The Office of Graduate Education
Performance Plan -FY ‘07
Section I. Executive Summary
The United States has enjoyed a virtual monopoly in graduate education for many
years. With the onset of the ‘global divestiture’ of graduate education, the US and its
colleges and universities enter a new arena of global competition which requires strongly
focused and dramatically escalated initiatives with a special emphasis on recruiting.
Rensselaer must exercise a leadership role by prioritizing and supporting this strategic
initiative. As the divestiture of ATT changed the field of communications, so the rapidly
approaching global divestiture of higher education is certain to change the face of our
entire educational system for all time.
As evidence of this rise in global competition, in 2003 Europe and Asia each
produced more doctorates than the US for the first time in history. Europe and Asia now
produce 3-5 times the number of engineers than the US, and they are available at 20%30% of the cost of a US engineer, Many international universities have adopted the US
Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral degree structure, teach in English, created highly
developed quality programs and facilities, and seek to attract a highly diversified
international student body thereby offering the same characteristics as has been the US
competitive advantage in the past. From Hungary to Hong Kong and Spain to Singapore,
others are moving rapidly in those same directions. And they do so at a significantly
lower cost than private and even public universities in the US. Moreover, through various
Programs such as Socrates and Erasmus, coupled with the Bologna Declaration, Europe
(and Asia as well) have established strong networks of universities. The US will need to
compete with these an entity (the educational analogy of Boeing having to compete with
Airbus) as well as with individual universities. What worked in the past for us will not
bode well for us for the future. As we still maintain the established advantage compared
to relatively new starts, the time window for action is now. However, as a host country
for international students, our market share is dropping as others rise. Deferral will only
increase the difficulty, cost, and effectiveness for Rensselaer to make a strategic move of
this magnitude in the future, and it is not an option.
This rise of global competition relates directly to our graduate program and the
main focus of this Performance Plan- graduate recruiting. For Rensselaer, of the 2425
applications received for the fall, 2005, 70% were from international students. The very
large number of international applications is desirable from the standpoint of diversity,
but this ‘pipeline’ of potential graduate students is now being increasingly tapped
globally, not by the US alone. That coupled with the mandate of full support, requires an
ever larger growth in external support to attract them. Moreover, one half of our current
1100 full time graduate student population is international, and one half of those are from
China, a country from which the US has seen a 60% decline of applications in the last
two years alone. On the other hand, the largest draw of domestic graduate applications is
from Rensselaer and then four local universities, which combined total 10%. The
remaining 20% of the applications are from universities at the single digit level per
school, and are very widely distributed; all clear evidence that the draw distribution of
applicants is less than desirable, to say nothing of the acceptances and those confirmed.
In a just completed survey taken by the Office of Graduate Education in October, 2005,
80% of those academic units responding indicated no documentable recruiting plan for
their organization.
We will initiate a faculty focused recruiting strategy to complement the current
approaches. Unlike undergraduates, graduate students are usually attracted by a person of
excellence-a specific professor, or by a spire of excellence in a field at the university,
rather than the generic nature and overall quality of the university. As such, time
permitting, faculty make the best recruiters. All Dean’s have incorporated graduate
recruiting in their Performance Plans, agreed to appoint a School Coordinator for
Graduate Recruiting, supply fund to augment faculty travel for recruiting, and identify
and promote recruiting at targeted universities. Alum and current students will be
integrated in the aggressive recruitment plans as well, and will include targeted
international recruitment. The OGE will assume responsibility via direct reports for
graduate recruiting, add an Associate Dean, and work jointly with Admissions for
processing of applications and follow up. New software for Recruiting, Contacts, and
Marketing (RCM) needs to be purchased to provide improved coordination between these
more widely distributed activities. Marketing of graduate programs will be upgraded,
with a concentration on web presence and usage. This will include but not be limited to
‘Virtual Open House’ sessions.
