S.05-46
Appendix B. Graduate Enrollment and Credentials Awarded ? .

S.05-46

cf_,_^ 

Simon Fraser University

Senate Graduate Studies Committee

Annual Report to Senate for 2004

February

2005

Submitted by Dr. Jon Driver, Dean of Graduate

ition

and Mandate of the

The membership of SGSC in 2004 consisted of the Dean of Graduate Studies (chair),

Registrar (or designate), Librarian (or designate), chairs of the five faculty graduate

program committees, a

representative from

the Faculty of Health Sciences (since

September 2004), one other faculty member from each of the five graduate program

committees, two graduate students, the Graduate Issues Officer of SFSS, and the Directoi

Graduate Records (non-voting).

This

composition will be changing in 2005. The

Registrar is replaced by the Director, Graduate Records, admissions and Registration.-*

repon ta t

ive=of

the Faculty of Health Sciences A

ga,

uti1 that Fty

Graduate Program Committe. The Dean of Graduate Studies' secretary will be

secretary to the committee. The Assoiate Dean of Graduate Studies attends as a non-

voting resource person. ?

y e,cer,hh".'e

#hcS I;,ct4

11-4/

Qffe

)d ..SSC..

h1ed1I3

SGSC has established a regular monthly meeting schedule, in an attempt to spread the

workload of the committee more evenly over the year. A list of meetings and activities

for 2004 is attached as Appendix A.

it1o')

79,a1

14.1/

SGSC is responsible to Senate for admissions (delegated to the Dean), maintenance of

academic standards, changes to existing programs, evaluation of new programs, and

administration of the graduate general regulations. SGSC approves admissions under

Special Arrangements (via a subcommittee), and may act as an appeal body for student

progress reviews (via a subcommittee).

Graduate Studies at Simon Fraser University

During the calendar year 2004 a number of new graduate programs were at various stages

of development, and these are described in Appendix A. By the end of 2004 masters

programs and doctoral programs were being offered in each faculty (except the newly

created Faculty of Health Sciences). Graduate diploma programs were offered in Arts,

Business Administration, Education and Science. In addition, the Dean of Graduate

Studies office administers the Special Arrangements Program that provides a home for

students with individual interdisciplinary programs of study and research.

Summary

statistics on enrollments and award of degrees are available from the Analytical Studies

web site (see Appendix B of this report for data on enrollments and credentials awarded).

Enrollment and Graduation

. ?

Graduate enrollments in degree programs increased steadily from the late 1980's to the

mid- 1990's, remained relatively stable for a few years, and saw renewed increases since

2000 (see Appendix B). The recent increases in graduate degree enrollments early in this

decade were probably due to a combination of factors: the development of new programs

(such as the Masters of Public Policy or the MBA in Global Asset Wealth Management),

the addition of programs at Surrey, the "Double the Opportunities" funding from the

provincial government, and the recruitment of graduate students by new faculty members

as they establish their research programs.

However, in 2004 headcounts were reduced slightly from 2003. This decline is due to

reduced enrollments in professional masters programs in Business Administration and

Education. The other three faculties showed various degrees of growth in graduate

enrollments.

Data on credentials awarded are presented in the second table in Appendix B. We are

now seeing an increase in masters degrees awarded, a result of increased enrollments

since 2000. There has been a decline in doctoral degrees, but this should reverse in the

next few years, because enrollments in doctoral programs have increased.

New Programs

Assessment Committee for New Graduate Programs (ACNGP) is a sub-committee of

SGSC, responsible for the detailed assessment of new graduate degree programs, of

which the most important element is an external review process. Since September 2004,

the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies has chaired this committee. In 2004 ACNGP was

busier than usual. Details are provided in Appendix A, and a summary of all new

programs since 1981 is provided in Appendix C.

Fundin

for

raduate students

Financial support for graduate students continues to be a concern, particularly as we have

to compete for students with universities in provinces that provide a provincial

scholarship plan and other provincially-funded recruiting incentives. Locally, UBC's

policy of tuition scholarships for most PhD students has caused concerns about SFU's

ability to recruit doctoral students. In view of the increases in numbers admitted to our

doctoral programs (see Appendix B) this concern may be misplaced.

At the national level there continues to be recognition from the federal government of the

importance of graduate education. Increased funding to the national granting agencies

results in more graduate funding through research assistantships (from faculty member

research grants) and through direct funding in the form of scholarships and fellowships.

The granting agencies have stressed the importance of graduate training as a component

of faculty research grants, and one way to increase graduate support at SFU is to

encourage more faculty members to apply for research grants and to include graduate

student support in their budgets.

