Ph.D. Completion Project - Project Information
Who is Involved?
The Council of Graduate Schools, with generous support from Pfizer, Inc. and the Ford Foundation, will provide funding to the University of Illinois and 14 other major U.S. and Canadian research universities.
Goals
The goal of the project is to create intervention strategies and pilot projects, as well as to evaluate the impact of these projects on rates of doctoral completion rates and attrition patterns.
The project will help to address issues of completion and attrition in Ph.D. education and test those practices that the graduate community believes will result in higher completion rates.
Project Timeline - Phase II
| Project Date | Phase | Milestones |
| Year 1 | ||
| Guided Self-Assessment and Targets for Interventions | Fall 2007 | Dec. 2007: Session on PhD. Completion Project at GCS annual meeting; guided self-assessment of attrition and completion patterns; annual report due |
| Spring 2008 | Continuation of graduate student exit interviews | |
| Summer 2008 | July 2008: Summary session at GCS summer workshop; determine targets for interventions | |
| Year 2 | ||
| Pilot Interventions | Fall 2008 | Dec. 2008: annual report due; evaluation of critical periods of graduate attrition among doctoral students, with a particular emphasis on women and under-represented minorities |
| Spring 2009 | Continued implementation of interventions for those at risk for graduate attrition; continuation of graduate student exit interviews | |
| Summer 2009 | May-June 2009: Second phase of data submission required | |
| Year 3 | ||
| Assessment | Fall 2009 | Dec. 2009: Annual report due |
| Spring 2010 | May 2010: Final narrative and financial reports due: continuation of graduate student exit interviews |
Updates
University of Illinois News Bureau article - Dec 2, 2004