Imperative
2
2
Strengthen Our Graduate Programs
We must have
a shift in our thinking about the role of graduate education
to attain the level of excellence we desire. A substantially
expanded graduate studies effort is critical to our academic
aspiration and to our effectiveness as a great research
university. Outstanding professors attract superior graduate
students and, in many instances, the money to help support
their research. But these professors by themselves will
not be enough. We must create a dynamic, exciting, discovery-driven
intellectual environment that will draw superior graduate
students, comparable to those in the nation’s best graduate
programs.
P
R E C E P T: I N C R E A S E T H E S
I Z E A N D Q U A L I T Y O F T
H E
G R A D U AT E P O P U L AT I O N
Texas A&M University
aspires for graduate education to play an expanded role
in our institutional life. Graduate students should make
up a greater proportion of the student body and more should
come from the best institutions in the nation and the
world. Enhanced ability to attract and retain graduate
students and provide the framework in which they can complete
their studies as full participants in the community of
scholars is essential for healthy growth in graduate programs.
Many forces affect our ability to attract
the brightest graduate students. The state’s view of the
graduate student must be differentiated from the well-understood
need to serve our own population of undergraduates. Stipends,
insurance benefits, tuition waivers, and other forms of
financial support are important for effective results.
However, if our response to the challenge stops there,
a key ingredient to graduate student life remains beyond
our reach. Avenues must be found to involve graduate students
more in the creative enterprise of higher education, to
make them contributing members of the academic community.
Incorporating the work of graduate students into the mainstream
work of the university will ensure a more energetic, high-quality
engagement with the faculty and pursuits of the institution.
The
current measures of excellence for universities are
focused on the breadth and depth of their graduate and
professional programs. These standards include both
educational and research components. Similar indicators
of excellence are likely to continue into the 21st Century.
T
A S K F O R C E I D E A
-
Create a
climate that welcomes graduate students as part of the
community of scholars and 
increase
the size of the graduate student population while maintaining
present numbers of undergraduate students. Increase
the proportion of graduate students to 30 percent of
the student population, while developing financial resources,
influencing state policy, and refining the academic
culture that support excellence in graduate education.
Specifically, make financial support for graduate students
competitive with that of the best institutions.
-
Recruit top
students. Recruit 75 percent of graduate students
from institutions other than Texas A&M University and
50 percent from outside Texas.
-
Develop more
master’s degree programs. Have 20 percent of the
student body enrolled in master’s programs.
-
Impact the
quality of higher education in the 21st century by providing
graduate students excellent preparation as teachers
as well as researchers. Give responsible training
in pedagogy to graduate teaching assistants and to graduate
students seeking academic careers.
-
Post-doctoral
study should be increased for graduates of Texas A&M
University as well as for those from peer institutions.
Double the number of post-doctoral fellows.
-
Advance Texas
A&M University’s information technology strategies and
infrastructure to position us to be a world leader in
the development and delivery of education in the 21st
Century. Increase to 50 percent the proportion of
the master’s population enrolled in distance and other
non-traditional master’s offerings.
P R E C E P T:
C R E AT E A C O M P R E H E N S I V E
R A N G E O F
P R O G R A M S
All programs should be responsive
to student needs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Graduate programs in particular should be flexible and cover
a range of issues that are current, subject to change, sensitive
to changing economic, social, and cultural developments,
and broad enough to create critical mass for the graduate
student. The last consideration speaks directly to the quality
of graduate student life in the university. Excellent science
programs must be balanced with excellent humanities programs
at the graduate level. Focus, the primary characteristic
of graduate study, does not alleviate the responsibility
of the university to provide breadth so that graduate study
is informed from a number of perspectives. Texas A&M University
must respond to this notion and commit to providing a range
of graduate programs that is both balanced and of the highest
quality. One distinguishing characteristic of great public
universities is that they have many graduate offerings,
and all are strong or improving.
The challenges
and opportunities of the 21st century will require students
to have both traditional discipline-based education and
the ability to obtain skills provided by interdisciplinary
and integrated programs.
T
A S K F O R C E I D E A
-
New
programs need to be created in areas that are central
to quality graduate study and that would contribute
to overall enhancement of the university. Commit
to an implementation plan that identifies and initiates
graduate programs in the humanities and social sciences
that are configured to achieve distinction.
-
Texas A&M University should assume a leadership role
for graduate education in the Texas A&M University System.
Create special opportunities, such as articulation
agreements, for graduate students from System institutions
and have 10 percent of total graduate enrollment from
those institutions.
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T
H E U N I V E R S I T Y ’ S F U T U R
E I S A B O U T
G R A D U AT E P R O G R A M S T
H AT L E A D :
The College
of Veterinary Medicine envisions an expanding role
in the life sciences to include enhanced understanding
of the human/animal bond; a key role in the tremendous
challenge of food safety and public health; the
study of human and animal nutrition to be better
able to feed the world’s population; as leaders
in the understanding of reproductive technologies;
as active players in medical and surgical research
including the understanding and development of new
therapeutic agents; as experts in the identification
of animal models for human disease; and as research
scientists.
The
College of Veterinary Medicine Vision for 2020
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