Graduate Education: A Personal
View and Experience
Kung-Yee Liang
National Yang-Ming University
Taipei Medical University
December 21, 2010
Outline
• Research universities in U.S.
– History
– Impacts
– Reasons for its preeminence
• Yang-Ming as a research university
• Graduate education
– Graduate program
– Intangible aspects
– Teaching commitment
• Discussion
Research Universities in U.S.
Compared to traditional colleges starting in
1636, emphasis of research universities is on
“creation and dissemination of knowledge”
through research rather than “transmission and
preservation of knowledge” through teaching
• Model after German system
• Non-existent prior to 1860’s in the States
– First American Doctoral degree conferred in 1861
Cole (2009) The Great American University
Research Universities: History
European influence
• British’s influence on undergraduate education
– Students associate with university through
affiliated colleges
– Instruction is organized around small group
weekly tutorials on areas of concentration such as
philosophy and political science
– Colleges are self contained facilities- and
endowments-wise
Research Universities: History (cont’d)
• Germany’s influence
– Emphasis on pure research divorcing from practical
applications in the 19th century, but modified to
embrace applications by the beginning of 20th century
– Teaching and research were combined
• Lectures were used to transmit results of new research and
reservoir of background material
• Seminars and laboratories were the structure for advancing
new knowledge
• Fundamentals methods and techniques were taught by
professors
Research Universities: History (cont’d)
• Americans interested in higher learning and the
university were envious of Germany’s system
– Spent time at German’s universities
– German and French scientists dominated the Nobel
Prizes in the first three decades of the 20th century
“German ideal was the ardent, methodical,
independent search after truth in any and all its
forms, …”
James Hart (1878)
Research Universities: History (cont’d)
• Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1875, is
the first research university in U.S.
• Strong emphasis on graduate education
“.. There seemed to be a demand for scientific
laboratories and professorships, the directors of which
should be free to pursue their own researches,
stimulating their students to prosecute study with a
truly scientific spirit and aim.”
Daniel Gilman, the first president of Hopkins
Hopkins as Research University
Woodrow Wilson to D. Gilman in 1902:
“... you were the first to create and organize .. a
university in which the discovery and
dissemination of new truths were conceded a
rank superior to mere instruction, and in which
the efficiency and value of research as an
educational instrument were exemplified in the
training of many investigators.”
Hopkins as Research University (cont’d)
• Small in student size
– 19,000 in total currently
– Graduate versus undergraduate student ratio is
approximately 3 to 1
– Leading U.S. universities in research spending
(US$1.85 billion in 2009)
• Essentially decentralized
– Autonomy from each school, budget-, promotion
system-wise, etc.
– Medical campus brings in indirect cost
– Difficult to be “cohesive”
• No compromise for teaching
Research Universities: Impacts
In a short period of time, American research
universities have risen to preeminence:
• 17 (40) of the 20 (50) most distinguished research
universities are in U.S.
• 60% of all Nobel prizes awarded go to Americans
• Generate new industries (80% from discoveries at
American universities)
• Improve public health and medical care
• Create higher standards of living
Research Universities: Reasons for
Preeminence
Today, not one German university is ranked the
world’s top 50
Q.: what prompt the preeminence of U.S.?
A.: “It is the properties of the system of higher
learning that fosters creativity and discovery, and
that allows knowledge to be transferred and
developed by new industries”
Cole (2009)
Research Universities: Reasons for
Preeminence (cont’d)
• An unprecedented and vast resources directed
at building excellence to create the system
• Enlightened and bold leadership
• “Right” values and social structures
• Exceptionally talented people (e.g., recruited
during the World War II)
• A commitment to the ideal of free inquiry and
institutional autonomy
• A strong belief in competition among
universities for talent
“Historical moment”
Yang-Ming as Research University
• Founded in 1975 as a medical school, YangMing has gradually shifted to becoming a
research university
– Approximately 4,600 students including 2,580
graduate students (56% versus 44%)
– 28 graduate institutes, 2 inter-disciplinary graduate
programs and 8 undergraduate departments
– With 5Y50B project, a good deal of emphasis has
been put on research
• A legitimate question: how is the quality of our
graduate education?
Graduate Education
• Graduate program
– Curriculum design
– Admission/recruitment
– Duration
• Intangible aspects
– Faculty commitment
– Course design
– Societal need
– Ph.D. versus ScM
– Opportunity for junior faculty to grow
– How to measure “impacts”?
• Teaching commitment
Graduate Program
• Curriculum design
– Concept of core courses to build foundation
• Broad enough as students’ interest may shift
• Focused enough not to drag
– Qualifying exams
• Opportunity to digest and comprehend material
• For early screening: maybe better off to switch to ScM
program
• One of several components for screening
– Yearly long core course performance
– Inputs from academic advisers
– Balance in strengths
Graduate Program (cont’d)
• Curriculum design
– Thesis work to build independent research ability
• A long process for some (post-doc may help)
• How many of us still work on thesis related topics?
