In master's programs, and especially at the doctoral level, graduate students depend on their advisers more than on anyone else in their careers. Students do more work for their adviser's eyes than for anyone else's, and the adviser's approval is the key to the door that leads to the next place, whether full-time employment or more school. For…

The Vermont college has radically revamped its class structure to better prepare students for life beyond the lecture halls. The collegewide program, "Education in 3 Dimensions," centers on three main parts: life-skills workshops, an interdisciplinary core curriculum, and professional courses. Required courses make up all three…

When Brenda M. Coppard was studying occupational therapy in the late 1980s, a bachelor's degree was the standard ticket to enter the profession. By the 1990s, a master's degree was expected. Today a doctorate is becoming the norm. Ms. Coppard has pushed for more advanced degrees. In 1999 the associate professor of occupational therapy helped…

Discusses how professional schools, except for medicine, are reporting surges in applications and enrollments, as graduating seniors decide to avoid the job market. (EV)

Dollar amounts of need-based and non-need-based state financial aid to students are tabulated for undergraduate and graduate and professional students for each state, including the number of awards and total and average award size in each category. (MSE)

Discusses how professional schools, faced with a shortage of students and an increased demand for cross-disciplinary training, are teaming up to offer joint degrees. Examples include joint medical and business degrees, joint social work and law degrees, and joint medical and law degrees. (EV)

Tables show most of the money that states will spend on student aid in 1984-85. Estimates are for dollars paid out, number of awards, and average award amount both for need-based assistance and non-need-based assistance for undergraduate, graduate, and professional categories. (MLW)

A new salary survey highlights concerns about the growing pay gap between professional-school faculty members and everyone else. Offers a table of average faculty salaries by field at 4-year institutions. (EV)

Need-based and nonneed-based state student aid for undergraduate, graduate, and professional education is tabulated by state, including information on the total dollars paid out, the percentage of change in the last year, the number of individual awards, and the dollar amount of the average award. (MSE)

The director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute (North Carolina) is committed to making better use of patient information for medical research, and is building a database from the institute's clinical trials. His approach is to provide biomedical researchers with daily involvement in medicine rather than management. (MSE)

Several organizations have created leadership-development programs for college faculty and administrators preparing for a range of administrative posts, including provost, dean, director of financial aid, and president. Some programs operate on a national level, some for specific institution types and constituencies. Participants benefit from the…

Doubts among some teacher educators about progress toward reforming teacher education and problems in recruiting members of minority groups to the teaching profession are discussed. The establishment of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards is described. (MLW)

An Ohio court has overturned a previous ruling that a blind woman be admitted to medical school at Case Western Reserve University, arguing that the accommodations required to graduate her would be unfairly burdensome and would keep her from having the medical experience required of other students. (MSE)

Increasingly, professional schools are addressing the issue of whether a financially successful program has a responsibility to support other, less financially successful programs, and how university fund raisers can assure donors that their gifts will benefit specific programs and not be siphoned into others. Law and business schools, often…

While the Sandinista government has streamlined Nicaraguan education and encouraged expansion, many say that material and methodological shortcomings are threatening the system. (MSE)