National Academies: Professional Science Master's Degree Programs Should be Expanded

http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20080711.html.
REPORT RELEASE: The Board on Higher Education and Workforce announces the release of “Science Professionals: Master’s Education for a Competitive World.”

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Well, when the National Academies talk, you've gotta listen, I guess. But I'm a little suspicious of this. Higher academia has been getting it wrong for years about what skills and credentials are actually associated with the whole picture of technology happening, and they like having second-class citizens to be lab assistants, working in the machine shop, etc. when people with the same credentials could be valued first-class citizens in industry, developing new materials, computers, ships, aircraft, etc. or in technology policy or regulation.

There are a lot of disincentives to go for a long-term graduate degree in the natural sciences - in terms of financial and lifestyle choices. This looks like the academic departments are, in a more kind interpretation, trying to become relevant, or in a less kind one, trying to start a new racket in the booming part-time master's degree market - all those physics and chemistry majors getting master's degrees in engineering and all that mid-career business going to engineering departments, maybe.

This looks like a new kind of bogus second-class-citizen credential to keep more of the academics employed. Some of this academic wampum may be interesting but a lot of it may be difficult for potential employers to decode.

I think it's better to be a first-class citizen in business or industry than a second-class citizen in academia. One should watch this carefully to see how the credential community evolves before investing any tuition in it. If you're a science major, check out engineering, law, or business before going with one of these.

Obstacles, corollaries, etc.

At a glance, the non-completion rate for mid-career graduate school of all kinds - masters and doctorate - seems very high.

Obstacles:

1. Time. People in midcareer are generally already invested in a time-demanding occupation, which may or may not be related to what they want to study. They may also have families, mortgages, etc.

2. Money. No fellowships for employed people doing part-time school. Sometimes some employer support but funds may be limited.

3. Other. Multitude of individual factors.

Corollaries:
1. Re time: Lack of time could be a showstopper for a part time graduate program. Therefore, anything that reduces time overhead (not study time - that you expect to be substantial - but commute time etc.) greatly increases the chance of success. If the course is on your side of town or on your desktop, that is great. If the course is offered in your employer's facility or on the desktop, that is even greater - a good employee benefit if the course is something you are interested in.

2. Re money: Your employer may or may not be able to fund your courses. Or they may fund one but not the next one you need, so you'll have to pay for that one (or more) yourself - and wait a while before buying new clothes for your next big meeting or job interview. So low tuition helps increase the chance of success, or at least decreases the chance of failure. Some schools offering part-time graduate degrees are very expensive. If the course - or a package of courses, like a company-sponsored certificate or degree program - is offered in your employer's facility AND paid for by your employer, that is a very generous employer benefit.

What programs are cheap and have low time overhead? People should know this. A Consumer Reports on accredited/midcareer/distance/online graduate programs would be helpful.

3. Re other: Complex.

Mid-career graduate school pathways

This is meant to be a constructive discussion, brainstorm, and source of ideas, observations, and lessons-learned about pursuing and successfully obtaining graduate school credentials, particularly earned doctorates from accredited institutions, whilst full-time employed.

First observation with some questions: Lots of part-time and distance master's degree programs of many types, often terminal degrees which lead no further. Also nondegree and partial degree ("certificate") variants, which may be a package of 4-5 graduate courses which could count towards a degree but are packaged as a "certificate" of accomplishment in some field - they could also be a head-start towards a traditional degree at that school.


Questions:

- If you want to get a master's-degree-type credential, there are usually a lot of choices, depending on your field of interest. Why so many programs - supply meeting demand? Are they profitable in some sense for universities to offer?

- What generates the demand - need for credentials by workers, or need for skills by employers? Personal fulfillment? Career change? Re-inventing oneself?

- Degrees appear to run to types
- education/counseling
- business - MBAs and variants
- engineering and related fields (IT, applied science)
- other?

- Who does these and why?

- Who pays for them?

- What are the "high leverage" types of degrees, if any? Are any part-time master's degrees truly life-changing or career-changing? What occupational improvements do they lead to, if any?