– Intangible
•
•
•
•
Journal clubs
International conferences to broaden scopes and visions
English proficiency
Peer influence
Graduate Program (cont’d)
• Admission/recruitment
– Information from paper material (e.g., transcripts,
letters of recommendation, GRE scores, etc.) is
limited
– Helpful to have face-to-face interview
• Consensus building
– Most telling factor for students to excel: “internal
drive”
• Interview
• Personal statement
• Letters from professors
Graduate Program (cont’d)
• Duration
– There are more things that we don’t know than we do
after completing the program
• Is taking many courses necessarily a good idea?
– Core material is crucial to build foundation
– Not a good idea to take long period to complete
• Loss of enthusiasm
• “Not so desired” reputation for the program
– Cautious about part-time program
• Science evolving
• Seminars and journal clubs are helpful, to say the least
Intangible Aspects
• Commitment from faculty members
– Education takes long term commitment and
devotion, but rewarding ultimately
– Best interest to students may not be equivalent to
that of faculty members
– Students are recruited to succeed, not to fail
• Fair opportunity to excel (some develop faster than
others)
• Recognition of varying strengths
• Quality of program not to be compromised
Intangible Aspects (cont’d)
• Commitment from faculty members
– Regular monitoring to fine-tune and update
curriculum as science evolves rapidly
– Regular meetings between academic advisers and
students to monitor progress and/or potential
unforeseen issues
– Day on discussing qualifying exam is one of the
most important departmental events
Intangible Aspects (cont’d)
• Course design
– Some key questions to ask:
•
•
•
•
What to accomplish at the end -- objectives?
How to comprehend (e.g., home work, presentations)?
Is the material sufficiently updated?
For core courses, are they cohesive?
– For non-core courses, consolidation a possibility?
• Reduce teaching load
• Provide broader view for students to think horizontally
• Provide opportunity for faculty of varying disciplines to
collaborate
Intangible Aspects (cont’d)
• Societal need
– Job markets (academic or not) for graduates to utilize
acquired knowledge
“It is our responsibility to think along this line”
– Thinking outside of the box
• Academic is not the only option
• Be visionary and ahead of the game
– Designing courses, programs to suit the societal needs
– More versatile for students
Intangible Aspects (cont’d)
• Ph.D. versus ScM
– Common questions asked in my profession:
“Why do I need Ph.D. if I work in the industry?”
“What constitute the master degree thesis?”
– For Ph.D.,
• Ability to carry out independent research afterward
• Ability to critique and digest new material from the
literature
• Ability to supervise colleagues with master degree
It takes different characters and skills to succeed
Intangible Aspects (cont’d)
• Opportunity for junior faculty to grow
“they represent future of our own institute”
– Reducing teaching load to establish own research
agenda
– Teaching special topics instead of large classes
– Mentoring by senior faculty members*
– Providing opportunities for short-term oversea visits
and attending international conferences
– Organizing seminars
– Readiness for supervising post-doc fellows?
Mentoring
Critical to junior faculty career development
• “Direct” mentoring
– Involving in senior faculty’s research group
– Jointly supervising Ph.D. students
• “Indirect” mentoring
– Be available for questions on research direction,
grantsmanship, responses to review comments
– Recommending for invited speakers, etc.
– Helping to arrange short oversea visits
• Important to recognize variation in need, style,
etc.
Intangible (cont’d)
How to measure “impacts”?
• Conventional impact factors
– Represent one of many aspects of research quality
evaluation
– Quantitative in nature
– Time varying and potentially misleading (apple vs.
orange)
• Notion of “impact” is more profound
– Reflects “impact” (new discovery, advancement, etc.)
to own field
– Meant to be qualitative
Commitment to Teaching
• Rewarding system at Hopkins’ School of Public
Health
– Endowed chair for excellence in teaching
– Recognition by student assembly
• Advising, Mentoring and Teaching Recognition Award
– Recognition by the Appointment & Promotion
Committee
• Consistent with the mission of the school
Commitment to Teaching (cont’d)
Mission statement:
“The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
is dedicated to the education of a diverse group of
research scientists and public health professionals, a
process inseparably linked to the discovery and
application of new knowledge, and through these
activities, to the improvement of health and prevention
of disease and disability around the world.”
Discussion
• The last century demonstrated that research
universities in U.S. have been instrumental in
advancing science and technologies, which in turn
improving standards of living
• We provided a brief discussion on the history for
and reasons leading to such success
“No compromise on quality of teaching”
• Yang-Ming as a research university
“Can and should consist of both research and education”
Discussion (cont’d)
• High quality graduate education program a key
component to its success
• A fundamental issue to keep in mind: recruiting
students to help conduct own research is NOT
the reason for creating a graduate program
– It takes long term commitment
– Designing and maintaining sound curriculum is
crucial
– There are intangible aspects which are as important
as tangible ones
– Educating high quality scientists of future
generations is a noble cause
Discussion (cont’d)
• Dedications and excellent contributions to
education deserve recognition in research
universities
NO lip service is warranted
• Personal opinions from someone engaging in
graduate education for decades as
– A faculty member (1982-2010)
– Graduate program director (1996-2003)
– Co-director (2006-2010)