In terms of growth and in concert with the Rensselaer Plan, we need to increase
the size our graduate population by fully one third from 1200 (1100 full time) to 1600,
with a focus (1250 or 78%) on doctoral students, to realize the 250 doctoral degrees per
year with a five year period to degree, as outlined in the Plan. This will be augmented by
substantial growth of those pursuing Masters degrees, both full and part time,
emphasizing Education for the Working professional (EWP). These are expected to be
mostly self pay, with a large component taking the non-thesis option thereby minimizing
additional faculty workload. A concomitant faculty increase must occur, along with an
increased number of graduate students per faculty member. We must maintain the size
and quality of our undergraduate program, while dramatically increasing our
graduate program in size, quality, and diversity facing ever increasing global
competition.
Financially, this level is attainable only by realizing the integration of a minimum
research expenditure level of $100 million annually, with the expectation of supporting
600 RAs (38%; but still well below the national averages for certain Schools), in addition
to maintaining our current level of 530 internally supported students (on Rensselaer
Scholarships), a minimum of 100 fellowships, and the balance being self pay. Overall we
need to draw more students from what are now our peer aspirant universities, by
becoming their peers. We must do better. By comparison, our current support of graduate
students provides for full tuition and stipend for one half of our full time graduate
students, and can cover up to 40% of their tuition and stipend costs in a five year doctoral
program. This is not sustainable in the long run.
This growth will be supported and promoted by enriching the spectrum, by
breadth and focus, of our offerings and in overall program quality. We will expand our
doctoral offerings such as with a new doctorate in Biochemistry and Biophysics, a new
doctorate in Electronic Arts, a new doctoral option in Architecture in Built Ecologies,
promote joint offerings such as a ‘follow-on MBA’ between the SoE and SoM, and
explore different types of delivery such as ‘Fellows’ part time residency degrees. The
OGE will join with the Schools to assure program quality by regular reviews of each
department with the OGE focusing on the graduate sector.
Metric
FY 06
FY 07
FY 08
FY 09
FY 10
FY 11
Annual Research Expenditures
$70M
$75M
$85M
$90M
$95M
$100M
1200
1265
1380
1455
1530
1600
360
390
450
500
550
600
Self Pay Graduate Students (FT)
112
120
150
150
150
150
Graduate Students on
Fellowships (FT)
39
45
60
75
90
100
Part Time Graduate Students
100
150
150
150
150
150
Total Graduate Students
(PT&FT)
Externally Supported Graduate
Students (FT)
With regard to the above chart, 1230 of the anticipated 1250 full time doctoral
students are to be supported by a combination of 600 external RAs, 530 internal
Rensselaer scholarships, and 100 Fellowships. The remaining students are part time (150)
and/or Masters and assumed to be self pay. The growth of EWP and graduate students at
Hartford, are in addition to the numbers above.
International activities will be strengthened with targeted recruiting abroad by
alum, and the OGE. On an exchange basis, world class graduate courses offered by
international universities will be promoted as part of both our Masters and Doctorate
degrees, offered by distance learning, or on location. Rensselaer will likewise offer
selected world class courses to international universities in return maintaining a balance
of student credit hours, negating the need for tuition exchange. MOUs will be encouraged
for joint research at the graduate level, and integrated with the mandatory undergraduate
international experience when possible.
Some process improvements would benefit and accelerate the growth of the
graduate education in size and quality, and make us more competitive. The original two
year practice for internal support via TA, inherently limits the growth of the new graduate
population by obligating these internal funds to continue students rather than fund more
new incoming students, and may unnecessarily defers the start of research for some
students. In other cases, where external support is not readily available after two years,
even three years may prove to be insufficient. Consequently, it was first proposed to
practice this policy by stipulating a two year, on average, term for internal support within
each school. However advantageous and prudent this approach might have appeared at
first, upon more detailed consideration and discussion, it was deemed more appropriate to
practice an up to two year maximum, thereby encouraging early entry into research and
external support for those desiring it. Offering other students the possibility of another
year on external support, only to discover that in most cases encountered thus far they
would then still likely not have sufficient other resources to complete their doctoral
program, did not seem reasonable or fair to the student. Rather, a better strategy is to
emphasize and seek support for a much larger number of externally funded Fellowships
to provide an opportunity for this set of students to complete their degree objectives.
