hillary arnold higher education quality council of ontario canadian association of graduate studies...

Informing the Future of Higher Education

Hillary ArnoldHigher Education Quality Council of Ontario

Canadian Association of Graduate StudiesNovember 5, 2013

Increases in federal financial support for graduate students: Preceding policies and subsequent outcomes

2 Informing the Future of Higher Education

HEQCO Publication – Today!

Intentions for and outcomes following a decade of government investment in graduate education• Fred L. Hall & Hillary Arnold


How was graduate education affected by federal investment in graduate scholarships?

Significant money invested into graduate expansion

Policy statements are difficult to measure

No comparable investment into program evaluation


Data collected 1998 through 2010

Scholarship funding from the Tri-Councils

Enrolment data / degrees granted data from PSIS

Time to completion and completion rate data from the U15


Federal Government intention:

Industry Canada. (2002). Achieving excellence: investing in people, knowledge and opportunities. Canada’s Innovation Strategy.


Number of graduate students increased from 2003 to 2010

122,619

161,430

2003 2010




Provide financial incentives to students registered in graduate programs

Incentives to enrol?

Incentives to complete?

Incentives to focus on specific research areas?

Informing the Future of Higher Education

Federal investment increased graduate scholarship support

19981999

20002001

20022003

20042005

20062007

20082009

2010$0

$20,000

$40,000

$60,000

$80,000

$100,000

$120,000

CIHR SSHRC NSERC

8




• Double CIHR? SSHRC? NSERC?

• Combined master’s and doctoral?

Double number of master’s and doctoral fellowship and scholarships awarded by federal granting councils


Increase in support was not equal

$ since 2001tripled

quadrupleddoubled

# of scholarships since 2001 more than doubledtripledabout 50%

CIHRSSHRCNSERC

≠


Greater investment in PhD students

19982000

20022004

20062008

2010$0

$20,000

$40,000

$60,000

$80,000

$100,000

$120,000PhD CGS and VanierPhD otherMaster's CGS

SSH

RC


Funded students received more $

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 -

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

Average SSHRC dollars per PhD student in SSHRC discipline

Percentage of PhD SSHRC discipline students receiving an award

SSH

RC $


More individuals with graduate degrees in science and engineering


Industry Canada, 2007. Mobilizing science and technology to Canada’s advantage.

• How many?

• From when to when?

• STEM?

• Science & engineering?


NSERC master’s CGS awards not successful at enticing Canadians to STEM fields

19981999

20002001

20022003

20042005

20062007

20082009

20100

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

Male Canadian

Female Canadian

Male International

Female International

Mas

ter’s

STE

M e

nrol

men

t


Picture is better at the PhD level

19981999

20002001

20022003

20042005

20062007

20082009

20100

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

10,000

Male Canadian

Female Canadian

Male International

Female InternationalPhD

STEM

enr

olm

ent


Completion rates increasing

19921993

19941995

19961997

19981999

20002001

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Health Sciences

Physical Sciences + Engineering

All Disciplines

Social Sciences

Humanities

Year of Entering Cohort

Com

pleti

on R

ate


No clear improvement in times to completion

19921993

19941995

19961997

19981999

20002001

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

Humanities

Social Sciences

All Disciplines

Health Sciences

Physical Sci-ences + En-gineering

Year of Entering Cohort

Mea

n N

umbe

r of T

erm

s




Increase admission of master’s and doctoral students by an average of 5% per year

• Measurable!


Master’s vs. PhD: different story

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

10 5 0 5 10

Annual % Change in EnrolmentMaster's PhD



Increase in number of graduate students

More financial support to more students

# of scholarships awarded doubled overall; but not at NSERC

STEM degree enrolment not responsive at the master’s level

PhD enrolment increased most years by 5%; master’s did not

Outcomes


What more is needed to understand the impact of scholarship on graduate students?

Policy Statements

Measurable

Data

On times to completion

On completion rates

Outcomes between:

Those that receive scholarships

Those that don’t receive scholarships

vs.

hillary arnold higher education quality council of ontario canadian association of graduate studies...

Documents

graduate education fred

graduate scholarships

graduate degrees

federal government intention

phd students

graduate programs incentives

doctoral students

federal financial support