1. 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

2. 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%

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 : 20,910
2002: 26,595
2012: 48,006 (129.6%)

5. 68% Increase in PhD degrees awarded compared to 2002
Master’s
%  of total
Doctoral
% of total
Degrees Awarded
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

6. 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, (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

7. 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

8. 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)

10. 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).
; million betwee 25-64; 16.1 M not (~35M) so… about 200,000 with PhDs

11. 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)

12. 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)

13. A gap or a problem in translation?