In line with China's massive leap forward in higher education since the late 1990s and its ambitious bid for world-class universities within decades, doctoral education has been strongly, and arguable strategically, promoted by the Chinese government. During the past four decades, China quickly established a national system of academic degrees and…

Doctoral programs have high dropout rates of 43% representing the highest among all post-baccalaureate programs. Cross sectional studies of doctoral students' retention have showed the importance of financial aid in predicting degree completion. These studies however, do not estimate the labor market's effect on doctoral student retention and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which universities use the "GRE"® General Test scores to award merit-based fellowships to first-year graduate students in doctoral programs. While GRE use in fellowship award decisions is a common practice, there is very little validity evidence to support its use in this context.…

The aim of this critical literature review is to outline best practices in doctoral retention and the successful approach of one university to improve graduation success by providing effective mentorship for faculty and students alike. The focus of this literature review is on distance learning relationships between faculty and doctoral students,…

This study explored what motivated 6 Chinese international students to complete a PhD in science, technology, engineering, and math fields in the United States despite perceived dissatisfaction. This study was grounded in the value-expectancy achievement motivation theory and incorporated a Confucian cultural lens to understand motivation. Four…

This multidisciplinary collection examines the connections between education, migration and translation across school and higher education sectors, and a broad range of socio-geographical contexts. Organised around the themes of knowledge, language, mobility, and practice, it brings together studies from around the world to offer a timely critique…

Since the election of the first American college president in 1640--Henry Dunster of Harvard College--the position of president has been one of extreme responsibility and high visibility. There are many questions regarding how best to prepare individuals to attain this role (Chandler, 2006). Individuals come to the presidency from a variety of…

To pursue doctoral degrees is a growing choice for many adult learners who come to doctoral study with a range of personal, professional and educational backgrounds. This qualitative study explored perceptions about writing collected through a phenomenological interview process. The study applied socio-historical perspectives of writing in…

This study explores feelings associated with the impostor phenomenon (IP) as experienced by six doctoral students in a higher education program. Using data gathered from semi-structured interviews and a focus group, our analysis revealed that participants had feelings related to perceptions of inadequacy and academic preparedness. The authors…

Social media now offer a fresh opportunity to enliven the learning process. But to gain traction, they will have to prove their relevance. Librarians are quite vocal in advocating for the preservation of human interaction around digital media; one might say that it is their charge to be certain that the human factors within digital libraries are…

The current analysis examines the relationship between measures (R-scores, S-scores, faculty productivity) utilized in the recently published National Research Council NRC report and communication doctoral programs' centrality in the faculty-hiring network. Correlations among the network indicators and the NRC ratings were generally moderate and…

This article attempts to bring to the fore the need for enhanced quality assurance processes in the award of PhDs by Kenyan universities. The findings reveal that quality challenges exist in the institutional processes established for the award of this advanced degree across the universities in the country. It is hoped that the findings will stir…

Chinese is now a global language because of the global flow of Chinese people throughout the world. This development provides an important intellectual basis for engaging in the transnational exchange of Chinese theoretical knowledge. The argument developed here is that learning from international (and migrant) research students from China is a…

This article describes how the American Indian College Fund helps tribal college and university (TCU) faculty members conduct research and complete their Ph.D.s--and tackle unique challenges. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the fellowship programs administered by the College Fund pay a one-year stipend…

The PhD graduate from a US research academic institution who has worked 5-7 years to solve a combination of laboratory and computational problems after an in-depth classroom experience is likely superbly trained in at least a subset of the life sciences and the underlying methodology and thought processes required to perform high level research.…