The master's degree at Duke is no longer a mere way station to the Ph.D.
With four new master's programs on the way in addition to three other master's programs approved earlier in the academic year, Duke schools are offering more programs than ever, and students are responding.
But with the growth in master's programs questions are being raised about how to ensure their quality, how to set uniform rules for cross-school programs and student services, and how to guide schools in developing new initiatives.
A Duke ad hoc committee headed by Graduate School Dean Jo Rae Wright has recommended establishing a Masters Advisory Council both to advise schools and to monitor existing master's programs.
The committee's report received support from the Academic Council last Thursday. It now goes to Provost Peter Lange for implementation.
Wright said the economic downturn made master's programs more attractive. But changes in higher education that encourage faculty and students to engage in research of mutual interest are also driving the trend.
The new degrees provide additional opportunities for advanced undergraduates, Wright said, and fulfill Duke's strategic mission of knowledge in the service of society.
In brief, Wright said officials expect the enrollment trend to continue beyond the recovery of the economy.
"We are seeing a rising trend both in master's degree applications, admissions offers and matriculates," Wright said in the council presentation. "It's a steady increase, and it's a national trend, not something unique to Duke."
The new advisory council will be limited to oversight of professional and interdisciplinary masters' programs. Research programs will remain the purview of the Graduate School, Wright said.
The report praised many aspects of the current system, a hybrid of central and school-based administration, saying it allows for flexibility and entrepreneurship that serves both the university and students well.
But the report also found weaknesses where standardization can help. Particularly in joint master's programs, student services "can fall through the cracks" if neither sponsoring school takes sufficient ownership of the program. In addition, student salaries for research assistance vary greatly across programs.
Likewise, revenue mechanisms differ both in single-school and cross-school programs, the report said. Some schools charge standard flat tuition fees, while others charge by credit hour. Different cross-school programs divide the revenues using different formulas.
"There was strong consensus among committee members that maximum flexibility in administration of master's programs is required in order to maintain and promote the diversity of Duke's master's programs," the report said. "However, it was also recognized that there is a need for a mechanism to provide advice to those wishing to begin new master's programs and to advise schools on how to ensure that ongoing programs are of appropriate quality and can be sustained."
Wright praised faculty members for developing new ideas for interdisciplinary master's programs and said the advisory council would assist them in developing new programs and then get out of the way.
She said Vice Provost John Simon is already working on a template that lists SACS requirements for academic issues, and the committee said a checklist would be developed to note the administrative and financial issues schools should address in creating new degree programs.
There are 3,300 master's students enrolled at Duke with nearly half of these in various MBA programs at Fuqua. Just this past week, the Academic Council heard proposals for a new master's in biostatistics, a master's in fine arts in experimental and documentary arts and two from the Divinity School: the master's of arts in Christian studies and the master's of arts in Christian practice.
With student interest reaching a critical mass, the committee's report said master's programs would be an "increasing central part of the university's mission."