Professional Development for Graduate Students

Lynn Alden, Faculty of Graduate Studies

Objective: To work with graduate programs to offer professional development seminars and workshops that: a) facilitate rapid student involvement in their training programs, b) provide resources for proactive career planning, and c) develop the professional “meta” skills necessary to obtain an succeed in today’s academic, research, and professional careers. Examples of professional skills include how to obtain scholarships, write publishable articles, obtain grants, manage projects and budgets, provide team leadership, resolve workplace conflict, and strategies for job search, interview and negotiation.

Rationale: UBC graduate programs face two challenges in addition to providing high quality discipline-based education. They must attract top quality students in the face of competition from US and Canadian schools that are able to offer better funding packages, and they face internal and external pressure to reduce time to degree completion. Recent surveys by the Carnegie Institute of Higher Education and the Pew Charitable Trust, as well as the 2001 UBC Graduate alumni Career survey, suggest that programs that facilitate rapid engagement in career-related activities increase student satisfaction, reduce time to completion, and increase the likelihood that students will obtain high quality academic, research, and professional positions, all of which would enhance the attractiveness of UBC as a graduate institution.

Lynn Alden, Faculty of Graduate Studies

Objectives: To expand the graduate professional development (PD) project to a university-wide program that will provide professional development workshops and resources that: a) facilitate rapid student involvement in their training programs, b) provide guidance for proactive career planning, and c) develop the professional "meta" skills necessary to obtain and succeed in today's academic, research, and professional careers. Examples of the professional skills include how to obtain scholarships, write publishable articles, obtain grants, manage projects and budgets, provide team leadership, resolve workplace conflict, and strategies for job search, interview, and negotiation.

Method: The PD officer will: a) Work with VP Students representative Marsha Trew to conduct a needs survey to identify essential research and professional skills and determine which are best taught at the departmental, Faculty, or university level. b) Develop additional workshops and materials to provide the skills identified as valuable additions to discipline-based learning. c) Work with departments to provide PD resources at a departmental, as well as university, level. d) Continue to coordinate and evaluate existing PD workshops and seminars related to professional meta skills. e) Continue to work with the GSS and student guidance committee to develop a dedicated PD website. f) Work toward self-sustaining funding.

Scott Kerlin, Faculty of Graduate Studies

Objectives: (1) To continue expanding the university-wide development of the graduate student professional development (PD) project; (2) To further identity program level needs for assistance in PD services; (3) To expand the range of available PD workshops and online resources (using the Internet and Web) so that every graduate program at UBC will be able to offer a range of PD resources for their students. Rationale: Research on graduate student completion indicates that students who remain highly engaged with their graduate studies maintain a higher level of motivation, complete in a timely manner, and are more satisfied with their career outcomes following graduation. Graduate student PD workshops enable students from diverse disciplines to enhance their academic development and to identify skills from their degrees that they can transfer into the professional workplace. Continued funding of this project will allow UBC to offer a broader range of PD workshops and online resources for graduate students.

Method: In 2006-07 the PD officer will: a) Meet with at least 40 additional graduate program advisors and student groups to continue conducting a needs assessment about PD services and to review the Grad PD website; b) Continue to develop additional workshops and materials to provide the skills identified as valuable additions to discipline-based learning; c) Continue to coordinate and evaluate existing PD workshops and seminars related to professional meta skills and academic success; d) Continue to work with the Graduate Student Society (GSS) to determine graduate students’ greatest PD needs; e) Continue to work toward self-sustaining funding.