We will also regularize the practice of allocating tuition waivers to
endowed/prestigious fellowships, provide a more formal structure for augmenting
external awards with tuition caps from NIH, NSF, DoEd etc., and provide means for
assuring that all fellowships meet the minimum stipend levels. Other facets to be
considered in support of promoting growth in size and quality are the distribution of the
tuition incentive, cost sharing of tuition on external grants, and credits for and time to
complete degrees.
The essence of the Key Initiatives of this Performance Plan will provide the basis
for an integrated Graduate Plan, bringing together all the individual School Plans, which
will in turn provide the roadmap for a strong and focused strategic initiative aimed at
increasing the QUALITY, NUMBER, and DIVERSITY of our graduate student body
as a required element for a class one research university for the future. They include
concentration on recruiting, growth, quality, diversity, process improvements including
restructuring, policies and programs, and education for the working professional with
emphasis on graduate part time and distance learning delivery.
Section II. Institute Wide Priorities
The Performance Plan of the Office of Graduate Education is inextricably linked
to the Institute’ highest priorities. The very first one, Research and Graduate
Education is the very foundation of this OGE Plan.
The entire OGE Plan is focused on growth of the graduate programs and student
base. The faculty based recruiting coupled with the staff expansion, and the inherent
widespread knowledge of the foci of our research activities, will guarantee the growth of
the 3 Ts-Biotechnology, Information Technology, and Nanotechnology. Already in
process is the planned expansion of PhD offerings, and one of the first being pursued is in
Biochemistry and Biophysics, under the Biotechnology umbrella.
The initiatives for recruitment are at the core of the OGE Plan and are not further
addressed here.
The undergraduate Plan and this proposed graduate Plan are also closely linked
through the research emphasis in both, the large draw of our own undergraduates to our
graduate program, and the international aspect of both, and the inherent educational
continuity of each to the other, that is the Rensselaer Continuum in Education.
The different Schools each have addressed the tie to EMPAC through their
students, and the OGE will be supportive of those initiatives. As it develops, we will
expect to see additional internal support via OGE for fostering the development of
EMPAC based students. In the meantime, Schools will be encouraged to use a few of
their OGE allocations to promote these endeavors.
A key element of the Institute priorities which weigh heavily on success of the
OGE plan is the assurance of net faculty growth and research support to meet the goals
set forth herein. To realize 1600 graduate students, we must reach a level of $100 million
of research expenditures, and an associated funding of 600 RAs. This can only be brought
about with a large near term increase in size of research active faculty.
Finally, we will investigate the impact of various governmental controls and laws
on the well being of our growing graduate program and students. These will include
issues of IP, export control limitations, and other constraining laws which may not
provide equal access to all our diversified student body. This is a key aspect of the OGE
Plan.
As such, this Section is brief, anticipating the major steps need to be taken by the
Schools responsible. Be assured the OGE will support the academic deans in every way
possible to see these goals realized.
Section III. Goals, Strategies, and Actions
Goal 1. Recruiting
An aggressive graduate student recruiting program will be pursued to increase the
size of the graduate student body to 1600, with 1250 full time students aspiring to the
PhD as the flagship degree within a five year time period, and the balance being Masters
and part time students. The emphasis will be on size, quality, and diversity, focusing on
targeted countries, universities, and students.
Strategy 1. Faculty Based Recruiting
Action 1.
In cooperation with the Deans, appoint School based Graduate Recruiting
Coordinators as liaisons to OGE, who will manage the following action items.
Action 2.
Establish a program whereby faculty recruit at targeted universities in conjunction
with their regular travel schedules, with funding from their respective Schools.
Action 3.
Identify targeted universities from which we seek to draw students, and match
those with the evolving faculty travel schedules, to augment recruiting done by the OGE,
in conjunction with Admissions.
Strategy 2. Reorganization
Action 1.
Reorganize the OGE so that it is responsible for all graduate recruiting, working
closely with Admissions.
Action 2.
Hire an Associate Dean of Graduate Education to concentrate on graduate
recruiting.
