September 7, 2007

Global Leaders in Higher Education Forge Guiding Principles on Graduate Studies

Higher-education leaders from around the world who participated in what they said was the first global meeting on graduate education have produced a statement outlining nine guiding principles for graduate education. Educators from Australia, Canada, China, Europe, and the United States agreed last week on the so-called Banff principles, named for the Canadian city where the meeting took place, to shape “future collective and collaborative work to advance and improve graduate education.”

Noting that “graduate education is in transition globally,” participants agreed to “promote the quality of graduate programs,” “clarify and strengthen the role of the master’s degree,” and “establish an inclusive global platform for discussion of best practices in graduate education.”

The Banff Strategic Leaders Global Summit on Graduate Education was convened by the government of the Canadian province of Alberta and the Council of Graduate Schools, which represents nearly 500 universities in the United States and Canada, and 13 universities outside North America, and whose members award more than 90 percent of all U.S. doctorates and more than 75 percent of all U.S. master’s degrees.

The 27 participants at the three-day meeting included representatives of individual institutions, the Australian government, the Association of Chinese Graduate Schools, and the European University Association, whose 780 member institutions include universities and rectors’ conferences from 46 European countries. The meeting grew out of a 2006 conference in Salzburg, Austria, on Doctoral Education in a Global Context, that was jointly sponsored by the European University Association and the Council of Graduate Schools. —Aisha Labi

Comments

1. The principles are the same old platitudes one hears in the meetings of the Council of Graduate Schools and in similar meetings. The fact is that graduate schools in the US have no budget, no real authority, and no faculty to implement changes. Until the organization of graduate schools in the US changes to address practical issues, these “principles” will remain empty slogans.

   — Steve    Sep 7, 09:03 PM    #

2. Something more insidious than, “the same old platitudes one hears in the meetings of the Council of Graduate Schools and in similar meetings,” is occurring here. It is my speculation the Enlightenment is declining, and global emphasis on academic service to commerce incorporated in this document reaffirms my concern. Thus, “Graduate education, involving both masters and doctoral programs, is the key to creating a knowledge-based economy.” So being, “to guide our future collective and collaborative work to advance and improve graduate education,” to be sought is to,

   • Develop global career competencies and awareness in graduates. • Engage stakeholders, e.g. employers, policy makers and universities, to improve and advance graduate education in a global context.

   Fascinating how President Bush has founded the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan upon “bringing democracy to the Middle East,” while the purveyors of graduate education, many current or former members of the “coalition of the willing”, are concerned not with education fostering democracy, but “creating a knowledge-based economy.”

   — DVP    Sep 10, 11:26 AM    #

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