields, especially those essential to American competitiveness and national security

The role of universities:n Develop more effective strategies to increase

diversity in higher education, with particularattention to the programs that link nationalsecurity and economic competitiveness

n Initiate new and expand existing scholarshipprograms to attract more underrepresented students into STEM fields

n Identify “best practices” in reducing attritionand shortening time required to receive adegree; this information should be promulgatedthroughout the graduate education community

n Develop personnel policies and provideresources to enable students, particularlywomen, to pursue challenging STEM careerswhile meeting family responsibilities.

2 G R A D U A T E E D U C A T I O N : T H E B A C K B O N E O F

The role of business leaders:n Emphasize the contributions of a diverse

workforce for economic competitiveness andnational security.

The role of policymakers:n Create incentives for students, particularly

underrepresented groups, to pursue graduateeducation in STEM fields, social sciences, andhumanities, through portable and competitivefellowships and traineeships, loan forgiveness,and other measures

n Create a program, funded by H-1B visa pro-gram revenues, to encourage U.S. domestic students to pursue graduate education in keyareas of national need that are at the cutting-edge of new markets

n Identify strategies and funding mechanisms thatwill encourage more women and underrepre-sented groups in STEM fields to advance toleadership positions.

Create a vision for all U.S. students thatcareers in the STEM fields can be engaging,compelling, transparent and remunerative

The role of universities:n Identify strategies to increase interest in STEM

graduate education among U.S. students

n Enhance undergraduate and graduate programsby continuing to develop new pathways toSTEM careers that link education outcomes toworkforce needs.

The role of business leaders:n Increase efforts to raise public awareness about

the challenges to American competitiveness and security and the need for highly skilledworkers in science, technology, social sciences,and humanities

n Acknowledge and publicize the contributionsof STEM practitioners and their impact onour lives. Find ways to recognize individualscientists and engineers in the U.S. and inter-national media

n Develop more effective partnerships with universities and state governments that willencourage the best and the brightest to continue in STEM careers.

The role of policymakers:n Create policy incentives to encourage technical

staff scientists and engineers to volunteer inlocal schools to promote STEM education andmentor students.

Produce a highly educated workforce withadvanced skills and the flexibility to competein an interdisciplinary environment at thefrontier of knowledge creation

The role of universities:n Build management structures that encourage

inter-program as well as cross-program collaboration

n Develop budget structures that foster linksbetween interdisciplinary research programsand graduate curricula.

The role of business leaders:n Embrace job applicants who are graduates of

innovative programs designed to respond to theneeds of the 21st century workforce

n Enhance communication with graduate schoolsto clearly convey employer needs in the 21stcentury economy.

The role of policymakers:n Expand models pioneered by NSF and the

National Institutes of Health (NIH), such as the Integrative Graduate Education andResearch Traineeship (IGERT) program and the interdisciplinary grant program atNIH, to address the impact of graduate education and research on advancing knowledge in cutting-edge fields in supportof U.S. competitiveness

n Dedicate a percentage of federal researchagency budgets to programs that focus on newfrontiers in research

3A M E R I C A N C O M P E T I T I V E N E S S A N D I N N O V A T I O N

n Institute an R&D tax credit to encourage private investment in innovative research

n Provide tax credits to employers so that practicingscientists and engineers can participate in career-long learning and retrain for new job markets.

Attract and retain the best and brightest students from around the world

The role of universities:n Continue to work with the federal government

to make the visa process more efficient so thatinternational students, scholars, and STEMworkers can enter the United States in a timelyand efficient manner

n Utilize alumni programs to maintain relation-ships with international graduates who return totheir home countries.

The role of business leaders:n Emphasize the contributions of highly skilled

international workers to local, regional, andnational economies.

The role of policymakers:n Continue to improve the visa process so

that the pathway for international students,scholars, and STEM practitioners is made more efficient, allowing them to contribute to America’s leadership and global competitiveness

n Create clear pathways to permanent residencyfor top international students and scholars byreforming immigration policies. For example, a proposed new visa category for doctoral students and scholars was included in variousimmigration bills last year

n Maintain “deemed export” policies that do notinappropriately constrain international students’ability to pursue graduate research.

Enhance the quality of graduate educationthrough ongoing evaluation and research

The role of universities:n Actively engage in the National Research

Council’s Assessment of Research Doctoral programs, a major national effort to develop benchmarks to ensure the quality of graduate education

n Continue to use information generated throughthe Council of Graduate Schools’ Ph.D.Completion Project, which aims to assess com-pletion rates in doctoral education and dissemi-nate best practices to higher education officials.

The role of business leaders:n Support risk-taking research programs that

prepare individuals for employment in a knowledge-based global economy.

The role of policymakers:n Use information from studies assessing the

quality and accountability of graduate education.

America’s success as the world’s economic leader is rooted in our impressive graduate education system. Strengthened support in key fields at thegraduate level is critical to maintaining our com-petitive edge and ensuring the security of all U.S.citizens. As MIT economist Lester Thurow wrotenearly 15 years ago, “in the 21st century, the edu-cation and skills of the workforce will end up beingthe dominant competitive weapon.”ii


i National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2006, Appendix Tables. Washington, DC.

ii Thurow, Lester. 1993. Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe, and America. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.


This report calls on policymakers, businessleaders, and higher education officials tounite together in making the investments

necessary to enhance U.S. innovation and nationalsecurity in the 21st century. Graduate educationprepares the knowledge creators and innovators oftomorrow with the skills, expertise, and culturalawareness needed to compete effectively in theknowledge-based global economy. The work ofgraduate students contributes directly to sustainedeconomic growth, prosperity, and national security.Up to now, these contributions have been sus-tained by innovation and adedication to excellence withineach sector, and piecemealcollaborations between sec-tors. This report expressesthe belief that while thisapproach has been effectivein meeting the short-termgoals of each sector, it is nolonger adequate to meet the long-term challengesour nation faces in the 21st century global economy.Graduate education is a vital part of the U.S. education system, which must be nurtured andstrengthened as part of a national strategy on innovation and competitiveness.

The risks to maintaining our competitive positionin science, technology, engineering, and mathe-matics (STEM) have been widely noted. For example, as reported by the National ScienceFoundation (NSF),1 the number of scientificpapers published by Americans has fluctuatedaround a constant number over the past decade.

Meanwhile the number of scientific papers pub-lished in other countries has grown by over 30 per-cent. U.S. scientific and technological leadership hasuntil now been assured by the combination of grad-uate programs unparalleled in excellence and thesteady supply of the world’s most talented students.However, other countries are significantly increas-ing their investments in graduate education andattracting top students. To use Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman’s phrase, thisnew competition promises to flatten the world inways that we can only begin to imagine and with

profound implications forour nation’s economic future.

The STEM fields havereceived the lion’s share ofattention in recent yearsbecause of their immediateimpact on U.S. competitive-ness. But the social sciences,

humanities, and arts are also critically important toour nation’s long-term competitiveness and intellec-tual security: they are vital for innovation and prob-lem solving within our communities, regions, andstates, as well as nationally and globally. Some arguethat national economic competitiveness in the futurewill depend on a “creative class” of knowledgeworkers who exhibit not just the mastery of a subject area, but the creative ability and drive toreshape the boundaries of knowledge and navigatebetween geocultural boundaries. As globalizationmakes geography matter less and technology mattermore, those workers with “high concept” and “hightouch” abilities will become increasingly valuable.2

Overview

“Graduate education isa vital part of the U.S.

education system…”

U.S. graduate programs develop students withcreative and problem solving skills and an abilityto traverse through different cultures and commu-nities in subjects as diverse as bioinformatics,physics, anthropology, and foreign languages.Today’s employers highly value such intellectualskills. It is these skills that will enable the UnitedStates to remain competitive in the global economy.The nurturing of these traits in U.S. graduate pro-grams will also enable us to protect our nationalsecurity, whether from political forces, diseases, ornatural disasters.