Action 3.
Have three personnel (two vacant positions and one filled position) in Admissions
report directly to the Associate Dean of Graduate Education, with linkages to Admissions.
Action 4.
Have the Director of Outreach and Summer Programs report directly to the Dean
of Graduate Education, with dotted line reporting to the Dean of Undergraduate
Education, and Dean at Hartford. The OGE is responsible for all part time programs and
distance delivered courses from the Troy campus.
Action 5.
Expand the size, diversity, and role of the Graduate Dean’s Advisory Committee
to have it include the School Coordinators, and be the central clearinghouse for software
comparisons and selection, and public relations materials, among other tasks to be
assigned.
Action 6.
The Dean of the OGE serves as the Chair of the Graduate Planning Committee.
Action 7.
Establish new expanded facilities for the expected growth of the Office of
Graduate Education personnel base including the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate
Education
Strategy 3. Outreach, Visibility, and Public Relations
Action 1.
Enhance and expand the OGE web site, to be more user friendly, and highly
interactive including user navigation capability.
Action 2.
Develop capability for live interaction with faculty, students, and staff with
potential students. This will include live web based chat rooms, and ‘virtual open house
visits and tours’ via the web.
Action 3.
Increase the number of Graduate Open House events for potential students.
Action 4.
Engage Alum for graduate recruiting, especially internationally, and engage
current students via the Graduate Student Council for recruiting to assist in Actions 1-3.
Action 5.
Develop and maintain current and available, power point based recruiting
materials for faculty and staff.
Action 6.
The OGE will participate more heavily in professional activities including the
Council of Graduate Schools, ASEE. etc., seeking leadership roles as well
Action 7.
Develop closer ties with governmental organizations, to exert influence on
proposals for laws pertaining to export control, sensitive information regulations, and
intellectual property, as they affect the ‘safe conduct’ of our graduate students and
programs.
Strategy 4. Software
Action 1.
Benchmark, compare, purchase, and implement Recruiting, Contact, and
Marketing (RCM) software package. (Capital Request has been submitted)
Action 2.
Enhancements as may be needed to be performed by IACS.
Goal 2. Educational Programs
Strategy 1. Expand Masters Programs and EWP
Action 1.
Re-energize and expand in a major way, Masters programs, both on and off
campus, to include full time, part time, and distance delivery, emphasizing self pay
students and professional (non-thesis) Masters degree.
Action 2.
Conduct market assessment for new programs to include Executive/Leadership
Masters Degree Programs, Customized Cohort Masters Degrees, Advanced Study
Masters Degrees, and Professional Development Programs.
Action 3.
Identify and Develop three new cohort Master Degree Programs for part time
students to be delivered via distance.
Action 4.
Promote inter-school programs such as the follow-on MBA between the SoE and
SoM.
Action 5.
Seek and promote new models of delivery of education such as a part time
residency offering.
Action 6.
The OGE will develop stronger ties with Alumni Relations and help promote
policies and practices that provide continuity to the active alum base and also provide
unique opportunities for continuing their graduate education. One such idea is to
encourage graduates to return to campus or continue their pursuit of a Masters degree by
distance as follows.
If initiated within a three to five year time period after graduation, they may pay
the same tuition they paid at the time of their senior year. This would result in increased
income to Rensselaer from students who otherwise might normally not have returned to
continue their education here. Interestingly, if considered as a type of tuition discounting,
this would be no less than that net tuition revenue we currently receive on research
contracts which involves 35% cost sharing.
Strategy 2. Improve and Enhance Doctoral Programs
Action 1.
Encourage new doctoral offerings to be offered by Schools such as the PhD in
Biochemistry and Biophysics, and see these submissions to completion including state
approvals as required, targeting the key areas of Biotechnology, Information Technology,
and Nanotechnology.
Assist in performance of market analysis to support pursuit of new offerings
Action 2.
Promote international cooperation by creating an exchange of courses by
distance (or in some cases on site where student exchange programs exist) with
international universities, creating a balance of student credit hours so that a net flow of
zero is maintained over a period of 3-5 years. This would permit having the ‘best in
world class’ course as part of the Rensselaer PhD degree.