2004 saw the consolidation of changes to funding programs offered by SSHRC and

NSERC, as well as the introduction of a masters scholarship program by CIHR. Total

external scholarships (held in fall 2004) from federal granting councils are summarized in

the following table.

SSHRC

PhD

NSERC

PGS-M

NSERC

CGS-M

NSERC

PGS-D

NSERC

CGS-D

CIHR

Masters

CIHR

Doctoral

In 2002 the Dean created a small working group to examine graduate student funding at

SFU. In 2003 the Working Group consulted with the university community on principles

of graduate funding, undertook a survey of graduate students, gathered data on graduate

student funding, and prepared a draft report. (See htt

://www.sfu.caldean-

gradstudies/survey.htm)

. The report was made public (February 2004) and comments

were received. Based on these comments, a plan was prepared for consideration by

faculty deans, and following a number of discussions with that group a proposal was

submitted to SPCSAB in early 2005.

Student Information System

2004 was the first full year in which Graduate Studies operated under the new student

information system (Peoplesoft) (introduced in October 2003). It was also the first year in

which we administered new tuition rules that were implemented because of the new

information system.We encountered numerous problems, delays and frustrations as a

result of the transition to the new system, and many of these also affected individual

graduate programs. Nevertheless, the new system has had some important benefits.

• ?

Because of the need to program the new system with a consistent set of rules, the office

of the Dean of Graduate Studies has taken a close look at many administrative

procedures, and has rationalized and standardized a number of practices. As a result of

the need for better information about these practices, we have replaced the printed

Graduate Handbook with a re-designed web site that is more user-friendly. Graduate

grades can now be entered electronically, saving time and increasing accuracy. We have

designed an on-line application system that is currently being implemented, and we are

very hopeful that 2005 will be the last year in which a paper-based system of graduate

admissions is used. We are starting to work on the complex databases that are now

available to us, and we are beginning to produce analyses that would have been

impossible with the previous system.

Appendix A Senate Graduate Studies Committee, Activities 2004

Meetings were held in January, February, April, May, July, September, October,

November, December

Changes to existing programs

Graduate curriculum and program changes were approved in Biological Sciences,

Business Administration, Computing Science, Criminology, Earth Sciences, Education,

English, Gerontology, Interactive Arts and Technology, Kinesiology, Linguistics,

Mathematics, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Political Science, Psychology, Public

Policy, Publishing, Resource and Environmental Management,

New programs

There is a two-stage process for approving new degree programs. A notice of intent and

preliminary proposal is approved by SGSC and SCUP. The full program proposal is then

developed, reviewed by ACNGP (including external review), and then approved by

SGSC, SCUP and Senate. Graduate diploma programs and Graduate Certificates are

approved by SGSC, SCUP and Senate.

In 2004 the following programs were given preliminary approval by SGSC: Educational

Technology and Learning Design (MEd, MA, PhD); Population and Public Health

The

(MSc).following ?

programs were approved by ACNGP: PhD in Business Administration;

MA, MASc, PhD in Interactive Arts and Technology; Master of Urban Studies; MBA

(Global Assets and Wealth Management)

The following full program proposals are currently being considered by ACNGP:

Educational Technology and Learning Design (MEd, MA, PhD); Population and Public

Health (MSc).

The following programs were approved by SGSC: PhD in Earth Sciences; PhD in

Business Administration; MA, MASc, PhD in Interactive Arts and Technology; Master

of Urban Studies; MBA (Global Assets and Wealth Management)

The following certificates were approved by SGSC: Development Studies

Cohort Special Arrangements

These programs are offered on a short-term basis, either to fill an immediate need or to

allow a "trial run" of a proposed program. The following programs were approved by

SGSC in 2004:

MSc in Health Sciences

Other

Graduate General Regulation 1.12 was revised in order to deal with human rights issues.

SGSC recommended to Senate that the composition of the committee be changed to

reflect the relocation of the office of Graduate Records, Admission and Registration

within the Dean of Graduate Studies office.

SGSC initiated a survey of graduate courses, in order to investigate the practice of

integrating graduate and undergraduate courses.

The steering committee for Special Arrangements reviewed 8 applications for special

arrangements. 4 applicants were admitted. One masters student transferred to this

program in 2004. A number of students will be transferring out of special arrangements,

due to the approval of PhD programs in Business Administration and Earth Sciences.

The appeals subcommittee of SGSC heard one appeal of a student required to withdraw

for poor progress. The appeal was upheld.