Recent reports have enu-merated the multiple threatsto future U.S. competitive-ness and have proposed spe-cific recommendations forimprovement. InnovateAmerica (2005), by theCouncil on Competitive-ness, and Rising Above theGathering Storm: Energizingand Employing America for aBrighter Economic Future(2005), from the National Academy of Sciences(NAS), include recommendations to strengthenU.S. graduate education, particularly in STEMfields. Rising Above the Gathering Storm, for exam-ple, recommends that we renew our efforts tomake the United States an attractive place to studyand perform research, so that we can continue todevelop, recruit, and retain the best and brighteststudents, scientists, and engineers from both theUnited States and around the world.

For decades, both American and international students have considered the United States the des-tination of choice for graduate study and subsequentemployment, but there is evidence that this percep-tion is changing. As other countries and regionsaround the world strengthen their efforts to recruitinternational students and retain their own top talent, international students are pursuing careeroptions abroad after completing their U.S. graduatestudies. In addition, even the best international

students trained in the United States face increasingpressures to return to their home countries.

Reacting to these and other reports, many stake-holders have expressed serious concerns about thecapacity of our nation to compete in the 21st cen-tury. The Council of Graduate Schools, represent-ing more than 480 universities in the United Statesand Canada, first delineated the graduate educa-tion dimension of the challenge to America’s competitiveness and innovation in a white paper

released in 2005. Drawing on the original NationalDefense Education Act,NDEA 21: A RenewedCommitment to GraduateEducation advanced guidelinesto deal with this contempo-rary challenge and called fora comprehensive processinvolving leaders in privateindustry, government, and graduate education togenerate a robust and fitting response.

The Graduate Education and AmericanCompetitiveness Initiative, launched in 2006, consti-tutes the next phase in this process. While theNDEA 21 paper served as a springboard for somepolicy discussions in Congress, it focused primarilyon the government’s role, with limited attention toways that universities and business leaders mightcontribute to ensuring the nation’s competitiveedge in the 21st century.

Policymakers have responded to concerns aboutAmerica’s competitiveness in the global economy.The America COMPETES Act (S.761), a bi-partisaninitiative introduced in the U.S. Senate, wouldmake major investments in education and innova-tion. This legislation recognizes the important role that graduate education plays in generating aknowledge economy and maintaining America’scompetitiveness. It includes support for graduateeducation at both the master’s and doctoral levels.


“Many…haveexpressed serious con-

cerns about the capacityof our nation to compete

in the 21st century.”


Numerous proposals have also been introduced inthe U.S. House of Representatives. Several of theseaddress the role of graduate education in maintain-ing U.S. competitiveness and innovation, such asH.R. 363, which includes increased funding forinterdisciplinary graduate education through NSF.

We are heartened by this response. But ultimatesuccess in meeting the challenges we face dependsupon two things: a strong partnership betweengraduate schools, corporations, and policymakersand a functioning graduate education policy net-work that will facilitate coordination across thethree sectors to advance a prosperous future forour country.

This report, Graduate Education: The Backbone ofAmerican Competitiveness and Innovation, begins

where the NDEA 21 paper stopped, articulating aset of assumptions that support a policy frameworkaddressing the role of graduate education in enhanc-ing U.S. competitiveness. It describes current “bestpractices” that reflect efforts to act on these assump-tions. Next, it moves to an inventory of deficits thatexist in the current mix of activities in our graduateschools and in their partnerships with governmentand industry. Finally, it ends with a set of recom-mendations for future and ongoing partnerships.

The recommendations that emerge in this paperare directed to policymakers at all levels of govern-ment, as well as business and higher educationleaders. They are the key stakeholders whose col-laborative efforts will be needed to develop a policynetwork to address the critical issues in the area ofAmerican competitiveness and innovation.


Key AssumptionsGraduate Education’s Role in Enhancing U.S. Competitiveness and Innovation

1 A highly skilled workforce operating at the frontiers of knowledge creationand professional practice is key to America’s competitiveness and national

security. Universities, governments, and private industry each play an essentialrole in providing the expertise and resources necessary to achieve this objective.

2 The expanded participation of U.S. citizens, particularly from under-represented minority groups, should be a priority in fields that are essential

to our nation’s success. Development of STEM careers should be emphasized.

3 Interdisciplinary research preparation and education are central to futurecompetitiveness, because knowledge creation and innovation frequently occur

at the interface of disciplines.

4 U.S. graduate schools must be able to attract the best and brightest students from around the world.

5 The quality of graduate programs drives the success of America’s highereducation system. Efforts to evaluate and improve all aspects of the quality

of the U.S. graduate education enterprise must be advanced and supported inorder to foster innovation.


We believe that there is general agree-ment on five assumptions that providethe framework for the United States to

move forward. Adopting this framework willrequire universities, industry, and governments toengage in effective partnerships to promote futureintellectual global leadership.

Although key stakeholders can point to considerableaccomplishments that resonate with these assump-tions, there is clearly room for improvement. Wenow consider each assumption individually.

1A highly skilled workforceoperating at the frontiers ofknowledge creation and

professional practice is key toAmerica’s competitiveness andnational security. Universities, governments, and private industryeach play an essential role in pro-viding the expertise and resourcesnecessary to achieve this objective.

What Are Some of the Promising Practices to Date?

Innovative CollaborationsMany U.S. graduate schools offer creative andinnovative programs, often in collaboration andconsultation with industry and government, thatare specifically designed to produce the workforcewe need. The workforce of the future must includepeople trained at the graduate level for they will be the knowledge creators and innovators oftomorrow. These future leaders must not only pos-sess technical competence, but must also be adeptat addressing social and cultural issues confrontingall of us in the global economy. Linkages betweengraduate schools, corporations, and governmentshave taken many forms and involved various levelsof cooperation.

In some settings, new graduate programs havebeen developed in response to the needs of localand regional employers. At North Carolina StateUniversity, a one-year professional Master’s ofScience in Analytics degree was developed to provide industry with graduates who possess bothstrong analytical skills and an understanding ofhow analytics tools are applied to solve complexproblems. Two of the leading suppliers of analyticssoftware tools and solutions, who are located in theTriangle region of North Carolina, were involvedin planning the degree program. Additionally,many of the state’s largest employers in otherareas, ranging from banking to pharmaceuticals toinformation technology, are applying advanced

A Graduate Education Policy Framework


analytics to their operation and should welcomethese graduates.

A number of research universities are collaborat-ing with automobile, oil, gas, and electric powercompanies to search for new technologies to stabi-lize greenhouse gas emissions, as one element ofaddressing the conse-quences of global warm-ing. At PrincetonUniversity, researchersare working on theCarbon MitigationInitiative to develop safe,effective, and affordableways that individuals andcompanies can reduceglobal carbon dioxideemissions. TheMassachusetts Institute of Technology’s EnergyLaboratory joined forces with six companies tolaunch an industrial consortium called the CarbonSequestration Initiative to support research oncarbon sequestration, a potentially importantapproach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.At Stanford University, the Global Climate andEnergy Project brings together academic andindustry experts to collaborate on fundamental,precommercial technology research. This long-term effort aims to develop a global energy systemwith low greenhouse gas emissions.

Corporations and universities are also workingtogether to ensure that the United States is ade-quately prepared to deal with the nation’s rapidchange from a manufacturing to a service econo-my. This shift is creating a need for college gradu-ates who have the knowledge and skills to addressboth technical and business issues in this changingenvironment. A new academic discipline andresearch area called “services science” is emergingto fill this need. Services science integrates a vari-ety of disciplines (including engineering, informa-tion technology, social sciences, and management)to focus education and research on services. IBM isproviding leadership in this area and supporting a

number of such initiatives at institutions aroundthe world. At the University of California atBerkeley, IBM is supporting a new curriculum ini-tiative called Services Science, Management andEngineering, which is designed to prepare gradu-ate students for careers in this emerging multidis-ciplinary field.