Promote dual degrees and joint degrees on an international basis.
Action 3.
Re-evaluate credit hour requirements for the PhD, with the potential of increasing
depth and perhaps shorten the time to degree concurrently.
Strategy 3. Provide a More Engaging and Integrated Educational
Environment
Action 1.
Promote a first year experience for graduate students, with an emphasis on those
coming from outside of Rensselaer, in cooperation with the Office of the First Year
Experience.
Action 2.
The OGE will approve all newly proposed graduate offerings, both at Troy and
Hartford.
Action 3.
Provide for improved office space for advanced doctoral students treating them as
‘junior colleagues’, and a ‘plaque on the door’ recognition for Fellowships awardees.
Action 4
Formulate a graduate student parental leave policy.
Strategy 4. Quality Improvement
Action 1.
Expand departmental program quality reviews cooperatively with the School
Dean and Department Chair to incorporate the entire department’s programs, with OGE
focusing on the graduate level, to include both academic and research programs. Monitor
progress based on feedback provided.
Action 2.
Provide for continuing evaluation of student quality against defined metrics with
formal review of standards every two years for both incoming full time and part time
students, including standardized test and GPA waiver forms.
Action 3.
Provide continuous monitoring of progress of on going students in concert with
faculty and guided by administrative policy.
Action 4.
Provide orientation and training programs for new graduate students and TAs
and provide Master TAs, as well as for sexual harassment awareness, diversity awareness,
suicide prevention, and the use of the early warning system.
Action 5.
In concert with all academic units, regularly review and evaluate teaching quality
for all faculty teaching graduate courses, including full time faculty (tenure/tenure track,
clinical), part time faculty (adjuncts), to include all distance offering from Troy, and all
other EWP related activities at the graduate level, using School based course evaluations
and School based faculty evaluations, expanding them to those units without a process in
place.
Action 6.
Monitor the intellectual mentorship of PhD students by faculty for continuity.
Action 7.
Regularly evaluate the quality of distributed delivery facilities and equipment
used in EWP activities
Action 8.
Provide training on BRIO and NOLIJ to streamline the student experience, as
well as for anticipated RCM software.
Strategy 5. Promote Growth
External research awards have been growing with the hiring of new faculty,
although the net gain of faculty numbers is essentially flat due to retirements etc. The
total number of faculty must grow in proportion for the goal of 1600 graduate students
and 250 doctoral degrees/year granted to be fully realized. This will require an average of
4 graduate students/faculty member overall, with many more externally supported RAs,
doable but a ‘reach from where we are now. Of our current 1100 full time graduate
students, 530 are internally supported by the OGE for two years, and 360 annually are on
RAs. The balance are self pay or on fellowships. We will need to have at least 600
externally supported RAs, with 530 internally supported annually, with the balance being
supported by fellowships (at least 100) or self pay.
Action 1.
Grow from the current 1100 full time and 100 part time graduate student base to
1600, with a focus on the doctoral level. This is required if we are to meet the Rensselaer
Plan goal of graduating 250 doctoral degrees/year. (SoE is predicting 660 by FY ’08
which should put us at about 1400 minimum)
Action 2.
Significant growth in EWP will be achieved by growth in Masters Degree
offerings both at Troy and Hartford, with part time students on campus as well as by
distance delivery and selected courses off campus, in addition to an anticipated dramatic
increase in summer programs. This will require an aggressive marketing and advertising
plan the need for which is endorsed by the OGE, along with a focus on specific
companies, technical areas, and concepts of delivery and timing (e.g. WEMBA, Fellows)
to increase to 350 students annually.
Action 3.
Growth of graduate student research support must be accomplished via
increase external research support. A minimum of $100 million expenditure level is
needed to support 600 RAs anticipated.
Action 4.
Fellowships will be a major focus of activity of the OGE in cooperation with the
academic units and Institute Advancement, as a means of providing support for larger
numbers of graduate students. Thirty nine Fellowships were awarded in ’05-’06, and 100
such Fellowships need to be established.
