Sunday, December 02, 2007

Social Science PhDs - Five+ Years Out

From Executive Summary: "This report concludes that students in social science PhD programs are well prepared for their careers in a number of ways, but they need additional training in essential professional competencies and they need support for career preparation in order to fully utilize the knowledge and analytical skills they acquired during doctoral education. For this reason, policy recommendations at the end of this report call for a paradigm shift in PhD education. Funders, policy makers, disciplinary associations, universities, and graduate faculty need to recognize that the PhD in the 21st century is preparation for employment. Social science doctoral students need better career preparation and better support for learning to manage careers. In particular, universities need to recognize that most men and women are in relationships, many with children, and this situation influences PhD careers; universities need to pay more attention to connecting research training with teaching, writing and publishing; and universities need to bring professional development competencies such as teamwork, working in interdisciplinary contexts, grant writing, and managing people and budgets, from the margins to the center of PhD education."
Source: Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education at the University of Washington

Download PDF Working Paper
| Download Highlights Report | Download Data Report
Link to online introduction

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