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Master’s vs PhD — These are the Main Differences

Updated: July 18, 2022

Published: October 31, 2019

The consideration between earning a master’s vs PhD is not always an easy choice. While many careers and personal aspirations may be complete with just an undergraduate degree (Associate’s or Bachelor’s), a lot of people continue their higher education to obtain graduate degrees. These include a master’s and/or a PhD.

Neither a master’s degree nor a PhD is considered to be a walk in the park. Therefore, it’s useful to understand why you would earn either and then decide how far to go.

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Definitions: master’s vs phd.

Bost a master’s and PhD are defined as postgraduate degrees, but they require different commitments and styles of learning.

1. Master’s Degree:

Mostly all master’s degrees will require the completion of an undergraduate bachelor’s degree to enroll. They generally all share the same common requirement for a thesis or dissertation to graduate.

Earning a master’s degree through a taught program will result in the completion of a Master of Art (MA), Master of Science (MS), or Master of Philosophy (MPhil). For those who earn their master’s degree through research, they will earn a Master of Research (Mre), in a tailored field of study. There are also degree-specific master’s programs like Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Education (M.Ed).

After earning a master’s degree, the next step is a PhD, which entails both working and performing research at an institution. A PhD is an abbreviation for “Doctor of Philosophy.” It is the highest academic degree one can achieve. As such, it is a time-consuming pursuit that requires a lot of studying and research.

You may be wondering, “Do you need a master’s to get a PhD?”

Technically, the answer is not always. Some students skip a master’s and go straight for their PhD, but they may lack research experience. While it could save money, the transition between a bachelor’s and a PhD is incredibly sharp. It may be harder to complete a PhD without the experience from a master’s.

Yet, some institutions may allow for the possibility to earn both your master’s and PhD in conjunction with one another. This will alleviate the transition between skipping a master’s and going straight to earning a PhD.

Should You Get a Master’s or PhD?

There are many considerations to factor when deciding between a master’s of PhD. For starters, it’s useful to consider the amount of time it will take, the cost, and the benefits and disadvantages of each. It is also of utmost importance to explore your own personal goals and reasons for wanting a graduate degree.

If your desired career of choice requires a PhD, like becoming a university professor, then you have your answer. If you want to start a business and benefit by networking while in school, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) could be a good idea. Consider what you want to pursue as a career and find out the requirements first.

Another useful thing to note is that a master’s degree can be used for a shift in careers. For example, if you attended college and earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities, but now you want to pursue science, you can still earn your master’s degree in a scientific discipline. On the other hand, a PhD is tailored to your field of study and specialty, so it will require that you are sure of your direction when you first earn your master’s degree.

Length of Time

A typical master’s degree program takes about two years full-time. However, there are accelerated programs that can be completed in just a year or so.

A PhD, in general, requires five to six years of studying, teaching, and research. However, it may even take some students up to eight or nine years to graduate. With this significant investment in time, it’s necessary to know if a PhD is right for you before starting.

The cost of both programs varies by institution and enrollment status of part-time versus full-time. However, since a PhD takes longer to complete, it will end up costing more. With that said, if you look into your return on investment, a PhD could end up yielding a higher salary, and therefore end up “costing less.”

Additionally, there is also the possibility of being paid to complete your PhD. Some students may receive an academic stipend, a university fellowship or apprenticeship or a reduced fee to earn their PhD while completing research (or teaching) at an institution. It’s also possible to get financial aid through a scholarship or grant.

As tuition rates continue to rise, it’s useful to look into alternative institutions for affordable education. For example, the University of the People offers a tuition-free master’s program in Business Administration and Education. This means you can study 100% online and graduate for less than the cost of most programs.

Weighing the Benefits

When comparing the two degree types, here are some benefits of each:

• Career-oriented
• Can open the door for more job opportunities
• Costs less than a PhD
• Takes less time than a PhD
• Helps you stand out from those with only an undergraduate degree
• You can perform research in your field of choice
• You become an expert in your field
• The prefix Dr. is added to your name
• You can teach in academia at the highest level

Required Commitment and Reasons to Pursue

Both a master’s and a PhD require a huge amount of hard work and utter commitment. You must be dedicated and motivated to complete either degree. Since most careers only may require a bachelor’s degree, having a master’s or PhD will set you apart from the competition. However, this should not be the sole reason to pursue either.

You may be wondering why would you earn either degree. Here’s a look at some motivational factors:

Reasons to Study for a Master’s

• Your career requires it (see next section)
• You want to advance your subject knowledge
• You want to experience graduate school and network with peers

Reasons to Study for a PhD

• You want to contribute new research to your field of choice
• Your career requires a PhD
• You want to earn the title of Dr.