Appendix B. Graduate Enrollment and Credentials Awarded

Note:

figures

refer to headcounts; no allowance is made for full-time, part-time and on-

leave status

Graduate enrollments

Applied

Sciences

Faculty

1997Fall

443

1998Fall

446

1999Fall

466

2000Fall

452

2001

Fall

47637

2002Fall

2003

Fall'

606

2004Fall

621

Changeto

0.3%

Change

40%

Administration

BusinessArts

301

751

270

7771

296

752

344730

416769

438

755

453

817

354

871

-21.9%6.6%

18%

16%

(GDBA only)

(57)

(60)

(103)

(130)

(101)

(115)

13.9%

102

/o (since

(Degree

(301)

(270)

(239)

(284)

(313)

(308)

(342)

(239)

_____

-30.1%

1999)

-21%

program only)

Education(GDE

only)

532

468

4510

(155)

641

(608)1124

(721)

1279

(607)

1078

(603)

1051

-0.7%

-2.5%

289% (since

98%

(Degree

(532)

(468)

(451)

(486)

(516)

(558)

(471)

(448)

. 4.9%

2000)

-16%

program only)

Science

375 377__39_3

393_43_2_

___

501

5.3%

34%

Total

2402

2338

2358

2560

3217

3445

3429

3401

-1%

42%

headcount

from

%change

-2.7

0.9

8.6

25.7

7.1

-0.5

-1%

previous year

program

Total degree

2402

2338

2301

2345

2506

2594

2706

2680

-26

12%

headcount

%change

yearfrom

-2.7

-1.6

1.9

6.9

3.5

4.3

-1%

* ?

total

all

graduate

students

students,

enrolled

including

those

masters

enrolled

and doctoral

in diploma

programs

# ?

the sudden increase is due to the incorporation of graduate programs from the

former Technical University of BC

Credentials awarded by academic year

Faculty/credential

96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/0101/02

02/03 03/04

Applied Sciences

Masters

Ph.D.

Arts

DiplomaMasters

103 122 104 138 134 140 139

146

Ph.D.

Business Administration

GDBA

661

MBA

126

113

132

119

144

164

163

Ph.D.(SAR)

Education

GDE

287

332

M.Ed.

91 1161 151 121

94 1041 117

166

Other Masters

Doctoral

Science

Masters

491

Ph.D.

331

Total degrees

510 6271 604 636

566

621 671 705

Total masters

438

526

529 528 487 541

589 638

Total doctoral

72 101

108

Ph.D.

14.1 16.1 12.41

17.01

14.01

12.91

12.2

9.5

There is a recent downward trend in the award of doctoral degrees. Both the absolute

numbers ofdegrees awarded, and the percentage of the total degrees awarded have

declined. This may relate to a reduction in the numbers of doctoral students in the late

1990's, when the doctoral enrollments at SFU declined from 650 in 1996 to 598 in 2000.

Because doctoral students take between

and 6 years to complete their degrees, we

would expect to a lag time between periods of low enrollment and low graduation rates.

Statistics Canada recently reported a 5.4% decline in doctoral degrees awarded nationally

from 1996 to 2001 (The Daily, January 18

' 2005), but SFU did not conform to the

national trend. Possibly we are seeing a later version of the national trend, but until

national statistics are available for 2002 to 2004, we cannot judge. Doctoral enrollments

at SFU have been increasing steadily since the low of

598

in 2000 to a headcount of 787

in fall of 2004, and it seems likely that within a few years we will see an increase in the

number of doctoral degrees completed at SFU. Another possibility that we will

investigate is that there have been increased withdrawal rates for doctoral students.

Appendix C. New program activity

Year of ACNGP approval

Program

1981

PhD, Education

1982

PhD, Computing Science

1983

PhD, Communication

1984

PhD, Criminology

1984

MA, Women's Studies

1984

MEng, Engineering

1984

MASc, Engineering

1985

MSc, Statistics

1985

MBA, Business Administration

1990

PhD, Engineering

1990

MPub, Publishing

1992

MA, Latin American Studies

1994

MA, Gerontology

1994

PhD, Linguistics

1994

PhD, Resource and Environmental Management

1994

MSc, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

1994

PhD, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

1995

MSc, Earth Sciences

1995

PhD, Political Science

1996

EdD, Education

1997

MET, Biological Sciences

2000

MBA(MOT), Business Administration

2002

Masters of Public Policy

2002

PhD, Women's Studies

2003

PhD, Earth Sciences

2004

PhD, Business Administration

2004

MA, Interactive Arts and Technology

2004

MSc, Interactive Arts and Technology

2004

PhD, Interactive Arts and Technology

2004

MBA (Global Assets and Wealth Management)

2004

Master of Urban Studies

Note: all dates since 1985 refer to the year in which ACNGP approval was given. Dates

for final approval and first admission of students may be slightly later.