Creating Citizen ScholarsOne of the most com-pelling challenges faced byresearch universities in the21st century is the obliga-tion to serve society. A2004 NAS report calledfor increased commitmentto interdisciplinary, sociallyrelevant research, recog-nizing that today’s social

challenges require research solutions that challengetraditional disciplines and university structures.3

Increased commitment to socially relevant researchand to the articulation of its public benefits maynot only help to leverage academe’s intellectualcapital to the benefit of society; it might alsoattract more talented U.S. students who currentlychoose nonacademic paths to give back to theircommunities and society. A heightened commit-ment to socially relevant research may evenimprove the quality of graduate learning. In thewords of Benjamin Franklin, “Tell me and I forget,teach me and I may remember, involve me and Iwill learn.”

One model for advancing socially relevantresearch is the intellectual entrepreneurship (IE)program pioneered at the University of Texas atAustin. Students in the program are educated tobecome citizen scholars by using their skills andknowledge in a real-world setting and preparingfor a career in all sectors of the economy. Thisprogram differs from typical community outreachand professional development initiatives in that itemphasizes cross-disciplinary scholarship andlearning. The success of the IE program at theAustin campus derives from a critical group of

“A heightened commitmentto socially relevant research

may even improve the quality of graduate learning.”


faculty members who view themselves as citizenscholars—researchers who break the traditionalboundaries between disciplines as well as betweentheoretical knowledge and the broader world.

Another innovative example is the TransformativeGraduate Education (TGE) initiative introducedby the Graduate School at Virginia Tech. TGE iscomprised of three overlapping components: pro-fessional development, faculty development, andthe “Citizen Scholar Experience” (CSE). The CSEprogram provides students an opportunity toengage in public scholarship—scholarship in serv-ice to the community, the state, the nation, and theworld. Community-based collaborative projects,leadership training, and global seminars preparestudents to serve in varying capacities. Together,“these three components enhance the preparationof and better equip graduate students with theknowledge and skills needed for meaningful andrelevant contributions in the 21st century.”4

The advancement of public scholarship also liesbehind an innovative consortium of higher educa-tion institutions com-mitted to publicscholarship throughpartnerships with com-munity organizations.The Imagining America:Artists and Scholars inPublic Life programcombines the variousmissions of higher education, those ofresearch, teaching,service, and publicengagement. Through such initiatives, universitiesand colleges recognize that the work their studentsdo in the social sciences, arts, and humanitiesimpacts public life in a positive and meaningful way.

Similarly, the doctoral program at the Universityof Washington’s Simpson Center Institute for thePublic Humanities offers doctoral students achance to work across disciplines as well as with

the community to develop public projects in thehumanities. The in-depth, weeklong course instillsin students a sense of how their knowledge of thehumanities can be used to contribute to civic, community-sponsored, and cultural projects ofdiverse sizes and purposes.

Fostering EntrepreneurshipThe focus on entrepreneurship at both under-graduate and graduate levels has been gainingmomentum. Entrepreneurship programs at thegraduate level facilitate the knowledge creationand innovation vital to expanding America’s eco-nomic prosperity. There are many outstandingexamples of how structured entrepreneurshipactivities are now enhancing the preparation ofgraduate students.

Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute andAdvanced Technology Development Center(ATDC) help local and regional enterprisesbecome more competitive through the use of science, technology, and innovation. For example,the school provides “programs that help...entrepre-

neurs launch and buildsuccessful companies.”5

One such company isVivonetics, a nanotechstartup company co-founded by a GeorgiaTech researcher.Vivonetics was awardeda federal grant todevelop and commer-cialize a molecular bea-con used to detect anddiagnose cancer and

other diseases. The ATDC also works to improvethe competitiveness of established companies.

Google and Genentech are two prominent exam-ples of startup companies that emerged from theresearch of graduate students and faculty. In 1998,Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin,graduate students in computer science at StanfordUniversity, developed a new approach to online

“Entrepreneurship programsat the graduate level facilitate

the knowledge creation andinnovation vital to expanding

America’s economic prosperity.”


searches that took root in a dorm room and quicklyspread to information seekers around the world.Google is now considered the world’s largestsearch engine, easy to use, free, fast, and effective.

In 1976, venture capitalist Robert Swanson andbioscientist Herbert Boyer, a specialist in the tech-nology known as “gene-splicing” at the Universityof California at SanFrancisco and a co-developer of recombinantDNA, foundedGenentech. This company,which has continued tocollaborate with the uni-versity since Dr. Boyer’sretirement in 1991, exem-plifies how researchers inhigher education institu-tions and companies workcooperatively to achievethe scientific progress thatcontributes to advancing science, spawning newindustries, and improving people’s lives.

Strengthening Professional PracticeThe professional master’s degree is a promisingnew initiative that is shaping graduate education indirect response to changing workforce needs in thebusiness, nonprofit, and government sectors. In thesocial sciences and humanities, efforts are under-way to professionalize master’s programs to pro-duce graduates with both field expertise andbusiness skills. These social science and humanitiesprograms include technical and professional writ-ing, cultural resources management, conflict reso-lution, and health communication. In the STEMfields, the Professional Science Master’s (PSM)combines advanced study with professional andinterdisciplinary training. The two-year PSMdegree includes four basic components: advancedscience or mathematics courses which compriseapproximately two-thirds of requirements; “plus”courses in business principles and other professionalskills, such as written and oral communication,

intellectual property, and entrepreneurship; a summer internship in a targeted employment sector; and a capstone project often done as part of an interdisciplinary team.

PSM programs are specifically designed to meetthe needs of local, nonacademic employers with

input from advisoryboards representing theemployment sector.These boards ensure thatPSM programs reflectworkplace needs and pro-duce a pool of talentedemployees who requirelittle or no transitiontime or additional train-ing. The combination ofadvanced science ormath, interdisciplinaryexposure, and professionalbusiness skills createshighly adaptable gradu-

ates interested in innovation. As such, the PSMcan serve as a model for professional stand-alonemaster’s degrees in a wide range of fields. TheCouncil of Graduate Schools, with support fromthe Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is currently thecenter of an initiative to institutionalize the PSMdegree as a regular feature of graduate education.Through a project funded by the FordFoundation, CGS also actively promotes innova-tive professional master’s programs in the human-ities and social sciences.

Federal Government’s Unique RoleThe federal government continues to be the primefunder of academic research and development aswell as the major supporter of graduate students.In fiscal year 2005, the federal governmentaccounted for 64 percent of the $45.8 billion thatuniversities and colleges spent on R&D activities.6

Major investments from NIH and from variousNSF programs, such as the Graduate ResearchFellowship Program and the IGERT Program, support graduate education. Other federal agencies

“The federal governmentcontinues to be the prime

funder of academic researchand development as well as

the major supporter ofgraduate students.”


and departments have programs that provide critical assistance to graduate students: theseinclude the Departments of Energy, Education,Defense, Homeland Security, and State, as well as the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA), the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration, and the EnvironmentalProtection Agency.

At the Department of Education, the GraduateAssistance in Areas of National Need programfunds fellowships through higher education insti-tutions for graduate studies in such areas as biology, chemistry, computer and informationsciences, engineering, mathematics, nursing, andphysics. The smaller Jacob K. Javits Fellowshipprogram provides fellowships directly to graduatestudents and supports studies in the social sciences, arts, and humanities.

The Department ofEnergy’s Office of Sciencesponsors fundamentalresearch programs in thesciences includingnanoscale science, climatechange, genomics, life sci-ences, high energy physics,and advanced scientificcomputing. This office sup-ports research at more than 300 colleges and universities nationwide. In 2006, the departmentfunded the work of approximately 3,200 graduatestudents at institutions of higher education aroundthe nation.7

The Department of State provides grants forboth U.S. and foreign students pursuing graduatestudies under the auspices of the FulbrightStudent Program. The National DefenseEducation Program was established two yearsago at the Department of Defense; it supportsgraduate fellowships for students enteringSTEM fields who commit to national serviceafter completing their program. Other than thecreation of the National Defense Education

Program, there has not been a significantincrease in funding for any of these programs in several years.

State Governments’ Significant ContributionsMany states are seeking ways to improve highereducation outcomes and productivity, despite thepressures of budgetary constraints and globalcompetition. As a result, universities are maxi-mizing their resources by developing partner-ships, both within their own institutions andwith others.

