Researchers envision a new doctorate for a changing work world

Researchers at the University of Washington have launched a national investigation of how universities might update and reformat the doctoral degree to better prepare students for jobs.

America's university system has long enjoyed worldwide acclaim for providing a high-quality graduate education, but the system has recently come under fire from American legislators, students and media, says Jody Nyquist, who is spearheading the two-year project, 'Re-envisioning the PhD.'

The doctorate has been challenged from several directions-industry claims it isn't adequately preparing students for fast-paced applied and collaborative work, and universities claim that faculty aren't being properly trained to teach. Nyquist's project is the first to closely study the source of such criticism: the doctoral training format.

'People in business and industry appreciate the analytical work PhDs do, but they want people with broader, more interdisciplinary training-people who work well in teams,' says Nyquist, who is assistant dean of Washington University's Graduate School and director of its Center for Instructional Development and Research. 'And within universities, people are calling for PhDs who can teach better.'

Armed with a $515,000 grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, Nyquist and a team of researchers will study whether the criticisms of doctoral education are valid, and, if so, how the doctorate might better serve students' and employers' needs.

In gathering their data, they'll visit innovative and unusual doctoral programs, such as some that require short, publishable papers instead of a dissertation. They'll also talk with higher education administrators and ask business and government agencies what they expect-and what they're getting-from their doctoral-level employees.

Other project researchers at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Harvard University will probe the history of the doctoral degree and survey students about how well their doctoral education is preparing them for work. Participants will present and pool their findings at a conference in Seattle in the spring of 2000. Representatives of APA be among the participants.

Nyquist urges graduate programs to share any changes and innovations they're making to the PhD. If your program is involved in such an initiative, please e-mail her at nyquist@cidr.washington.edu.

-B. Murray



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