Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Graduate a Rising. The Profe ".. lCelr d hare er( in the Olt By John Van Dalen Gamecock Staff Writer Graduate School enrollments at USC are increasing rapidly, and in some instances there may not be enough facilities and space to cope with the rising tide. And the boom is occurring not so much in the traditional strongholds of graduate education as it is in the professional fields, specifically, such areas as education, social work, psychology, business administration and journalism. The most dramatic trends in recent years are reflected in leaping enrollments in Education and Business Ad ministration. Dr. Judith Joyner. acting dean of the Graduate School, indicated in a recent interview that the trend toward greater enrollment in professional schools and programs has been a relatively new phenomena and has accelerated during the last several years. Enrollments which totaled 553 for fall, 1968 had soared to 3,970 by the fall of 1973. Of the total Graduate School enrollment of 5,246 in the fall of 1973, a total of 2,964 was in The College of Education. Interestingly enough, enrollments in the graduate programs of arts and letters, science and mathematics, and in the social and behavioral sciences have maintained sustained but com paratively undramatic increases, moving up from 660 enrollments in the fall of 1968 to 1,228 by fall, 1973. The numb)er and kinds of degrees awarded have also increased and this growth rate varies greatly. Mlaster of Arts de(gree(s awardedc be(tweenCf 1968 and 19I7:1 have increased from a total of 77 in 19f1l t) 127 in 1973. but this is below the 127: rderees awarded in 1966. Fe chool Trends: Interest In ssional Fields egree titles and programs Ired as icell as changes r, esta)blished degrees." One of the factors in this diver- grc sification is an expanding number of Te. professional degrees which have been the created and which compete with the by Master of Art and Master of Science del degrees. For example , the Master of the Fine Arts. Master of Music, and Master tot of Public Administration have aw professional degree status. - tea Indicative of these changes are the following statistics: between 1966 and 'I 1973, 24 Master of Arts in Math were mi: awarded, and 47 Master of Science sha degrees in math, while for the same wei period, a total of 218 degrees in Master api of Math were awarded. The college of apl Education awarded 42 Master of Arts in 8,0 Education degrees during the same Jo1 period, and a total of 914 Master of apl Education degrees. It is expected that ext during the August, 1974 commencement de< approximately 385 Master of Education po1 degrees will be awarded. as an rec The greatest number of M.A.'s awarded are in the College of Arts and Letters and in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. In the College of g Arts and Letters, well over half theth degrees awarded bet ween 1966 and 1973 R( were in English language and re literature. p pri est With the grow th of interest in ad- phi vanced studies and research, and the ve addition of new professional schools pri such as Nursing. Social Work, sci Librarianship and others, new degree les titles and programs have evolved as well as changes in the old, established degrees, according to Dr. Joyner.m One of the new professional degrees let is the Master of Social Work which has ex been awarded to 115 candidates during ac the period 1971 through May, 1974. un Another degree, Dr. Joyner said, in which was first awarded in 1970 and cc which has undergone substantial V iture/A .%th is the Master of Arts in ching (rMAT . It is offered.through Graduate School and is sponsored the College of Education and artments within various colleges of University. Through May, 1974, a 1 of 280 MAT degrees had been ryded. Specialization is offered in 16 .hing areas through the MAT. he number of applications for ad sion to graduate study has risen rply over the last few years. Bet n September, 1971 and August, 1974, lications will have increased from roximately 4,560 in 1971-72 to over 0 in 1973-74. According to Dr. ner, the declination or rejection of lications for some programs far eed the acceptances. Per cent of lination is often related to ularity of the program itself, as well pace, facilities and staf f limitations imrn stringccnt admi ions dmisio thedeliaion for rejecious ducation fcorom programs far it uitivfdual program itef, sudy. pacesibailitie and sfltaisn uire rnent admissions ege grms ets wt h gaut udty.some polcies, for vartiou drateschoolt oram vary wth bishemts fo admssinme tof egre ants accepted. Competition is thus y keen for space in certain grams such as biology, marine ance, clinical psychology, and to a ser extent, English and history a reviewing applications for ad sion to degree programs, depart ntal committees usually consider ers of recommendation, scores on iminations such as the GRE and idemic performance during lergraduate years or while involved ather graduate work elsewhere. One lege uses as many as twelve ianhles in cnsidering an annlication. naly sis According to Dr. Joyner, applicants do not always request admission to degree programs. Many will seek admittance for a specific course or take a certain number of hours of courses in graduate study. Admission requ:irements as an "unclassified" or "non-degree can didate " will differ from those of regular degree candidates. The College of Education, Joyner said, will admit students for graduate study if they have acquired the bachelor's degree. The "open-door" policy of the College for unclassified admission is a factor in the very large enrollment in the College. "Unclassified admission" was originally created to help teachers upgrade their education credentials and thus their teaching certificates without pursuing a degree program. Admissions in this category are high also because of the phenonemal growth in graduate education on the regional campuses of USC. During Summer I, 1974, approximately half of the graduate education enrollment was on the regional campuses. It isn't easy to make analytic statements from a quantity of significant data when there are so many variables involved. But figures available in the Graduate School clearly reflect an upsurge in com petition for available space within certain disciplines of the arts and sciences and the professional schools. Present trends suggest that the fields of business administration, specialized education, social work, engineering, librarianship, nursing, and psychology are attracting more students than in many instances can be accomodated. All this seems to reflect a clearly defined student interest in specificity in education and a desire to enter graduate programs that are aligned to the objectives of career-oriented, profession-seeking students.