One creative, collaborative approach to settinggoals for a state’s public higher education system has been developed in Kentucky. Thestate has reframed its higher education agendafrom a traditional competition between institu-tions to a shared one, directed at meeting

statewide needs. Staterather than institutionalinterests drive the agenda,with an overarching goalof increasing the numberof college and graduatestudents who are preparedfor future jobs.

Another collaborativeapproach is the Keystone

Innovation Zone initiative in Pennsylvania,which awards grants for partnerships betweencommunities and higher education institutions togenerate job growth through technology transferand entrepreneurship. Under this program, universities have partnered with economic development organizations, businesses, banks,foundations, and other organizations in their region.

Some states, while not yet targeting new fundingfor graduate program development, have issuedreports calling for recognition of the value of grad-uate education in promoting innovation and pros-perity. These include Alabama, California, Florida,Massachusetts, and Virginia.

“Some states…haveissued reports calling forrecognition of the valueof graduate education.”


Some partnerships link all three stakeholders—universities, corporations, and state govern-ment—together. The Center for InformationTechnology Research in the Interest of Society(CITRIS) at the University of California providesa “best practice” example. CITRIS is a multi-disciplinary institute that uses information tech-nology research to develop solutions to socialproblems. At CITRIS, more than 300 faculty andthousands of students from various departmentsat four University of California campuses(Berkeley, Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz) collab-orate with industrial researchers from over 60corporations. They work on developing cutting-edge solutions to environmental and sustainableenergy problems and on health care delivery,electronic security,and economic produc-tivity. Research find-ings range from thosethat are industry-specific to those withnational relevance.After four years ofoperation, CITRIShas built a foundationto support and deliverlong-term programgrowth while expand-ing its reach to newresearch areas, including services science andenergy and environmental monitoring; it is alsogrowing its cadre of industrial partners.

The Private Sector’s Essential ContributionIncreasingly university fundraising campaigns areturning to the private sector—specifically corpora-tions, foundations, and individuals—and targetinggraduate education as a critical area for contribu-tions. For example, Stanford University is embarkingon the largest fundraising campaign ever attemptedin higher education. One of three key areas that willbe addressed through the “Stanford Challenge” campaign is the enhancement of “the education of future leaders by … strengthening graduate programs.”8 The university is also raising funds to

enhance interdisciplinary graduate opportunities,expand access to leadership training, and removeinstitutional barriers to encourage collaborationamong departments.

What Remains To Be Done?

n Universities need to expand innovative col-laborations with the private sector, buildingon best practices illustrated above. Suchcollaboration must be integral to disciplinaryand interdisciplinary research activity.University policies and practices should bereviewed to ensure that any barriers to creativepartnerships are based upon principle and notbureaucratic traditions.

n Universities shouldestablish moreprograms to pro-mote public schol-arship and traincitizen scholars,thereby changingthe way peoplethink about gradu-ate education andthe public good itcan deliver. Thischange in thinking is

important, especially in the sciences, if weare to attract a more diverse pool of domesticstudents. It is also important to develop abroad-based appreciation for those disciplinesthat foster global understanding of languageand culture so that our nation can meet thechallenges of the 21st century.

n Universities, corporate leaders, and gov-ernment stakeholders must embrace theconcept of the graduate student as intellec-tual entrepreneur. Research and advancedproblem solving are inherently entrepreneurialactivities, and it is clear that entrepreneurshipis a driving force in preparing the innovatorsof tomorrow. America’s future hinges on our

“Increasingly universityfundraising campaigns

are…targeting graduate education as a critical area

for contributions.”


capacity to generate visionary and risk-takingentrepreneurs, such as those who foundedGoogle and Genentech.

n All stakeholders need to expand the supportfor professional master’s programs in keyfields. Traditionally a master’s degree has beenthe major pathway to professional practice inthe United States. In scientific fields, a master’sdegree has been viewed as a degree awarded “enroute” to a doctorate. Instead, it should be seenas a passport to a productive and meaningfulscientific career. Graduates from professionalmaster’s programs could potentially amelioratestate and regional workforce issues.

n Despite the fiscal challenges facing federalpolicymakers, the federal government mustcontinue to play a major role in building theinfrastructure for and supporting graduateeducation and research. Notwithstanding thefederal programs highlighted above, in theabsence of a clear federal commitment to makeappropriate strategic investments to develop the innovation talent pool more broadly, it isunlikely that our competitive future and nationalsecurity will be assured.

n Innovations should be undertaken in everystate to bring their higher education sys-tems into full partnership with corpora-tions and other key sectors to prepare thehighly skilled workforce needed for the21st century economy. While states mustcontinue to support undergraduate education,universities must be more active in informinglegislators about the value of graduate educa-tion and its importance in promoting innova-tion and prosperity.

n Given the constraints on federal and statebudgets, the private sector should respondto universities’ requests for support for inno-vative graduate programs. This will requirecloser collaboration between graduate schools,corporations, foundations, and individuals.

2 The expanded participationof U.S. citizens, particularlyfrom underrepresented

minority groups, should be a priority in fields that are essentialto our nation’s success.Development of STEM careersshould be emphasized.


The combined effects of changing U.S. demo-graphics and global competition make it imperative that more U.S. citizens, particularlyunderrepresented minorities and women, beencouraged to pursue graduate education in allfields, especially those essential to our economicand national security. At the doctoral level, anincreased effort must be made to expand the num-ber of U.S. citizens earning degrees in key fields.NSF data show that in 1966 U.S. citizens earned79 percent of the doctoral degrees in the STEMfields, but in 2005, they earned just 53 percent.9

Within the STEM disciplines, there are vast dif-ferences by citizenship status, with temporary resi-dents earning more than half of the doctorates inengineering, physics and computer science in 2005(though only 6 percent of those in psychology). Ifthe United States is to maintain its competitiveedge, it is imperative that U.S. citizens from allpopulation groups, including those who tradition-ally have not been highly represented, such asminorities and women, pursue STEM graduatedegrees in greater numbers.

There are many exemplary programs at collegesand universities that provide models for diversify-ing the STEM pipeline by attracting more


students into graduate education. Among the mostprominent is the Meyerhoff Scholars program atthe University of Maryland, Baltimore County(UMBC). This program aims to increase thenumber of underrepresented students, primarilyAfrican-Americans, who pursue graduate degreesin science and engineering. While “most pro-grams directed to minority students look at reme-diation and deficits…,”10 according to UMBCPresident Freeman Hrabowski, the MeyerhoffProgram focuses on bright and capable African-American students who aspire to become leadersin science and engineering research. Analysis ofstudent survey and interview data has shown thateach component of the program is critical to itssuccess, including study groups, a summer bridgeprogram, adequate financial support, and the avail-ability of mentorsand internships.Since 1993, therehave been morethan 450 graduatesand about 60 per-cent have pursuedadvanced degrees.Currently, over 260Meyerhoff Scholarsare enrolled at theBaltimore Countycampus.

The Leadership Alliance, a consortium of morethan 30 preeminent research and teaching academic institutions in the United States, is dedicated to expanding the participation ofunderserved and underrepresented minorities inmaster’s and doctoral programs and, ultimately,research professions in the academic, public, andprivate sectors. The Leadership AllianceSummer Research Early Identification Programis a mentoring program offered to undergradu-ates at participating Alliance institutions. Theprogram gives underserved and underrepresentedstudents the opportunity to work for eight to tenweeks under the guidance of a faculty orresearch mentor. It also encourages students

from traditionally underrepresented groups toconsider research careers in the sciences, socialsciences, and humanities.

