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.”
So what are the choices facing a potential postgraduate student? Well, in this day and age, it is true to say that the choices are quite literally endless. Most local systems of university-level education offer some form of postgraduate education, whether a short diploma, an award-bearing masters degree or a much longer period of research resulting in a PhD. Internationally, postgraduate education is booming, with over a million students studying outside of their home country. Australian, Canadian, French, UK and US institutions are currently recruiting ever-increasing numbers of students on masters and PhD programmes and leading global institutions like the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Chicago are expanding their capacity to teach these types of programmes by adding dozens of new degrees every academic year to meet both demand and interest in new academic areas.
Primarily, choosing a postgraduate degree comes down to personal preferences, but key factors are common to making that crucial decision. Firstly, the length of time you are willing to spend away from employment. Many European and US masters degrees require you to study for between 18 months and two years, whilst Australian and UK equivalents tend to be one year or less in duration. The time spent to complete a PhD programme can vary enormously from three years in the UK to five years in the US and Canada. Postgraduate degrees are often now available on a part-time basis, to allow for those students wishing to continue in employment at the same time as enhancing their intellectual or practical skills.
Secondly, the mode of study can vary from institution to institution, and country to country. Most masters degrees are primarily taught programmes in the UK, US and Europe, with significant amounts of contact with academic members of staff in lectures, classes and tutorials. However, some programmes allow for a period of independent research related to an area within your degree. Related to mode of study is who teaches the academic content. The very best degrees will be taught by leading figures in their fields, active in research and often consultancy, actively influencing their particular academic area.
Thirdly, the choice of physically where you study. Each country and indeed national system of education offers advantages and disadvantages. The choice comes down to a balance of personal preferences – where will I feel most comfortable? Where will I enjoy living the most? And academic ones – where is the best programme for what I am interested in? How internationally respected is the institution I want to study in? Some may consider the ease of remaining in a particular country after their period of study to work as the most significant factor in their choice of destination country. Respondents to the QS Research/ QS World Grad School Tour survey underline just how international the range of choices for countries in which to study a postgraduate qualification actually is – a staggering 44 countries were cited as being potential destinations. Though there is no surprise that Australia, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, UK and the USA were all cited as preferred study destinations, the likes of Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Singapore and Switzerland also featured.
Finally, costs. Your choice of where to study so often hinges on how much it actually costs for academic tuition and living expenses. Financial aid and scholarship packages are commonplace, either offered by individual institutions or national governments, keen to encourage the very best international students to their country. But these schemes tend to be devilishly competitive and heavily oversubscribed. In the QS Research/ QS World Grad School Toursurvey, where respondents were asked to rank in order of priority their major source of financing for postgraduate study, 77% indicated they were relying on some form of scholarship funding to cover their costs. Some countries allow you to offset these costs by allowing you to work as well as study, but this is not common to all. As a very broad guide, quality and brand of a particular postgraduate programme tends to be associated with high cost – as with anything in contemporary society.
In the information age that we live in, finding out about international postgraduate study opportunities is relatively simple, but discovering useful and valid information is not so easy. Many website and publications purport to offer definitive guides and surveys on what is the ‘best’ university or the ‘best’ programme of study but so often these publications are misleading. The best place to start your research is the relatively unsophisticated approach of actually talking to people who already have postgraduate experience – where and what did they study? Why did they study? What was it like? Would they recommend it as (a) an academic experience, (b) as a life experience or (c) as a way of enhancing their career prospects? Institutional websites and prospectuses are also good points of reference to get a full understanding of the programmes of study offered, who is teaching the programme and what you can expect from the academic experience.
But the opportunity to meet admissions staff and academics of institutions you are interested in is also something you should seek. It is rarely practical to travel to your prospective institution for a visit or interview, but touring education fairs such as the QS World Grad School Tour, held in October and November this year in 22 cities across Europe, Asia, North and Latin America, provide an exciting platform for potential students and universities to meet one another. Such events offer a dynamic and worthwhile format for those seeking information on masters and PhD programmes and opportunities to have your questions answered face-to-face.
Further details about QS World Grad School Tourare available at www.topgraduate.com