Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Terry Rawls - EvoLLLution. A key evolutionary artifact in graduate education today is the fact that the baby boom generation is aging out of the educational system. Baby boomers fueled the growth of American higher education in the 1960s, first as they sought undergraduate degrees and then across the next four decades as they sought to complete that long-ago unfinished undergraduate program or secure a master’s degree for their next promotion. While there are echoes of this generation, spikes in the pipeline so to speak, the simple truth is that our population is plateauing. That’s a trend that will continue for some time to come, and it does not bode well for graduate education going forward. More...

By Scott Greenberg, co-written with Marian Cohen - EvoLLLution. In a previous EvoLLLution article (Three Factors Influencing Persistence and Withdrawal for Part-Time Adult Graduate Students) we shared some of the findings from a study of adult students attending part-time graduate programs at a public university.[1] As we reported, the leading reason why some students had withdrawn or seriously considered withdrawing from their program was due to “feeling overwhelmed by the workload.” We suggested that prior to their matriculation, adult students need to fully understand the expectations of graduate-level coursework, the requirements of the federal credit-hour definition and the changes they would need to make in their lives to successfully manage school on top of work, family, financial and other obligations. More...

By Karen Kelsky - Chronicle Vitae. I always hear that universities are looking for interdisciplinarity, but I’m getting an interdisciplinary Ph.D., and I’m not having much luck so far. Does my choice complicate my job search?
It’s not your imagination. You do have an extra challenge on the job market as an interdisciplinary Ph.D. See more...

By Kelly J. Baker - Chronicle Vitae. It's Day Three of our series on pregnancy, motherhood, and the academy. Stay tuned tomorrow for the final piece. Monday: Sarah Kendzior asked, Should You Have a Baby in Graduate School? Tuesday: Rachel Leventhal-Weiner described the myth of The Perfect Academic Baby.
At a conference several years ago, I dined with a female senior scholar. We discussed her panel and mine, and eventually our talk turned to our children. She had a teenager; I had a toddler. We swapped stories, then phones, so we could see pictures of our respective progeny. See more...