Dive Brief:
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the decreasing number of applications to doctoral programs, outlined in a recent survey produced by the Council of Graduate Schools.
- The survey reveals that applications to terminal degree programs decreased by 4.7% between 2014 and 2015, while applications to masters programs increased over the same period by 3.8%.
- The decreases don't accurately represent all fields of study; humanities, health sciences and business all saw steep declines, while computer science and mathematics increased over the surveyed periods.
Dive Insight:
These statistics align with the rise of for-profit degree enrollment over the last decade, the proliferation of bootcamps and professional credential programs over the last five years, and the rising costs of higher education have made the doctoral degree, outside of applied sciences and higher education, nearly obsolete.
Focusing on specific areas of study or work that require high level research and academic exposure, and fostering partnerships with government agencies or corporations to seek out these graduates may be the alternative to credentialing; that is, showing employers that there is an even higher caliber of professional who can do more than work one job, but can ascend to manage or operate a company or to re-visualize an industry.