The Graduate Landscape & Myths, Truths and Uncertainties about the ‘Skills Gap’ Brenda Brouwer Vice-Provost and Dean, School of Graduate Studies President, Canadian Association of Graduate Studies

Master’s PhD 54.4% 51.3% 77.1% 46.2% 84.4% 85.8% 71.3% 34.9% 45.7% 47.2% 72.6% 79.4%

Total PhD enrolment in Canada 1992: 20,910 2002: 26,595 +102.5% +160.1% +171.4% +46.6% +235.7% +145.8% +67.9% +223.6% +101.2% +416.5% +348.7% - 16.7% Total PhD enrolment in Canada 1992: 20,910 2002: 26,595 2012: 48,006 (129.6%)

68% Increase in PhD degrees awarded compared to 2002   Master’s %  of total Doctoral % of total Degrees Awarded - 2012 44,154 6,393 Gender Male 19,755 44.7 3,471 54.3 Female 24,390 55.2 2,925 45.8 Province of study Nfld and Labrador 723 1.6 63 1.0 PEI 78 0.2 6 0.1 NS 2,007 4.5 108 1.7 NB 57 0.9 QC 11,652 26.4 1,773 27.7 ON 18,357 41.6 2,733 42.7 Manitoba 792 1.8 132 2.1 Sask 666 1.5 90 1.4 Alta 3,615 8.2 657 10.3 BC 5,538 12.5 777 12.2 International 8,166 18.5 1,017 15.9 Age groups < 25 years 5,895 13.4 25-29 years 18,627 42.2 1,170 18.3 30-34 years 7,995 18.1 2,727 35 and over 11,589 26.2 2,493 39.1 68% Increase in PhD degrees awarded compared to 2002

The disposable academic Doctoral degrees (Dec.16,2010) The disposable academic Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time BRENDA BROUWER Let’s end the myth that PhDs are only suited for the ivory tower Contributed to The Globe and Mail Published Mar. 09, 2016 Nature 472, 276-279 (2011) Education: The PhD factory The world is producing more PhDs than ever before. Is it time to stop? Nature 472, 261 (2011) | Reform the PhD system or close it down There are too many doctoral programmes, producing too many PhDs for the job market. Shut some and change the rest Graduates face an unwelcoming job market when they get out of school KIRAN RANA Published Sep. 02, 2016

What’s being said PhDs are ill-suited for anything other than the academy We have enough (too many?) PhD qualified people in Canada Not worth the cost, no tangible benefit Graduates don’t have the skills that employers seek

Facts: 1 See also HEQCO report 2016; managing expectations Labour outcomes for earned doctorates have remained stable for >15 years (Conference Board of Canada, Inside and Outside the Academy, 2015 Call for graduate expansion, important to innovation, productivity, and prosperity progress for individuals, firms and jurisdictions (Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress, 2011)

How many PhDs does Canada have? 2 How many PhDs does Canada have? < 1.0% of Canadian population 25 to 65 years of age have PhDs (OECD countries with highest productivity rates have populations with >1.5% attainment) The number of PhD degrees granted lags behind all but one country in a 15-nation peer group Science, Technology and Innovation Council found that Canada’s innovation performance has continued to decline since 2006, attributable to low investments in research, development and business enterprise (ranking 26th in the OECD; State of the Nation report). http://www.conferenceboard.ca/topics/education/commentaries/14-03-20/developing_skills_where_are_canada_s_employers.aspx ; 19.76 million betwee 25-64; 16.1 M not (~35M) so… about 200,000 with PhDs

3 Ontarians and Canadians with a doctoral degree (2 and 5 years post grad) consistently experience more favourable labour market outcomes than those without (Statistics Canada’s longitudinal National Graduate Survey) and Report high employment rates and the highest median earnings (Ferguson and Wang, 2014)

What skills do (we think) graduates have/need? 4 Critical thinking Problem-solving, information synthesis Communication Perseverance Resiliency Cultural awareness, ethical, responsible Autonomous and collaborative Project management Leadership Creative, entrepreneurial, innovative Employers… are spending ~40% less per employee for job-related training (2013 relative to 1993, Conference Board of Canada, 2014) provide, on average, 10 hours less instruction to workers who receive job-related training than the OECD average (OECD Education at a glance, 2011)

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