This article describes the results of a report released last week by the Council of Graduate Schools. The report, "Ph.D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Demographic Data From the Ph.D. Completion Project," is based on data from 24 universities in the United States and Canada. According to this report, women and members of…

In this paper I convey a recurring problem and possible solution that arose during my doctoral research on the topic of cross-cultural Holocaust curriculum development for Latvian schools. Specifically, as I devised the methodology for my research, I experienced a number of frustrations concerning the issue of transferability and the limitations…

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's Graduate Education Initiative (GEI) provided funding to 54 departments in the humanities and related social sciences during the 1990s to improve their PhD programs. This article estimates the aspects of PhD programs the GEI influenced and how these aspects influenced attrition and graduation probabilities. It uses…

There is a current consensus in the literature and policy documents on postgraduate supervision that positions mentoring as the most effective supervision strategy. Authors suggest that this approach to supervision overcomes some of the problematic, hierarchical aspects embedded in supervision as a pedagogical practice. They portray supervision as…

While increasing the diversity of the library profession has been a long-running concern of Library and Information Science (LIS), the diversity of LIS doctoral students and faculties has received far less attention. This paper argues that libraries will be best equipped to provide inclusive services and outreach to diverse populations when LIS…

This manuscript evaluates the predictive validity of several predictors used to delimit an initial applicant pool of doctoral candidates at the department/program level. Particular predictors addressed in this manuscript are measures of past academic performance and of future academic potential. Past academic performance is assessed by grade point…

Several years ago a senior APS colleague challenged the leaders of academic programs to critically think about a preferred future for ensuring that there is not only the capability, but also the willingness to recognize and reform and/or reframe higher education programs within FANRRS to meet the challenges of "preparing society ready…

In this study, we compare the first and the last sessions from an online oral proficiency course aimed at doctoral students conducted in the virtual world Second Life. The study attempts to identify how supportive moves made by the teacher encourage learners to engage with language, and what type of linguistic behaviour in the learners leads to…

This article is a compilation of the views of 16 PhD students and the author on Steven Klees' 2007 article titled, "A quarter century of neoliberal thinking in education: Misleading analyses and failed policies." The students and the author have taken Klees' article as a stimulus to try and explicate the anatomy of the decline of the…

This paper critically evaluates the pilot of a Thesis Writers' Circles program offered to Education PhD and DEd students at the University of Melbourne in semester 2, 2005. The analysis focuses on the needs of those students that were felt to be well-met by this model of support. Broadly, the paper identifies two distinct but inter-related themes:…

This research sought to determine whether any measure(s) used in the Carnegie Foundation's classification of Doctoral/Research Universities contribute to a greater degree than other measures to final rank placement. Multilevel Modeling (MLM) was applied to all eight of the Carnegie Foundation's predictor measures using final rank…

The pressure being placed on universities to deliver skills training for the workplace has generated considerable debate. This paper deconstructs the broader employability discourse in which the debate is embedded in order to draw out its formative implications for skills training during candidature. The paper argues against erection of a…

In Russia there is a system of two advanced academic degrees: candidate of sciences and doctor of sciences. Historically, in imperial Russia there was a system of academic regulations and degrees based on European, mostly German patterns. Then in the Soviet period from 1918, the degrees of master's and doctor of sciences, which had existed for…

Undergraduate student involvement has been linked to retention and satisfaction (Astin, 1993; Tinto, 1993); however, no empirical research has yet been conducted on the outcomes of involvement at the graduate level. We interviewed 10 doctoral students in higher education in order to explore graduate student involvement, finding that it is not only…

This qualitative investigation explores the perceptions of four women compositionists regarding mothers, teaching, and scholarship in the field of composition. I examine narrative case studies about four women who have PhDs in composition from the same doctoral program. Findings indicate that each of these four women perceives her mother as a…