Dr. John V. Richardson Jr.,Associate Dean, UCLA Graduate Division

NAFSA/EAIE, Amsterdam, 22 March 2007

Presentation OutlineIntroductionWAGS 2007 Case StudyCGS’ data on International Students

Applications, Offers of Admissions, and Enrollment

ContinuitiesDiscontinuitiesValues and MeasuresSelected References

WAGS 2007 Case Study“Your Dean of Business comes to you with a concern.

She has worked hard to establish an exchange program for MS/MBA students with a prestigious European institution. Our part of that exchange is to accept students with the European undergrad degree into the international business program. Her colleagues in Europe have informed her that they will be converting to a 3-year degree under the Bologna process, but assure her that they have designed their curriculum so that it is the same content as the previous program. The faculty have reviewed the new and old curricula, agree with that statement, and have prepared a formal analysis of the programs.

Can you continue to admit those European students to your graduate program? What actions to you need to take?”

WAGS Case Study continued:“It becomes known on campus that you have accepted

these students as fully qualified graduate students. Now you have other Departments approach you. The Computer Science program wishes to have a similar relationship with a particular three year program in India, the Dean of Business is back, wanting to accept other European degrees, and the Dean of Arts and Science simply wants to accept all international students with a three-year degree. Aside from wishing that you had taken up your true passion as a high school Band and Music teacher, what do you do?”

Source: Bill Feyerherm, Portland State University

CGS Trend Data, 2004-20061986-2004; or, 9/11 and Later

International Applications (February reporting)

Offers of Admission (June reporting) Selectivity Issues

Enrollment (September Reporting) Yield Issues

2006 International Graduate Admissions Survey: Phase 3, Admissions and Enrollment

SOURCE: “CGS is an organization of 460 institutions of higher education engaged in graduate education, research and the preparation of candidates for advanced degrees. CGS member institutions award 90% of the doctoral degrees and over 75% of the master’s degrees in the U.S.”; see http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=172

CGS, 1986-2004Graduate Enrollment and Degrees

Perturbations in the collected data due to:departmental programs which fund a cohort of international graduate students and

then wait until this group finishes before admitting their next cohort of international

students

Graduate ApplicationsDown 28% for Fall 2004 (n=113 graduate schools)

from previous year

Down 5% for Fall 2005 (n=450), notably from China, India and in engineering; 32% over two years

Up 11% for Fall 2006 (n=150), mainly from China and India, notably in sciences and engineering

“Still down 23% since 2003”

Admission Offers Down 28% for international students, but

domestic student applications only dropped 5% (Fall 2004) “The largest drops in admits were from China (-34%), India

(-19%), and Korea (-12%). The fields of engineering (-24%), life science/agriculture (-19%), and physical/earth science (-17%) saw the largest declines in the number of admits”

Up 3% for Fall 2005, notably from India, Korea, and Middle East, but not China

Up 12% for Fall 2006, notably from India, China, Middle East, and Korea

Graduate Enrollments From 2003 to 2004, overall 6% decline in

international students (n=450 schools); mainly in business, life sciences/agriculture, engineering

In 2005, international enrollment decreased by 3%Overall for 2006, overall enrollment for all

graduate students is down by 3%, but up by 1% for first-time students, mainly from Middle east, Korea, China and India; modest increases in engineering and physical sciences

EHE Area’s Potential ImpactA “more attractive and competitive”

destination for the best and brightest studentsEasier credential evaluations (ECTS)

“Consistency and ease” of common formatGrading by percentiles:

A for the top 10% B for the next 25%, etc.

Closer scrutiny of selected “majors”

Explicit approval needed by the Academic Senate

ContinuitiesTrend lines, down since 9/11 but now back upBetween 2005 and 2006, the percentage of

CGS survey respondents who said that the three-year degree was “not an issue” on their campuses rose from 41% to 56%

Comparability with flexibility:Continue to accept students from those programs

which we know and respect (i.e., the comparability factor).

Case by case exceptions (i.e., flexibility)Alignments which do not diminish quality is desirable from a North American perspective.

Discontinuities? 9/11, a temporally specific event; the nagging

question is whether it is short-term or a serious rupture in the fabric of society?

Potential loss of excellent students Need for a risk assessment?“Fairness issue” for 4 year degree holders

Payment of extra tuition for one yearLoss of one year’s income

Certainly, there are unknowns in our future

Values and Measures

“We tend to value what we measure rather than measure what we value.”

Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division, UCLA

ReferencesA search of ERIC reveals 48 articles and a Google

search lists 561,000 links. Here’s my selection:Australian Vice Chancellors’ Response to “The Bologna

Process and Australia: The Next Steps” at http://www.avcc.edu.au/documents/publications/policy/submissions/AVCC-response-to-Bologna-Process.pdf

Margit A. Schatzman, “The Bologna Process: Impact on Transatlantic Exchange from the North American Credential Review and Admission Perspective”in the “Atlas of Student Mobility,” at http://www.atlas.iienetwork.org/?p=41527

Hans de Wit, New Century Scholar at http://www.cies.org/NCS/2005_2006/ncs_hdewit.htm

“The Bologna Process” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_process

More References

Mariam Assefa, “Evaluating International Credentials in the New Environment” at http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/mtg_am06Assefa.pdf

Susan Feinberg, “Ripples of Change in US Graduate Education, Courtesy of Bologna,” Greentree Gazette, March 2007 at http://www.greentreegazette.com/

Questions or Comments? Feel free to email me at jrichard@ucla.edu