AUSTIN – A sweeping plan to increase recruitment, retention and graduation of doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars was approved today (Nov. 9) by the University of Texas System Board of Regents.
Regents accepted several recommendations to implement programs which seek to improve postgraduate education at UT System institutions offering Ph.D. programs, included in a report prepared by the UT System Task Force on Doctoral Education and the Postdoctoral Experience. UT System officials will work with campus presidents to determine the feasibility of implementing the recommendations at each institution.
“These recommendations account for a substantial investment in our human capital – one that will make the UT System a more potent leader in today’s global knowledge-based market,” said UT System Chancellor Mark G. Yudof. “This plan proposes key changes that will help us better adapt to the changing demographic landscape in Texas and puts our institutions in a better position to recruit and graduate a greater diversity of outstanding, high-quality students and scholars.”
Among its key proposals, the report recommended that the UT System support efforts to restore health benefits for graduate students and step up its recruitment of high-quality doctoral and post-doctoral students and scholars by establishing or enhancing incentives such as summer undergraduate research programs, regents’ fellowships for doctoral students and institutional grants geared toward creating innovative trans-disciplinary programs.
In a separate measure that was an outgrowth of the task force’s report, the regents in October approved a $5 million Graduate Programs Initiative, which is a competitive grant project that supports innovations in the education of nonprofessional graduate students (Ph.D. and comparable degree candidates) at all UT System institutions.
Other recommendations in the 44-page report include:
- Addressing more prominently doctoral and postdoctoral education in major UT System planning efforts
- Holding institutional leaders accountable for establishing and maintaining competitive doctoral and post-doctoral programs in line with System plans and institutional missions
- Conducting rigorous reviews of new proposals and ongoing programs which involve external peers
- Paying health benefits – equivalent to those paid for faculty and staff – to doctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars
The task force was assembled in June 2006 and is part of the UT System’s strategic plan designed to enhance the System’s efforts to remain competitive in the 21st century. The task force gathered input from administrative leaders, faculty, doctoral students and post-doctoral scholars from all UT System institutions which have Ph.D. programs.
“We believe this to be an ambitious plan which will have a lasting impact on the doctoral and post-doctoral experience at our institutions and which no doubt will help the UT System achieve its strategic goals of increasing student enrollment and success and attracting outstanding faculty – all factors essential to keeping us highly competitive for research support and productivity,” said Dr. George Stancel, the task force chair and dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UT Health Science Center-Houston and UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The University of Texas System is one of the nation’s largest higher education systems, with nine academic campuses and six health institutions. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $10.7 billion (FY 2008) including $2.3 billion in research funded by federal, state, local and private sources. Student enrollment exceeded 190,000 in the 2006 academic year. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates nearly three-fourths of the state's health care professionals annually. With more than 80,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.
