The excellence, diversity, and comprehensiveness of its graduate programs are the basis for NCSU's aspirations to recognition as a preeminent Research I university. To achieve comprehensiveness in disciplinary offerings appropriate to a major university, to provide the most creative and stimulating intellectual environment for scholarly inquiry and professional education, and to promote innovation and interdisciplinary creativity, in the last three decades, NCSU has begun to develop complementary strengths in graduate education in the arts and sciences.
At a time when there is broad national concern about our country's leadership role in research and the development of new knowledge and understanding, it is appropriate to consider both how to sustain the levels of excellence already attained in graduate education at NCSU and how to foster innovation and support new initiatives for advancement. The conclusion of this report is that NCSU's graduate programs are essentially and substantially in compliance with the criteria for accreditation of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. But if NCSU is to achieve preeminence among research universities as a center for the creation, expansion, conservation, and transmission of knowledge through graduate education, several areas of institutional activity require further attention.
First, to attract the most outstanding and promising students, NCSU must enhance its level of support for graduate students. The University of North Carolina system's requirement that nonresident graduate students holding research assistantships, teaching assistantships, fellowships, and traineeship appointments must pay tuition at the nonresident rate makes NCSU less competitive for the highest quality nonresident students. Either this requirement should be changed so that such students pay tuition at the in-state rate, or the tuition-remission fund should be increased to cover all eligible students. In either case, students should register at credit levels that reflect their true status. NCSU should also increase the number of centrally awarded institutional fellowships that are awarded on the basis of excellence.
Second, levels of excellence in current programs must be supported and enhanced. Funding levels for support of graduate teaching and research supervision should reflect the small classes and close student-faculty relationships characteristic of the best graduate education. Funding for support of research services such as library holdings and laboratory and computer resources should reflect the needs of graduate students and their faculty for access to appropriate facilities for engagement with the scholarly community and for innovation and the discovery of new knowledge.
Third, NCSU should require graduate students to take course loads that promote completion of the degree. This will have the added benefit of making enrollment figures for graduate students reflect more accurately the true number of full-time and part-time students engaged in graduate study.
Fourth, NCSU should join the ranks of other major land-grant universities by establishing graduate programs, including doctoral programs, in the humanities and social sciences. Since the 1950s, NCSU has sought to develop degree programs at all levels in the arts and sciences. Now that its master's and doctoral programs in the natural sciences and a few of the social sciences are mature, NCSU should take the final step toward comprehensiveness at the graduate level by developing imaginative and innovative programs in the humanities and social sciences that are solidly grounded in traditional disciplines yet are responsive to new disciplinary developments.
Fifth, NCSU should continue to support disciplinary program development, but while building on strengths in recognized disciplines, should encourage faculty to engage in interdisciplinary-program development and should support innovative interdisciplinary degree programs through administrative flexibility and reorganization. Interdisciplinary work holds the promise of innovation in discovering and disseminating knowledge, with consequences as well for rejuvenation and reconceptualization of traditional disciplines.
Sixth, NCSU should recognize the importance of classroom teaching at the graduate level, and should engage in meaningful evaluation of teaching and support enhancement of teaching skills appropriate to the special nature of graduate education.
As NCSU seeks recognition as a preeminent research-intensive university in the land-grant tradition, it must acknowledge the centrality of graduate education in fulfilling the University's teaching and research missions, and the essential support that the graduate programs gives to NCSU's service mission. The University must support the Dimensions of Excellence subcommittee of the Investment in Graduate Education Initiative in its effort to enhance the quality of graduate programs and the effectiveness of their administration.
Recognition of the excellence of NCSU's graduate programs will be based on their ability to pioneer in the creation and dissemination of knowledge, to promote rigorous standards of scholarly endeavor, and to respond creatively to the challenges posed by changing disciplinary boundaries and new modes and subjects of inquiry. Recognition will also be based on the quality of graduate faculty and students attracted to NCSU and supported by the University. A comprehensive graduate program known for the excellence of its support for research and the education of a new generation of scholars and professional leaders will contribute substantially to NCSU's recognition as a preeminent research-intensive university in the land-grant tradition.
