CSU/UC Collaborations in Doctoral Training

The California State University and the University of California have a long history of collaborative efforts at the graduate level. The Master Plan for Higher Education in California, created in 1960 with key portions subsequently enacted into statute as the Donahoe Act, defines the functions of the various segments of higher education and states that:

The University [of California] shall have the sole authority in public higher education to award the doctor's degree in all fields of learning except that it may agree with the state [university] to award joint doctoral degrees in selected fields.

The first such program, a joint degree in Chemistry between San Diego State University and UC San Diego, was established in 1965. One of the goals of such efforts has been to provide increased opportunities for doctoral level study in California. Section 66024 of the Education Code encourages the expeditious development of joint doctoral programs. Further developing these collaborative efforts would offer the state of California and its students the following benefits:

• Increase availability of faculty expertise for teaching, mentoring and dissertation advising.
• Offer specialized degrees that might not otherwise be possible within a single system.
• Enhance opportunities for joint research projects.
• Improve outreach to segments of the population that are underrepresented in graduate studies.
• Improve opportunities for CSU students to pursue doctoral study.
• Share instructional resources in support of programs of graduate study.

Examples of such activities include joint graduate degree programs, articulated graduate degree programs, collaborative teaching and concurrent enrollments, joint research projects, and other sharing of resources at the post-baccalaureate level. A relatively recent description of these models of collaboration was produced by the UC-CSU Joint Graduate Board in June 1996.

The present document looks to encourage collaborative efforts in doctoral study and suggests a budgetary mechanism that would facilitate the development of collaborative programs.

Since 1965, a dozen Joint Doctoral Programs have been approved between CSU and UC which, collectively, have awarded over 200 doctoral degrees. Of these, four are in the field of education and others in such areas as public health, engineering, clinical psychology, and ecology, as well as more traditional academic disciplines such as biology and geography. A relatively large number of potential new joint doctorates in various aspects of education are currently in development stages, including:

• Educational Leadership -- UC Riverside and eight regional CSU campuses;
• Urban Education -- UC Berkeley and CSU Hayward, San Jose, and San Francisco;
• Preparing Education Faculty -- UC Davis and CSU Sacramento;
• Educational Administration -- UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

In addition, there are joint doctoral programs in development in other disciplines. A joint doctorate in public history between UC Santa Barbara and CSU Sacramento was approved in July 1999 and is being implemented. A joint doctorate in Criminal Sciences between UC Davis and CSU Fresno is under review. A CPEC report dated December, 1998, provides an assessment of joint doctorates, and includes a list of joint doctoral degrees active at that date.

The road to approval of a joint doctorate is complex. In addition to a strong and complementary faculty support base in both systems and a planning process that is complicated by the need to satisfy at least two separate campus approval processes, a joint proposal undergoes two extensive systemwide review processes followed by a CPEC review. Prior experience shows that four to five years is a typical time frame from inception to approval of a joint doctoral proposal. As part of the present proposal, the UC Office of the President and the CSU Chancellor's Office have agreed to shepherd such proposals through the systemwide review process as expeditiously as feasible and to assist campuses in their understanding and completion of the full review process.

Resource support is similarly complicated. Planning stages of these initiatives are typically supported from campus resources. However, joint doctorates are not well integrated into campus resource allocation planning which often is developed along divisional and school lines.

From a campus perspective, there is little incentive to pursue joint doctorates that don't arise in a natural way from internal campus planning. These programs may be more burdensome to administer and may involve increased costs for travel, distance learning technologies, and the like. Typically, they are supported at the same level as other campus degree programs. Yet the fact remains that many joint doctoral programs arise in response to public demand for access to doctorates in underserved fields. These needs may not necessarily correlate well with campus priorities that may be driven by other important factors.

Based on the above considerations, financial support from central offices is appropriate for high quality joint doctoral proposals and, in fact, many of the more recent doctoral programs have received central support for development. There is good reason to believe that the availability of such assistance will facilitate development and approval of the proposals currently underway.

In disciplines where CSU has an existing Master's program and UC has a complementary Doctoral program, it is possible to collaborate on articulating the two programs to create a combined program that provides advantages for both of the partners in the collaboration. Such programs exist at UC Davis/UC San Francisco in partnership with San Francisco State University ("Bridge Program" in biological/ biomedical sciences), and at UC Santa Barbara in collaboration with CSULA (articulated CSU MA/UCSB Ph.D. in environmental sciences). Both of these programs were stimulated by the availability of federal funds to encourage graduate study by underrepresented minorities in scientific fields. Such partnerships would build on existing degree programs and thus do not require the extensive and lengthy approval review required of joint doctoral degrees. As such, they offer an attractive alternative mode of intersegmental cooperation that will increase doctoral level study.