NSF has developed four programs aimed atincreasing the number of minorities participatingin research and education in STEM fields:Alliances for Graduate Education and theProfessoriate, the Louis Stokes Alliances forMinority Participation, the Centers for ResearchExcellence in Science and Technology, and theHistorically Black Colleges and UniversitiesUndergraduate Program. The objectives of theAlliances for Graduate Education and theProfessoriate are “to create and implement innova-tive models for recruiting, mentoring, and retain-ing minority students in doctoral programs and to

develop effectivestrategies for identi-fying and supportingunderrepresentedminorities who want to pursue aca-demic careers.”11

Nationally there areapproximately 30alliances, involvingmore than 100 uni-versities and col-leges. The LouisStokes Alliances

program is a multidisciplinary program created toincrease the quality and quantity of studentsreceiving baccalaureate degrees in STEM fieldswho are qualified for either doctoral study or pro-fessional practice in STEM fields supported byNSF. The program is increasingly emphasizingstudent progress from baccalaureate degrees tograduate study.

The Ronald E. McNair Post BaccalaureateAchievement program is funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965.Administered by the Department of Education,the program awards grants to more than 150higher education institutions in the United States

“The United States must findways to nurture a broader

and more diverse talent poolto be successful in the

knowledge-based economy.”


and Puerto Rico. The McNair Program isdesigned to encourage low-income and minorityundergraduate students with strong academicpotential to pursue doctoral degrees and becomecollege or university teachers.

The proportion of women choosing to pursue sci-ence and engineering careers has increased signifi-cantly over the past decade. Women continue tobe underrepresented in the workforce, however,constituting about 25 percent of the total STEMworkforce and less than 21 percent of the scienceand engineering faculty in four-year colleges anduniversities.12 Women from minority groups areseverely underrepresented, constituting only abouttwo percent of science and engineering faculty infour-year colleges and universities. The goal ofNSF’s ADVANCE program is to increase the representation and advancement of women in aca-demic science and engineering careers. Throughthese programs, NSF supports new approachesaimed at improving the environment for womenin U.S. higher education institutions and promot-ing their participation in the highest ranks of academic leadership.

MentorNet, an award-winning nonprofit onlinementoring network, addresses the retention and success primarily of women and other underrepresented groups in engineering, science,and mathematics. Since 1997, MentorNet hasprovided students from some of the world’s topcolleges and universities with an individual mentor from industry and academia, and facili-tates their communication through e-mail. The MentorNet Community also fosters com-munications with others from around the worldinterested in improving diversity in engineeringand science.


n Shortcomings in student financial supportneed to be documented and addressed. Atboth the master’s and doctoral levels, financialsupport that meets students’ needs is often lack-

ing. Research by the Council of GraduateSchools is currently attempting to documentthe scope of this gap, but there is no debateabout its existence.

n The structure of state and university grad-uate student support must be rebuilt toaddress gaps in student funding resultingfrom disparate funding mechanisms. Thesupport furnished by universities is typicallyprovided through a network of different fund-ing mechanisms, with different timelines,which may leave students without financialsupport for periods of time. Since state-funded stipends (typically teaching assistant-ships) are one of the major funding mecha-nisms, the recent budget constraints in manystates have negatively affected graduate student aid.

n The United States must find ways to nur-ture a broader and more diverse talent poolto be successful in the knowledge-basedeconomy. Efforts to plug the gaps between thenumber of underrepresented students andwomen who choose STEM programs in gradu-ate schools and their current representation inthe relevant population must be continued andexpanded. Moreover, there are gaps in the num-ber of students eligible to proceed to the nextlevel of training at every stage along the STEMeducation pathway.

n Universities and corporations must com-municate to students the benefits andvalue associated with a STEM career,despite the financial obligations that maybe incurred. Many students who achieveundergraduate degrees in STEM majors leave the STEM fields at significant rateswhen they pursue a graduate degree. Fordomestic students, anecdotal evidence sug-gests that neither faculty nor industry hascommunicated the intellectual excitement orcareer potential for those who persist inadvanced STEM studies.


3Interdisciplinary researchpreparation and education are central to future

competitiveness, because knowledge creation and innovationfrequently occur at the interface of disciplines.


Advances in knowledge, together with an aware-ness of how modern society functions, have ledresearchers to tackle complex problems that a single academic discipline can no longer solve. For example, HurricaneKatrina drew nationalattention to the need fora much greater level ofstrategic collaborationnot only between states,the federal government,and universities, but alsoacross communities ofknowledge within uni-versities. Fortunately,many successful interdis-ciplinary graduate programs are providing innova-tive solutions to pressing societal problems.Increasingly, universities are partnering with corporations and government agencies to respondto the challenges that face our nation. Successfulinterdisciplinary graduate programs often emergefrom these partnerships, which are typically housedin a research institute within the university.

For example, the University of Colorado at Boulderhas been using the institute concept to conductinterdisciplinary, collaborative research. Currently,

it has seven research institutes, including two jointinstitutes with federal agencies. The CooperativeInstitute for Research in Environmental Scienceswas established in 1967 as a partnership betweenNOAA and the university. Building on the successof this model, other higher education institutionshave developed 12 subsequent joint institutes withNOAA. The second venture, the Joint Institute forLaboratory Astrophysics, is the result of a partner-ship between the University and the NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology.

The scope of research undertaken by these institutesis vast. Often conducted with industrial partners, theprojects address real-world problems, such as thediscovery of the causes of the Antarctic ozone holeor the pioneering work on ultrafast lasers capable ofmanipulating matter at room temperatures.

Another example of the interdisciplinary researchinstitute is the Beckman Institute for AdvancedScience and Technology at the University of Illinois

at Urbana-Champaign. Itsmission is to “foster inter-disciplinary work of thehighest quality, transcend-ing many of the limitationsinherent in traditional uni-versity organizations andstructures. The Institutewas founded on the prem-ise that reducing the barri-ers between traditionalscientific and technological

disciplines can yield research advances that moreconventional approaches cannot.”13 We need thiskind of effort to keep the United States at the top ofthe competitiveness ladder.

Cross-disciplinary programs at universities some-times include partnerships with industry. One inno-vative program is the Ohio State University Collegeof Engineering collaboration with the Honda MotorCompany. Representatives of the university andHonda oversee the nonprofit TransportationResearch Center. Surplus funds are used to support

“…interdisciplinarygraduate programs

are providing innovative solutions…”


the partnership’s research and public service activi-ties as well as provide funding for community outreach and teaching projects. Students also havethe opportunity to interact with Honda’s researchand development staff and are able to see the real-world applications of their research.

The Materials Research Science and EngineeringCenters (MRSEC) illustrate NSF’s commitment toexcellence in interdisciplinary research and educa-tion. MRSEC is a network of centers located at 29major academic research institutions throughoutthe United States. Over the last decade, NSF hassupported high quality interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary materials research and education atthe centers, while addressing science and engi-neering problems of importance to society.MRSEC fosters active collaboration between academia and other sectors, which enablesresearchers to address complex and broad-rangingproblems that require the scale and range of disciplines provided by a campus-based center. By collaborating with other institutions and sectors,these centers stimulate interdisciplinary educationand the development of human resources, includ-ing support for underrepresented groups, beyondthe host institution. Cooperative programs involv-ing minority and nonminority institutions arestrongly encouraged.

One of the most innovative federal programsdeveloped to foster interdisciplinary research isNSF’S IGERT program. The program is organ-ized around an interdisciplinary theme that pro-vides a framework for integrating research andeducation and for promoting collaborative effortswithin and across departments and institutions.These programs educate Ph.D. scientists and engi-neers in a specific discipline, who are also capableof operating in an interdisciplinary environmentand possess skills to become leaders in academic or nonacademic environments. The programs con-tribute to the students’ professional development,equipping them to understand and integrate scien-tific, technical, business, social, ethical, and policyissues to confront future challenges.

Another innovative federal program is theInterdisciplinary Research Awards established byNIH. These awards are designed to enable scien-tists to conduct interdisciplinary research by lower-ing organizational barriers that may impede suchwork. The awards include funding for the “trainingof scientists in interdisciplinary strategies; creationof specialized centers to help scientists forge newand more advanced disciplines from existing ones;supplement existing awards which encourage inter-disciplinary depth for an ongoing project; planningof forward-looking conferences to catalyze collabo-ration among the life and physical sciences.”14 Theawards also aim to change NIH policies and proce-dures, particularly those affecting how leadershipof collaborative efforts is recognized, by promotingmultiple principal investigators, rather than a single project investigator.

