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QS Research - the postgraduate world today
The postgraduate world today - A leading edge survey by QS Research
Who, what and where is the ‘average’ postgraduate student? Trends in international masters and PhD study have shifted dramatically over the last few years. Unprecedented research by the QS, the world’s leading network for top careers and education, reveals some fascinating answers. Tim Rogers reports.
There is no doubt about it - the world is a considerably smaller place than when our parents left secondary education. Choices were far simpler – not least because they were so much more limited than they are now. The notion of postgraduate education thirty or forty years ago only fell to those seeking a specialist career in either the academic or medical fields, with only the very smallest minority even thinking about leaving their own city let alone their home country in the pursuit of higher learning. How things change! 2003 saw over two million students travel to other countries in pursuit of degree-level qualifications, approximately one third of whom opted for postgraduate programmes. A recent survey conducted by QS Research, in association with the QS World Grad School Tour, has for the first time revealed some interesting trends amongst those seeking postgraduate opportunities internationally and the academic areas most in demand.
Though MBA programmes tend to be thought of as the only postgraduate qualification that attracts applicants with significant work experience, the survey indicates otherwise
The survey, based on a sample of 1,234 people attending the QS World Grad School Tourin 2003 – for people interested in postgraduate masters and research programmes – drew responses from a wide range of regions giving a clear global picture of the market for postgraduate programmes. Figure One indicates where responses for the survey came from. Though MBA programmes tend to be thought of as the only postgraduate qualification that attract applicants with significant work experience, the survey indicates otherwise. Figure Two demonstrates that 40% of respondents had between two and four years experience, while only 12% had no experience of full time employment.
Clearly, this has an impact on the age at which those interested in postgraduate study apply to their chosen programmes. On average, those responding to the survey were aged between 23 and 26, with a further 18% aged between 27 and The reasons for those applying to postgraduate programmes having more experience and being older? Certainly the rapidly changing global environment has contributed to the feeling that jobs are no longer necessarily for life. Periodic recession many parts of the world has encouraged those in the workplace to examine their positions, resulting in a significant global growth in the demand for postgraduate education and the subsequent acquisition of knowledge and skills for future career prospects.Additionally, large numbers of those returning to education from employment to take a postgraduate qualification do so because they wish to develop an area of interest that they find stimulating, often diametrically different from their career experience.
Amy Reff, in her first year of a linguistics PhD at the University of Essex in the UK, is therefore typical of this current trend. “Before coming to Essex, I was a volunteer paraprofessional for AmeriCorps where I worked in the special education department of a rural high school in upstate New York.” She worked in this environment for a couple of years before deciding to return to university, “I was 23 when I first came to Essex” and had already “learned a lot about myself and the world.”
Figure Three shows the types of subject areas respondents were particularly interested in (people could select more than one option). The data underpins the impression that internationally active institutions have felt over the last few years that, although specialist masters programmes in the areas of business, finance and management continue to be popular amongst students, a wide variety of other academic areas are growing in popularity amongst international students. Equally, both Law and International Relations are disciplines gaining favour amongst those wishing to study at the postgraduate level. The number of LLM students has increased fivefold over the last 20 years, reflecting the enormous global demand for lawyers able to work in varied and largely international environments. Similarly, the popularity of international relations and other social sciences now represents close to 20% of all postgraduate interest. Like many, Marcela Prieto-Millan from Colombia, currently in her second year of a two-year masters degree at the Fletcher School, Tufts University, chose a programme in international studies to help her understand the way in which her own country relates to the contemporary world, “For me the combination of legal, economic, social and political courses I have taken during my first year has allowed me to gain an ample understanding of Colombia, Latin America and the challenges ahead.”
