Thank you for agreeing to serve on the Graduate/Professional Education and Research
Committee. The significant development of graduate and professional education and research
over the last fifteen years has transformed Rutgers, and has brought us into the ranks of the
best universities in the nation. Our programs are highly competitive and we compare favorably
with fellow AAU public research institutions in many areas. In order to continue to enhance our
quality and to achieve greater distinction, we recognize the need for maintaining a focus on
excellence, and dedicating our resources to the establishment of even better programs.
Strengthening graduate/professional education and research has been central to the goals of
the university's strategic planning process since its inception in 1991. At its meeting in
June 1996, the Board of Governors endorsed specific projects in the university's strategic plan
that will significantly enhance graduate/professional education and research at Rutgers.
As Rutgers has grown and matured as a comprehensive public research university, the
number of professional programs on all three campuses has increased. The quality of these
programs is now recognized by an increasing number of specialized accreditations.
Concomitantly, sponsored research and contracts have witnessed dramatic growth, nearly tripling
over ten years. At the same time, there has been tremendous growth in the number of centers,
bureaus, and institutes.
As we move forward to implement our strategic planning goals and develop our
graduate/professional and research agendas, we need to carefully consider how to monitor the
success of our efforts. Can we sustain the pace of development of the recent past? In
assessing our plans for the next fifteen years, what kinds of evidence should be used to gauge
our progress? By what means should our planning be modified and updated? You are being asked
to consider these issues and provide a first draft of a report by March 14, 1997, and to submit
a final report by June 2, 1997.
In your report, each one of these issues should be addressed with a descriptive section,
followed by an analysis, and concluded with a section on recommendations. Each section ideally
should be no more than ten pages in length. Supporting documentation in the form of tables,
charts, graphs, and reports/studies/plans should be included as appendices to the report.
Some questions to consider in the descriptive section of the report include the following:
What significant changes in graduate/professional education and research have taken
place at Rutgers in the last decade?
How have graduate/professional education and research been addressed in the
university's strategic planning process during the last five years?
What specific goals and objectives of the strategic plan support graduate/ professional education and research?
What is the relationship between professional/specialized accreditation and
development in instruction and research in the related fields?
What impact has specialized accreditation had on undergraduate and
graduate/professional education in relation to University and campus priorities?
What has been the impact of the development of centers, bureaus, and institutes
(CBIs) in the last two decades?
What relationships do the CBIs have with the academic departments?
What is the current relationship between research and public service at Rutgers?
What is the relationship between graduate/professional programs at Rutgers and the
needs of society?
What special support services are provided to graduate/professional students?
What role do faculty play in shaping the development and progress of graduate/professional students?
With regard to the analytical and recommendations sections of your report, please consider the following:
What directions in graduate/professional education and research should be developed
in the next decade?
Are graduate/professional education and research given appropriate attention in the
university's strategic planning process?
Can specialized accreditation be used to enhance graduate/professional and
undergraduate education without coming into conflict with other campus and University
priorities?
What is the appropriate relationship between CBIs and academic departments?
What criteria are appropriate for evaluating CBIs?
Under what conditions should CBIs be established or disbanded?
What is the appropriate balance between graduate/professional education and
undergraduate education? How effectively do they interact?
What is the appropriate role of research in undergraduate education?
What is the appropriate balance between graduate/professional education and
undergraduate education?
How should research and public service be integrated?
Is the structure of doctoral education appropriate to the needs of society?
Are our master's programs providing appropriate education for the needs of society?
Are our professional schools providing appropriate education for the needs of
society?
What outcome measures do we use to assess graduate/professional education?
What outcome measures do we use to assess research?
Is there a mix of qualitative and quantitative outcomes to gauge progress?
(Please describe them.)
Can these outcomes measures be integrated at the campus and school/college
level as well as university-wide?
How should progress be monitored and reported?
What issues should be addressed and what strategies should be used to plan for
changes in graduate/professional education?
What issues should be addressed and what strategies should be used for changes in research emphases at Rutgers?
Go Back To The Previous Section
Go Forward To The Next Section
Go To MSA Main Page
Return to Institutional
Research and Academic Planning Homepage.
Homepage.