Finally, the PSM program, described above as abest practice in strengthening professional practice,is a promising example of interdisciplinary efforts aswell. At Middle Tennessee State University, threePSM programs in biostatistics, biotechnology, andbioinformatics train students across disciplines,while ensuring they have basic scientific and mathe-matical expertise. Enrollment in these programs hasnearly doubled in just one year. PSM graduatesfrom the university have cross-disciplinary skillsranging from mathematics, to management andadministration, to statistical analysis. Local andregional businesses, nonprofits, and governmentscollaborate with the university to establish intern-ships to further develop the students’ skills.


n The United States must increase the num-ber of graduate education programs thatreflect the interdisciplinary dynamism char-acteristic of the most innovative researchcenters, while sustaining the quality of core disciplines. Financial supporters and universities must build systems that supportinterdisciplinary program growth and effectivecross-program collaborations.


n To meet the requirements of the 21st cen-tury, universities and federal funders mustreform the administrative and reward systemsto recognize the growing importance of inter-disciplinary research. Many university policiesregarding the funding, staffing, and hiring forinterdisciplinary activities, and some federal funding requirements, unintentionally encourageand reward only single discipline studies.

n In the new knowledge-based economy, theneed for graduates with interdisciplinaryskills requires that businesses, governments,and nonprofits collaborate with universitiesto develop and expand professional master’sprograms. These innovative programs can beadapted to different schools and regions andshow clear advantages for all sectors.

n In this interdisciplinary environment, it isessential that the three sectors collaborateto produce the future knowledge creatorsand innovators needed to solve increasinglycomplex societal problems. The future workforce will be comprised of individualsworking across disciplines to address specifictechnical, social, cultural, and economic issuesconfronting the nation in the 21st century.

4 U.S. graduate schools mustbe able to attract the best and brightest students from

around the world.


The United States had long been regarded as anattractive setting in which to study and conductresearch. However, in the aftermath of the 2001

terrorist attacks, the number of international students enrolling in U.S. graduate programsdeclined. Despite the efforts of the higher educa-tion community, a perception evolved that theUnited States was no longer welcoming interna-tional graduate students. Evidence of this changingperception includes a three-year decline of first-time enrollments after 9/11. However, the mostrecent enrollment data from the Council ofGraduate Schools finds that total enrollment ofinternational graduate students in its U.S. memberinstitutions has made a modest recovery, increasingone percent from 2005 to 2006.15 Since the number of international students enrolling in U.S.graduate schools, particularly in STEM fields, con-tinues to increase—by 2005, they represented 41.2percent of all doctorates awarded in these fields—these students are vitally important.

The United States was able to reverse the declinein international enrollment primarily because ofU.S. government policy changes streamlining thevisa process, the outreach efforts of graduateschools, and the growth of the pool itself. Yet global competition for the most highly qualifiedstudents is increasing rapidly. In early 2006, theUnited Kingdom announced a new immigrationpolicy to attract international students and highlyskilled workers. The European Union, China,India, and other countries are also enhancing theirhigher education systems to attract talented studentsto their universities. One clear sign that U.S. grad-uate schools have been successful is the adoption ofAmerican-style graduate education by countriesand regions that are looking to graduate educationas a tool for economic development.

Overall, foreign-born workers make up over aquarter of the STEM workforce in the UnitedStates. Studies conducted at Georgia StateUniversity find that foreign-born scientists havemade exceptional contributions, based on indicatorssuch as election to the National Academy ofSciences, author citations, and recognition asauthors of “hot papers” and “citation classics.”16

A report from Duke University’s Master of


Engineering Management Program and theUniversity of California–Berkeley’s School ofInformation found that “foreign nationals residingin the United States were named as inventors orco-inventors in 24.2 percent of international patentapplication files from the United States.”17 Anexample of this phenomenon is the 2007 GraingerChallenge Prize for Sustainability, which wasawarded to a Bangladesh-born researcher whoearned his U.S. citizenship, received his doctoratein the United States, and devoted many years todeveloping a water filtration system to eliminatearsenic in drinking water. This chemist, working atGeorge Mason University, developed a system thatis affordable, reliable, and will help millions of people around the world have safe drinking water.

Many stakeholders agree that international studentsare an asset and that without them training andresearch would suffer. Maintaining our leadershipin research and innovation rests in part on thesehighly qualified international students in U.S. graduate programs. In order for the United Statesto continue its leadership in a competitive globaleconomy, it must not only continue to cultivatedomestic talent, but also to attract and retain thebest and the brightest from around the world.However, the return of foreign students to theirhome countries also has positive effects as thesehighly educated professionals can serve as ambassa-dors for the United States by supporting democraticprinciples and building bridges for collaboration.


n The United States must continue to adoptpolicies that encourage international studentsto pursue graduate study in our country.While the Council of Graduate Schools’research indicates evidence of modest recoveryfrom the post-9/11 decline, it is unlikely thatthe United States will ever return to the dayswhen we could assume that the most talentedstudents worldwide would automatically selectU.S. graduate schools as their first choice.Continued improvement in visa processing for

international students and scholars, includingvisa categories and duration, will be needed.

n The United States should use visa policiesas mechanisms to actively attract talentedinternational students to U.S. graduate programs. Other countries use visa policies forstrategic recruitment of international talent. Inthe United States, by contrast, all internationalapplicants to graduate schools must indicate acommitment to return to their home country asa basic qualifying criterion for visa approval.

n Collaborations with international studentswho have returned to their home countriesafter being educated in U.S. graduate institu-tions should be fostered. U.S. policies shouldencourage extended collaboration and researchwith leaders and scholars who have completedtheir graduate training in the United States.

n U.S. policy should not overly restrict graduatestudents’ access to unclassified fundamentalresearch. There has been discussion of reviseddeemed export policies that would restrict inter-national students’ access to laboratories, even forunclassified fundamental research. While thesepolicies to date have not been implemented, thespecter of such policies can have a chilling effecton students who now have viable alternativeoptions for pursuing advanced study.

5The quality of graduate programs drives the success ofAmerica’s higher education

system. Efforts to evaluate andimprove all aspects of the quality ofthe U.S. graduate education enter-prise must be advanced and sup-ported in order to foster innovation.



Quality graduate education is the essential ingre-dient in our country’s leadership in research andinnovation, and U.S. graduate programs must besustained and enhanced. But, there is no assurancethat what has worked in the past to make theUnited States a leader in innovation and graduateeducation quality will continue to serve us in the future. The content, skills, frameworks, anddelivery of many graduate programs will continueto evolve to accommodatechanges in the knowledgebase, work demands, andtechnology. These changeswill be assessed within thebroader context of accounta-bility in higher education.Universities are devotingmore attention and resourcesto assessing graduate pro-grams in terms of the extentto which they meet hard met-rics of success. Quality is cur-rently being encouraged andassessed in two highly visiblenational projects: the Council of GraduateSchools’ Ph.D. Completion Project and theNational Research Council’s Assessment ofDoctoral Programs.

The Ph.D. Completion Project—a collaborationbetween the Council of Graduate Schools, PfizerInc., and the Ford Foundation—has providedfunding to 21 major U.S. and Canadian researchuniversities and is working with an additional 24university partners. The project will assess thecompletion rates of doctoral students across a widearray of fields, create and implement interventionsdesigned to increase completion, and evaluate theimpact of these interventions. The project aims toproduce the most comprehensive and useful datayet available on attrition rates for doctoral studiesand completion of Ph.D. programs. The informa-tion is important since previous studies suggest

that, while the majority of students who enter doc-toral programs have the academic ability to com-plete the degree, on average only 50 to 60 percentof those who enter doctoral programs in theUnited States complete their degrees.18 The Ph.D.Completion Project is one of the concrete ways inwhich our nation’s universities are strategicallyworking to ensure that we do not continue towaste this precious talent.

The Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs, a partnership between the National Research

Council and more than 200doctoral-training institutionsin the United States, seeks tohelp universities use bench-marking to improve the quality of graduate programs,provide information to poten-tial students and the public ondoctoral programs nation-wide, and improve ournational research capacity.Previous assessments in 1983and 1995 have providedimportant indicators of thequality of U.S. doctoral pro-

grams. Final data from the current assessment willbe available in late 2007.

In addition to such internal assessments of thequality of graduate programs, other projectsfocus on how well doctoral students are beingprepared for teaching careers. The Council ofGraduate Schools’ program on Preparing FutureFaculty (PFF) is being conducted in partnershipwith the National Science Foundation, PewCharitable Trusts, Atlantic Philanthropies, andthe Association of American Colleges andUniversities. PFF programs provide doctoral students, as well as some master’s and postdoc-toral students, with opportunities to observe andexperience faculty responsibilities at a variety ofacademic institutions. One of the goals is tomake research and teaching careers and graduateeducation more attractive by raising the caliber

“Universities andgovernments needto implement poli-cies and practices

proven to improvecompletion rates.”


of undergraduate teaching. By partneringresearch universities with nearby four-year andcommunity colleges (many of whom serve populations that have been traditionally under-represented in the graduate enterprise), PFFestablishes new pathways to the graduate degree.Since its inception, PFF has served as a model ofinstitutional partnership for numerous profes-sional development programs. Today, PFF programs are active in more than 45 doctoraldegree-granting institutions and nearly 300 partner institutions in the United States; the initiative has become a well-recognized nationalmovement.

The quality of U.S. graduate education alsodepends on indicators that are less tangible thanmeasurements of hard quantitative metrics. Truequality hinges on the extent to which programscultivate graduates with traits that are more diffi-cult to measure, such as creativity and risk-taking.These qualities are key to advancing innovativebasic research and must be integral parts of anational competitiveness strategy. A number ofmodels illustrate these qualities, including NSF’sIGERT program, NIH’s interdisciplinary grantprogram, and the entrepreneurship activitiesdescribed above.


n Universities and governments need toimplement policies and practices proven toimprove completion rates. While informationon key metrics of quality are currently beingcollected in graduate schools across the country,the capacity of graduate schools to implementeffective strategies for improving and develop-ing political support is less clear. Currentefforts, such as the Ph.D. Completion Project,are yielding critical information about howinstitutions and funders can change policy andpractices to increase completion. However, thepolitical and organizational will to implementsuch sustainable policies remains untested.

n Efforts are needed to ensure that long-term,creative, risk-taking research is a core partof the graduate curriculum. Educating gradu-ate students to be intellectual risk-takers, how-ever, defies easy measurement. As companiesfocus increasingly on research with short-termreturns on investment, the graduate schoolcommunity has taken on more of the longer-term basic research. This kind of risk-taking iscrucial to the success of the enterprise and keyto American competitiveness.


The previous discussion and analysis identi-fied current strengths and opportunitiesfor improvement for the key stakeholders.

The action agenda that follows offers a path for-ward to strengthen and revitalize U.S. competitive-ness and innovation.

Develop a highly skilled workforce by fostering collaboration among leaders inhigher education, business, and government

The role of universities:n Encourage graduate schools to urge their

students to become citizen scholars by usingtheir skills and knowledge in a real-world set-ting to gain scholarship and experience throughservice to the community, the state, the nationand the world

n Identify successful models that incorporateentrepreneurship across graduate curricula, aswell as future directions for exploring the powerof entrepreneurship in graduate education

n Provide more opportunities for doctoral students to evaluate the entire range of careeroptions in various nonacademic settings, sothat they can make sound career choices andsuccessfully prepare for and pursue nonacade-mic careers

n Continue to expand innovative professionalmaster’s degrees in order to address pressingnational needs in such critical fields as mathe-matics, science, engineering, social sciences, and humanities

n Continue to provide exposure to the array ofroles and responsibilities graduate students faceas part of the professoriate of the 21st century

n Broaden awareness of the risks associated withunderfunding graduate education and theimpact on innovation and national security.

The role of business leaders:n Urge support for new federal legislation that

authorizes funding for professional master’sprograms as an important component in build-ing the nation’s innovation infrastructure

n Engage in collaborative ventures with graduateschools

n Broaden awareness of the risks associated withunderfunding graduate education and theimpact on innovation and national security

n Adopt hiring practices that offer interdisciplinarythinkers a “home” to commercialize their abilities

n Expand career tracks that link promotion andadvancement to risk-taking basic research, particularly among technical employees.Develop reward systems for team contributionsand promote individuals who want to pursueinterdisciplinary projects.

The role of policymakers:n Provide support for students at both the

master’s and doctoral levels in the STEM fields, including social sciences, as well as disciplines that foster global understanding oflanguages and culture

An Action Agenda to Strengthen U.S. Competitiveness and Innovation Through a Renewed Commitment to Graduate Education


n Increase federal funds for graduate education programs by at least 10 percent at every agency

n Fashion graduate support and research programs to reward creativity and risk-taking as a key component of a U.S. strategyon innovation.

Expand participation of underrepresentedgroups in all fields, especially those essential to American competitiveness andnational security

The role of universities:n Develop more effective strate-

gies to increase diversity inhigher education, with particu-lar attention to the programsthat link national security andeconomic competitiveness

n Initiate new and expand existingscholarship programs to attractmore underrepresented students into STEM fields

n Identify “best practices” in reducing attritionand shortening time required to receive adegree; this information should be promul-gated throughout the graduate educationcommunity

n Develop personnel policies and provideresources to enable students, particularlywomen, to pursue challenging STEM careerswhile meeting family responsibilities.

The role of business leaders:n Emphasize the contributions of a diverse

workforce for economic competitiveness andnational security.

The role of policymakers:n Create incentives for students, particularly

underrepresented groups, to pursue graduateeducation in the STEM fields, social sciences,and humanities, through portable and

competitive fellowships and traineeships, loanforgiveness, and other measures

n Create a program, funded by H-1B visa program revenues, to encourage U.S. domestic students to pursue graduate education in keyareas of national need that are at the cutting-edge of new markets

n Identify strategies and funding mechanisms thatwill encourage more women and underrepre-sented groups in STEM fields to advance toleadership positions.

Create a vision for all U.S. students that careers in theSTEM fields can be engaging,compelling, transparent andremunerative

The role of universities:n Identify strategies to increase

interest in STEM graduate education among U.S. students

n Enhance undergraduate and graduate programs by continuing to developnew pathways to STEM careers that link education outcomes to workforce needs.

The role of business leaders:n Increase efforts to raise public awareness

about the challenges to American competitive-ness and security and the need for highlyskilled workers in science, technology, social sciences, and humanities

n Acknowledge and publicize the contributionsof STEM practitioners and their impact onour lives. Find ways to recognize individual scientists and engineers in the U.S. and international media

n Develop more effective partnerships with universities and state governments that willencourage the best and the brightest to continue in STEM careers.

“U.S. graduateprograms must

be sustainedand enhanced.”


The role of policymakers:n Create policy incentives to encourage technical

staff scientists and engineers to volunteer inlocal schools to promote STEM education andmentor students.

Produce a highly educated workforce with advanced skills and the flexibility tocompete in an interdisciplinary environmentat the frontier of knowledge creation

The role of universities:n Build management structures that encourage

inter-program as well as cross-program collaboration

n Develop budget structures that foster linksbetween interdisciplinary research programsand graduate curricula.

The role of business leaders:n Embrace job applicants who are graduates of

innovative programs designed to respond to theneeds of the 21st century workforce

n Enhance communication with graduate schoolsto clearly convey employer needs in the 21stcentury economy.

The role of policymakers:n Expand models pioneered by NSF and NIH,

such as the IGERT and interdisciplinary grantprograms, to address the impact of graduateeducation and research on advancing knowledgein cutting-edge fields in support of U.S. com-petitiveness

n Dedicate a percentage of federal researchagency budgets to programs that focus on newfrontiers in research

n Institute an R&D tax credit to encourage private investment in innovative research

n Provide tax credits to employers so that practic-ing scientists and engineers can participate in

career-long learning and retrain for new job markets.

