Open AccessStudent Needs, Employment Realities, and PhD Program Design in Canada: The Case of Planning PhD Programs
Author(s) -
Timothy Ross,
Julie Mah,
Jeff Biggar,
Austin Zwick,
Ewa Modlinska
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
canadian journal of higher education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2293-6602
pISSN - 0316-1218
DOI - 10.47678/cjhe.v48i3.188161
Subject(s) - graduation (instrument) , general partnership , variety (cybernetics) , medical education , sociology , career planning , plan (archaeology) , public relations , political science , pedagogy , medicine , engineering , mechanical engineering , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , history
PhD graduates in Canada routinely find themselves considering employment outside academia. This paper explores PhD program design in relation to PhD students’ employment realities through a case study of Canadian planning PhD programs. Two questions guided the study: (1) How could planning PhD programs be redesigned to prepare students for a wider variety of career options post-graduation? And (2) What are some of the institutional challenges hindering PhD program reform? To engage these questions, we surveyed planning PhD students and program directors, gathered email input from planning practitioners, and held a workshop and roundtable at two different academic conferences. Findings suggest that program reforms, such as offering more external research partnership opportunities to PhD students, could help to better support multiple career pathways for PhD students. Our findings also suggest that planning scholars and practitioners need to question their views of the academia–practice relationship and PhD students’ roles and aims.