Can Canadian Graduate Education Be Redesigned Around Jobs?

In "Arts graduate education in Canada should be redesigned around students’ and society’s needs" Malloy, Young, and Berdahl (2024) suggest focusing on public good. The authors argue not mimicking STEM degrees for arts and social science. As it happens a decade ago I enrolled in a Canadian social science graduate program which does what the authors call for.

The authors make the point that course-based professional masters degrees tend to be focused on careers, research degrees are less so. This is no accident, but by design. Research degrees are for training researchers, professional degrees for professionals. Australia has formalized this at the doctorate level with separate definitions for research and professional doctorates. The professional doctorates have a smaller research component and are more focused on industry needs. However, this requires finding a needed bundle of skills, in specific jobs, which students want, which are currley not met by other forms of education, and which university academics are capable of providing. Teaching professional skills requires teachers with professional experience, not just researchers. It also requires skills in educational design.

Malloy, Young, and Berdah criticise arts graduate student training for being linked to academic career skills, when their are few such jobs for them. However, do current academics have the skills and knowledge to train students for other careers? I teach computer project students using my decades of experience in the computer industry. However, when it comes to teaching them how to apply for a job, I hand the task to staff in the university's careers unit, who are specialists in the field (I then just manage the classes and assessment). 

If university arts academics are to redesign courses to fit new needs, they will need skills in program design. They will also need to get the real world requirements from somewhere. As a computer professional who started teaching at university I had had to learn how to teach. I then learned about how to design courses. Also tough my professional body I helped define the skills which professionals in my field need. The skills definitions are used by universities to design courses and by government to decide who is professionally qualified. This requires careful application of design and testing skills. While academics in STEM disciplines, as well as medicine, law and business are used to having to comply with these forms of external guideice, it may be challenging for arts academics.

It might be asked why, as an Australia, I am writing about Canadian graduate education. As it happens I have a Canadian graduate degree. I had intended to follow the research path, but ended up a coursework student. My degree is a Master of Education in Open, Digital and Distance Education. This is far from the author's view of Canadian degrees being unrelated to careers or society's needs. In my degree I studied how to teach students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds who otherwise miss out on education. I also looked at how to teach students if an emergency kept them from campus. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these skills became vital. Not only was I able to teach my own students, but train tutors and advise colleagues on how to rapidly switch to online learning.