In essence, graduate study at CSU in a Master's program would lead to and be linked with doctoral work at UC. Cognate departments at CSU and UC would enter into a MOU outlining the specifics of the articulated doctoral program. It is understood that such bilateral MOUs would be highly individualized and would respect the idiosyncrasies of the discipline and the departments involved. Nonetheless, it is anticipated that a typical MOU would include many of the following features:

• Creation of a joint CSU/UC Steering Committee for oversight of the program.
• A joint CSU/UC admissions process for the program, and a description of the requirements that a student would have to satisfy in order to continue on to successful completion of the doctoral program.
• Articulation of curricula and development of new courses when necessary, so that CSU and UC courses will mesh appropriately and graduating Master's students will be fully prepared to engage in work at the doctoral level.
• Participation of selected UC faculty on CSU Master's committees for students in the joint program; likewise, participation of selected CSU faculty on UC Ph.D. committees. One might anticipate adjunct appointments for faculty participating in the program.
• A plan for securing the resources necessary to support the students in the program and a description of the mechanism for awarding those resources to students. In addition to resources internal to the two systems, external sources of support should be approached. (Examples of such sources are the NSF CREST Program and the NIH Bridge and GAANN Programs.)

Articulated Master's/Doctoral programs would supplement other collaborative efforts between the two systems. An articulated Master's/Doctoral program capitalizes on already existing graduate programs in the two systems, whereas a Joint Doctoral Degree involves the creation of an entirely new doctorate. The articulated approach to collaboration is suitable in principle for the full range of academic disciplines, whereas the Joint Doctoral Degree has in recent years been primarily utilized to create doctorates in more applied areas.

Potential benefits of Articulated Master's/Doctoral Programs include the following:

• Articulated approaches build on existing programs, can be approved by means of a MOU, and hence does not entail a lengthy development and approval process.
• Enhanced collaboration between the faculties of the two systems may produce opportunities for joint research activities and joint appointments.
• Students whose preference is to begin graduate study at a CSU location (for instance, when this path provides economic, educational or social advantages) will have assured access to a doctoral program at a UC campus, subject only to completion of a clearly defined set of requirements.
• Increased doctoral study access for California residents and improved UC outreach to a pool of potential doctoral students that includes many underrepresented minorities.
• Many graduate students who enroll in UC doctoral programs after completing a Master's degree elsewhere must first complete some requirements that are properly at the Master's level. By contrast, students in articulated programs will be ready for doctoral level studies on arrival at UC and, in turn, this may reduce their time-to-degree.

The goal of doctoral programs in California has always been to offer superior and high level study to those who are qualified. However, relatively few CSU students pursue doctoral study at UC. Over the past three years, just 7.5% of UC doctoral recipients completed their undergraduate degrees at a CSU, and another 0.5% % of UC doctoral recipients completed a CSU Master's degree after taking an undergraduate degree elsewhere. Five percent of admissions to UC graduate programs in 1996 and 1997 completed their undergraduate work at a CSU; by contrast, 26% completed their undergraduate work at a UC. One might reasonably expect that there are many additional students at CSU who are well qualified to pursue doctoral studies.

A further advantage to joint doctoral programs and articulated Master's/doctoral programs would be the diversification of students receiving doctoral degrees. Table 1 indicates the ethnic breakdown of 1998 CSU Master's students with the percentage figures indicating percent of identified domestic students.

The CSU graduate student body includes significantly more students from underrepresented categories than does UC's graduate student body. To summarize these data, an articulated Master's/doctoral program might well increase both the numbers of CSU students seeking a doctoral degree from UC and the number of UC doctoral students from underrepresented groups.

Given the anticipated increase in enrollment demand, it may be fruitful for CSU and UC to consider additional ways of collaborating to produce the faculty of the future. A research/ instructional post-doctoral fellowship program, in which graduates of doctoral programs at UC would apply for instructional post-doctoral positions at CSU, could be beneficial for both systems and for the fellows. Such a program would provide additional avenues for doctoral graduates to gain knowledge and experience of comprehensive universities such a CSU, and would fit well with the national interest in recognizing instruction as a valued professional pursuit.

Fellows would learn how to maintain and develop both research and instructional capabilities in a comprehensive university environment. The post-doctoral fellows would be able to assume professional duties for a period of one to two years at a major comprehensive university; gain an understanding of the scholarly environment of such a university; and enhance their prospects for career advancement. The program would include mentoring by faculty members in both systems. For CSU, post-doctoral positions would provide the immediate opportunity to bring the fellows' talents to departments that may be seeking to appoint new tenure track faculty members. For UC the proposed instructional post-doctorate could promote expeditious degree completion, and allow continued research mentoring from their home campus for the fellows.

Consideration should also be given to development of a similar pre-doctoral program. Such a program should be designed to provide some of the benefits of the postdoctoral program described above, while not unduly increasing time-to-degree.

Having established the significant benefits that would result from expanding collaborative efforts between CSU and UC at the doctoral level, one has to ask why so few joint and articulated Master's/doctoral level or other joint programs exist. As indicated above, joint doctoral programs and articulated doctoral programs face a number of obstacles and expenses over and above those typically borne by UC graduate degree programs. In addition to a more complicated planning process, collaborative programs require substantial ongoing administrative coordination. In a number of cases, bureaucratic issues such as the disposition of student fees and the counting of student FTEs have been substantial obstacles to partnering agreements. In addition, students in intersegmental programs may be at a disadvantage in the competition for campus fellowships and other forms of aid such as housing. In many instances, central system support might be crucial to securing campus participation in intersegmental degree efforts.