All Posts Tagged With: "master’s degree"
Spotlight on graduate studies
B.C. grad students tell us what they think about their programs
After putting in four years or more to achieve an undergraduate degree, how likely is someone to dive in for more? Are graduate studies worth the cost, time and considerable commitment? A first-of-its-kind study in British Columbia is shedding light on what masters and doctoral students really think about their programs, and is helping to determine how relevant graduate studies are to the workplace.
B.C.’s Ministry of Advanced Education and the Universities Presidents’ Council surveyed the graduates in 2006 in order to measure graduate outcomes and to obtain feedback on the relationship between graduate education and the labour market. The online survey was administered to 3,602 graduates from the University of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia, Royal Roads University, Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria. Two cohort years were selected—2000-2001 and 2003-2004—in order to obtain sufficient data for analysis. In total, 929 masters and doctoral graduates responded, for an overall response rate of 25.7 per cent. (Article continues below.)
Selected charts from the B.C. University Survey of Graduates from Masters and Doctorate Programs:
Survey analyst Walter Sudmant believes this is the only survey of this type to examine graduate outcomes, and while it included some of the satisfaction questions typically found on surveys designed for undergrads, the survey also asked specific questions to measure whether or not grads were applying the higher level of thinking, creativity, research and teamwork skills they acquired during their grad work to their current jobs. Grads were also asked if they were employed in jobs related to their graduate program. “We talk about graduate students and how they are the true carriers of new knowledge into the economy,” says Sudmant, “yet we don’t have any evidence of that directly.” With the results of this survey showing a strong link between graduate education and the labour market, Sudmant observes: “Now we’ve got some data to back up our rhetoric.”
The study found that skills acquired during graduate studies are highly transferable to the workplace. Ninety-four percent of respondents stated that the knowledge, skills and abilities acquired during graduate education were very or somewhat useful in their work. The skill set cited included: specific techniques and methods; translating scholarly research into applications relevant to work; motivation to develop new ideas; and the ability to work as part of a research team. The study also found that 91 per cent of respondents found their job was very or somewhat related to their program. This compares to only 73 per cent of undergrad degree holders who see the same level of correlation between their job and their bachelor’s degree program.
Graduates expressed a high level of satisfaction with the education they received, with 93 per cent declaring they were satisfied or very satisfied. Similarly, 88 per cent said they would recommend their university to prospective students. Only 73 per cent, however, said they would take the same program again, suggesting room for improvement in the educational process. Student comments pointed to a number of areas of dissatisfaction, including the quality of supervision and course instruction, lack of timely feedback and access to committee members, cost of an education, perceived better opportunities in other provinces or in the United States, as well as changed interests and lack of career opportunities.
When asked about their reasons for pursuing graduate studies, 60 per cent of respondents cited the need to enhance career opportunities and 40 per cent included the desire to continue pursuing scholarly and research interests among their reasons. Only 3.4 per cent of respondents mentioned a lack of employment opportunities, challenging the notion that students enter graduate studies due to poor job prospects.
Dollar for dollar, a B.A. is better
Grad studies are on the rise, but the payoff in cash is small
More Canadians are pursuing graduate studies than ever before. Even prior to the recession—university enrolments tend to spike during economic downturns—a significant shift was already under way: according to Statistics Canada, 32 per cent more people had master’s degrees in 2006 than in 2001, and 30 per cent more had doctorates. But, as a recent study by the C.D. Howe Institute shows, going to grad school doesn’t always pay.
While the desire to pad the mind, rather than the wallet, is what motivates many of those who get advanced degrees, it may still come as a surprise that a simple bachelor’s is a far more fruitful economic investment. According to “Extra Earning Power: The Financial Returns to University Education in Canada,” throughout their careers, men can expect an average annual return (after taxes) of 12 per cent on what they paid for tuition, books and living expenses in undergrad; for women, who have less lucrative opportunities with just a high school diploma, it’s 14 per cent. For master’s degrees, meanwhile, the annual rate of return drops to 2.9 per cent for men, and five per cent for women. The payback is smaller still for Ph.D.s: women can anticipate a 3.6 per cent return, while men actually emerge in the red.
As author François Vaillancourt explains, though grad school often unlocks added earning potential, due to “very high” costs of tuition, living expenses and income lost, master’s degrees and Ph.D.s don’t necessarily translate into bigger bank accounts. For society, the costs are even more significant. When men get master’s degrees, government, taxpayers and universities actually take a financial hit. But despite negligible and, in some cases, negative value to society, Vaillancourt points out that there’s more to determining worth than dollars and cents. “One thing we cannot measure is the content of work,” he says. However, in the case of degrees for which taxpayers, in the big scheme of things, seem to be carrying the load, he suggests, “Perhaps society should ask itself, ‘Why?’ ”
University launches master’s degree in The Beatles
Course can be studied both full and part time, includes a dissertation on the Fab Four
From Liverpool Hope University:
Liverpool Hope University has launched a brand new MA in The Beatles, Popular Music and Society, the first of its kind in the world. The new course, which can be studied both full and part time, covers four modules with specific issues relating to The Beatles and Popular Music, consisting of four 12-week taught modules, plus a dissertation.
Mike Brocken, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at Hope, said ‘There have been over 8,000 books about The Beatles but there has never been serious academic study and that is what we are going to address.
‘Forty years on from their break-up, now is the right time and LIverpool is the right place to study The Beatles. This MA is expected to attract a great deal of attention, not just locally but nationally and we have already had enquiries from abroad, particularly the United States.
”The Beatles, Popular Music and Society’ marks a seminal advance in popular music studies. For the first time in the UK and possibly the world, a postgraduate taught course is offered to research into The Beatles, the city from which they emerged, the contexts of the 1960s, technology, sound and songwriting and the industries that have set up in their wake to capitalise on tourism in the city of Liverpool.’
Ontario to create 3,300 new graduate spaces
More than $50m targeted at high-demand programs, like engineering and environment
Ontario says it’s committing $51.6 million to add some 3,300 graduate spaces at its universities over the next few years.
The government says the investment will enable more students to study in high-demand sectors such as engineering and environmental studies.
The money, from the $6.2-billion Reaching Higher program, will create 1,925 new master’s spaces and 1,373 new PhD spaces.
Ontario’s seven largest research universities will receive about 75 per cent of the new spots.
The University of Toronto will get the most with 588, followed by the University of Western Ontario with 504.
According to government estimates, seven out of 10 new jobs created in Ontario over the next decade will require post-secondary education or training.
“Ontario’s highly skilled workforce is our province’s greatest asset,” Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities John Milloy said in a release.
“By helping more Ontarians pursue higher education, we can strengthen our economy and attract the kind of jobs and investment that will build prosperity for all Ontario families.”
Here is a list of universities slated to receive the spaces and the allotments:
University of Toronto – 588
University of Western Ontario – 504
University of Waterloo – 461
McMaster University – 338
University of Ottawa – 277
Ryerson University – 289
University of Guelph – 232
York University – 168
Queen’s University – 97
University of Ontario Institute of Technology – 97
Wilfrid Laurier University – 68
Carleton University – 67
Lakehead University – 49
Laurentian University – 33
Trent University – 26
Ontario College of Art and Design – 6
University of Windsor – 4
- The Canadian Press