Goal 3. Diversity
Strategy 1. Specialized Recruiting
Action 1.
Focus recruiting (increase applications, acceptance, and confirms) at selected
schools for underrepresented minorities and women.
Action 2.
Identify OGE support packages in each School allocation for underrepresented
minorities and women
Action 3.
Form Graduate Women’s Association
Action 4.
Provide graduate student diversity and sexual awareness training to all students
Action 5.
Expand support for and coordinate faculty participation in the Walter Lincoln
Hawkins Conference.
Goal 4. Process and Policies Implementation
Action 1.
Offering a bit more flexibility in the practice of the current graduate policies
would be beneficial to the students and faculty, and promote support for an increased
number of graduate students. Currently a School that receives 100 Rensselaer
Scholarships from the OGE can only afford to bring on 50 new students/year given the
established two years of internal support. If this is reduced to one year, that same School
could afford to support 100 new students annually using these resources. Other Schools,
without significant external support, may find that the two year guarantee is insufficient,
and perhaps even three years may prove to be inadequate for the student to see their
doctoral program to completion fully supported. As such, it was initially planned to
modify this policy and use an average of two years of OGE support on internal funds in
each School. Upon further reflection and discussion, it was determined that a policy of up
to two years is a preferable option. This would permit the earlier conversion to research
and external support desired by many faculty, and also increase monies available for new
entering students. It was felt a better option for students for whom externally sponsored
research is not as plentiful, and where two years and perhaps three years of internal
support would be still inadequate to complete their degree objectives, would be to seek
external support for a much increased number of Fellowships. This strategy could
provide the additional longer term support needed for those students
Action 2.
We will regularize the practice of allocating OGE tuition waivers to
endowed/prestigious fellowships, provide a more formal structure for augmenting
external awards with tuition caps such as from NIH, NSF, and DoEd, and provide for
means for assuring that all fellowships meet the minimum stipend levels
Action 3.
We will establish common policies and practices for graduate offerings that cover
Troy, Hartford, and distance delivery.
Action 4.
Firm policies and practices regarding the handling of special cases of student
support to assure successful completion of their PhD degree
Action 5.
We will be compliant with all audits and oversight procedures as a priority.
Action 6.
We will see that all staff and faculty associated with the OGE and with a need to
know, will have access to and be competent in the use of the Graduate Student Data Base
including BRIO and NOLIJ, and RCM when it is implemented.
Section IV. Performance Metrics
Performance Metrics to be used against the goals, strategies and actions outlined
in Section III are listed below. They will be elaborated upon further at the retreat and in
the next version of this Plan.
Goal 1.
Student applications from peer universities (domestic and international)
Student applications from peer aspirant universities (domestic and international)
Acceptances/Applications
Confirmed/Acceptances
GPA of accepted students
Percentage of Women and Under Represented Minorities of Applications,
Acceptances, and Confirmed
Percentage of Students in Biotechnology, Information Technology, and
Nanotechnology
Web Site Hits/month
Number of Students at Open Houses and Virtual Visits
Goal 2.
Number of Masters Full Time
Number of Masters Part Time and SCH
Number of PhDs
Graduate Revenue/Graduate Revenue Goal
Number of Conversions from TA to RA support
Years to Convert from TA to RA Support
International Courses Exchanged
Number of TAs/Number of RAs
Number of RAs/Number of Postdocs
Number of Tenured and tenure Track Faculty/Research Faculty
Number of RAs funded
Number of Fellowships Awarded
Number of Departments Evaluated and Results
Number of International Courses Exchanged and SCH
Average Years of Continuous Intellectual Mentorship for PhD Student
Degrees Awarded
New Cohort Programs Begun
Goal 3.
Acceptances/Applications for women and under represented minorities
Confirmed/Acceptances for women and under represented minorities
OGE packages awarded to women and under represented minorities
Students trained in diversity and sexual awareness
Student participants in Hawkins Conference
Goal 4.
OGE allocated packages/packages used –by School
Average Support of student on TA-by School
Number of new Fellowships acquired