Attract and retain the best and brightest students from around the world

The role of universities:n Continue to work with the federal government

to make the visa process more efficient so thatinternational students, scholars, and STEMworkers can enter the United States in a timelyand efficient manner

n Utilize alumni programs to maintain relation-ships with international graduates who return totheir home countries.

The role of business leaders:n Emphasize the contributions of highly skilled

international workers to local, regional, andnational economies.

The role of policymakers:n Continue to improve the visa process so that

the pathway for international students, scholars,and STEM practitioners is made more efficient,allowing them to contribute to America’s lead-ership and global competitiveness

n Create clear pathways to permanent residencyfor top international students and scholars byreforming immigration policies. For example, a proposed new visa category for doctoral students and scholars was included in variousimmigration bills last year

n Maintain “deemed export” policies that do notinappropriately constrain international students’ability to pursue graduate research.

Enhance the quality of graduate educationthrough ongoing evaluation and research

The role of universities:n Actively engage in the National Research


Council’s Assessment of Research Doctoral pro-grams, a major national effort to develop bench-marks to ensure the quality of graduate education

n Continue to use information generated throughthe Council of Graduate Schools’ Ph.D.Completion Project, which aims to assess doc-toral studies’ completion rates and disseminatebest practices to higher education officials.

The role of business leaders:n Support risk-taking research programs that

prepare individuals for employment in a knowledge-based global economy.

The role of policymakers:

n Use information from studies assessing the qual-ity and accountability of graduate education.


For much of the 20th century, the UnitedStates enjoyed the benefits of being theworld’s leader in research and innovation,

resulting in economic progress and unprecedentedsecurity for its citizens. However, America’s futuresuccess in this regard is not guaranteed. This issuehas been highlighted in recent reports warningthat our economic leadership is eroding and ourprimacy in global competi-tiveness is threatened. Theconsensus is that strengthen-ing graduate education—thebackbone of American com-petitiveness and innovation—is key to a prosperous andsecure future.

The highly skilled, creativeworkforce of tomorrow isdeveloped through our graduate programs. Graduatestudents become our scien-tists, researchers, experts, and innovators in a widevariety of fields. Graduate programs are wherethey acquire innovative research and leadershipskills. This report enumerates the key assumptionsunderlying this vision of the future, assesses themany positive activities underway that contributeto a prosperous future, highlights gaps that need to

be addressed, and concludes with six broad recom-mendations for action and the necessary roles foreach stakeholder.

Nearly 15 years ago, in his best-selling book Head toHead, MIT economist Lester Thurow said that “inthe 21st century, the education and skills of theworkforce will end up being the dominant competi-

tive weapon.”19 His words havenever been more relevant thanthey are today. The U.S. economy remains criticallydependent on the talent andknowledge of the availableworkforce, particularly in thetechnical areas. It is up to ourleaders in graduate schools,business, and government notonly to innovate within theirown environment, but also todevelop strategies to scale upthose innovations in the nation

as a whole. Our graduate schools are key to devel-oping the best and brightest domestic and globallyrecruited talent. To that end, we provide this paperas a foundation for policymakers, business leaders,and higher education officials to engage in an ongoing partnership that ensures the continuedcompetitiveness and security of our nation.

Conclusion

“Our graduate schoolsare key to developingthe best and brightestdomestic and globally

recruited talent.”


1 National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators, 2006, Appendix Tables. Washington, DC.

2 Pink, Daniel, 2005. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age.

3 National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Science, 2004. Engineering and Public Policy, Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research.Washington, DC.

4 Virginia Tech Transformative Graduate Education (TGE) Initiative. Accessed January 8, 2007http://www.grads.vt.edu/graduate_school/tge/cse/index.html

5 Georgia Institute of Technology Enterprise Innovation Institute (EII) and Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).Accessed January 8, 2007. http://innovate.gatech.edu/

6 Bennof, Richard J. “Federal Academic Science and Engineering Obligations Rose By 2.5% in FY 2004.” National Science Foundation,Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and NonprofitInstitutions, FY 2004. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf07300/nsf07300.pdf

7 “Maintaining U.S. Preeminence in Science: University Support,” speech January 2006, Office of the Director, U.S. Department ofEnergy Office of Science. Accessed January 12, 2007. www.science.doe.gov

8 Stanford University Challenge, accessed January 8, 2007 http://givingtostanford.stanford.edu/get/layout/tsc/TheStanfordChallenge

9 WebCASPAR database. http://webcaspar.nsf.gov

10 Meyerhoff Scholarship Program. Accessed January 8, 2007. http://www.umbc.edu/meyerhoff/model.html

11 National Science Foundation, Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate. Accessed January 8, 2007.http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04575/nsf04575.htm

12 National Science Foundation, ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and EngineeringCareers. Accessed January 8, 2007. http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383&from=fund

13 Beckman Institute. Accessed January 8, 2007. http://www.beckman.uiuc.edu/about/

14 National Institutes of Health. Accessed January 8, 2007 http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/interdisciplinary/

15 Council of Graduate Schools, October 2006. “Findings from the 2006 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey Phase III:Admissions and Enrollment.” Washington, DC.

16 Stephan, Paula and Sharon Levin. April 2003. “Foreign Scholars in U.S. Science: Contributions and Costs”http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/cheri/conf/chericonf2003/chericonf2003_04.pdf

17 Wadhwa, Vivek et al. January 4, 2007. “America’s New Immigrant Entrepreneurs. ” Master of Engineering Management Program,Duke University and the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley.

18 Denecke, Daniel and Frasier Helen. “Ph.D. Completion Project: Preliminary Results from Baseline Data.” Council of GraduateSchools Communicator, Volume 38, Number 9. November, 2005.

19 Thurow, Lester. 1993. Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe, and America. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Endnotes

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About the Council of Graduate Schools

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is an organization of more than 480 institutions of higher edu-cation in the United States and Canada engaged in graduate education, research, and the preparation ofcandidates for advanced degrees. CGS member institutions award more than 90 percent of the doctoraldegrees and over 75 percent of the master’s degrees in the United States. The organization’s mission is toimprove and advance graduate education, which it accomplishes through advocacy in the federal policyarena, research, and the development and dissemination of best practices. This CGS report, GraduateEducation: The Backbone of American Competitiveness and Innovation, was released at the 2007 LegislativeForum on April 26, 2007 in Washington, DC.

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the several excellent reports published over the past few years that focusedwidespread attention on the challenges facing American competitiveness in the global economy. Thesereports, along with the Council of Graduate Schools' white paper NDEA 21: A Renewed Commitment toGraduate Education, helped develop the Graduate Education and American Competitiveness initiative,report, and recommendations.

I want to acknowledge the key role played by Patty McAllister, who provided overall direction for thisreport and guided the work of the Advisory Committee Members, all of whom generously donated theirtime and offered many excellent suggestions. I also want to acknowledge my appreciation to EleanorBabco, who provided invaluable assistance in both writing and reviewing the report. Belle Woods alsoprovided careful and rigorous reviews and edits of the document. Additionally, I want to express myappreciation to Daniel Denecke for his thoughtful and thorough reviews of the work, Stuart Heiser forhis reviews and editorial assistance, and Shirley Geer, the consultant who provided important input oneditorial, design, and final composition for this report.

Debra W. StewartPresident, Council of Graduate SchoolsApril 2007

© 2007 Council of Graduate Schools

The text of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational or nonprofit uses without special permission, provided acknowledgment of the source is made. The Council ofGraduate Schools would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this report as itssource. No use of this publication may be made for resale or other commercial purposes withoutprior written consent of the Council of Graduate Schools. All images remain the sole property oftheir source and may not be used for any purpose without permission from the source.

Photo credits: Front cover: Photodisc. Back cover: Tom Grill/Corbis.Design: Patricia Hord.Graphik Design. Printing: Mosaic.

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