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Required degrees by career.

Most people are motivated to pursue higher education because their desired careers require they do so. Here, we will break down those fields that require the completion of a master’s degree as it’s high on the list of reasons why to get one.

• Education Administration: To work as an administrator in an educational institution, you need to hold an advanced degree. A Master’s in Education (M.Ed) will provide you with the necessary knowledge and required skills to succeed in the field.
• Executive Level Business: A Master’s in Business (MBA) will not only place you ahead of the competition to land high-level positions in the field of business, but it can also be the jumping off point for becoming your own boss.
• Environmental Science: With issues in climate change and technological advancement, careers in Environmental Science are growing. As with most scientific careers, it requires a master’s degree where you will learn Applied Ecology, Environmental Policy, Environmental Chemistry, and more.
• Mental Health: To become a licensed practitioner and assist in mental health counseling, you will continue your education through a master’s degree in the field.
• Physical Therapy: Employers of physical therapists often prefer them to obtain a master’s degree in the discipline as the field is highly specialized.

Of course, some careers require a PhD. These careers are easy to spot because they have the prefix Dr. in front of them or the suffix like J.D. (Juris Doctor). To become a lawyer, doctor of medicine, veterinary medicine or psychologist/psychiatrist, you must obtain a PhD in the respective field.

Salary Differences Between Master’s and Ph.D. Graduates

According to a study performed by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce , the overall evidence shows that the higher the degree you have, the higher your salary potential. However, the differences vary by subject level and field.

In general, the expected lifetime earnings of those with each degree level is as follows:

• High School Diploma: $973,000
• Bachelor’s Degree: $1.3 million
• Master’s Degree: $2.7 million
• Doctorate Degree: $3.3 million

The Bottom Line

Aside from the financial cost and length of time, the opportunity to earn a master’s and a doctorate degree can offer several benefits.

However, it is an undertaking that requires a lot of dedication and motivation on behalf of the student. As such, it’s important to perform research on your desired career’s requirements, as well as your personal interest in pursuing either a Phd vs master’s.

Related Articles

• Masters vs PhD – Differences Explained
• Types of Doctorates

The decision of whether or not to pursue a Masters or PhD (or both) after you complete your undergraduate studies is not necessarily a straightforward one. Both are postgraduate degrees but are different in terms of the academic experience and the career paths taken afterwards.

In short, a Masters degree involves a year of study, primarily through taught lectures and a final dissertation research project, whilst a PhD (also referred to as a doctorate degree) is a three-year commitment of independent research on a specific subject.

There’s more to it than that, however – read on for more information.

What Is a Masters Degree?

A Masters degree is the next level of education after the completion of an undergraduate degree, commonly known as a Bachelors.

These degree levels are often referred to in terms of cycles so that a Bachelor’s is a first-cycle degree, a Masters is a second-cycle and finally, a PhD is the third-cycle of higher education (and the highest).

Masters degrees demand an intense period of study, usually centred around a core series of lectures and taught modules, coupled with coursework assignments and exams, followed by the completion of a contained research project usually taking students 3-4 months to complete.

These types of degrees are attractive to recent graduates who want to delve deeper into their specific field of study, gaining some research experience and more specialised knowledge beyond what an undergraduate degree can offer.

Equally, some pursue a Masters degree program in a subject that is only tangentially related to their Bachelors degree, helping them gain a broader depth of knowledge.

These degrees also serve as a significant stepping stone for those already in employment who want to progress their current career development and earn a higher salary. They can also be an excellent method for helping in changing careers completely by learning new skills and subject knowledge.

What Is a PhD Degree?

A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the highest academic degree that can be awarded and is the third and final cycle in the progression of higher education.

A doctoral degree is earned on the basis of producing a significant, independent and novel body of work (a Thesis) that contributes new knowledge to a particular research topic.

These are research degrees that are a significant investment of a candidate’s time, resources and energy and are all but a pre-requisite for anyone considering a career in academia, such as eventually becoming a professor.

There are some exceptions to this, such as those with a medical background who may earn an MD (Doctor of Medicine), which is the equivalent of a PhD.

Doctoral degrees can also have a significant positive impact on career development outside of academia, especially in fields such as engineering, business and finance that have a high demand for highly qualified and capable people.

A graduate student engaged in PhD study is commonly known as a PhD student, PhD candidate or doctoral student.

What are the Benefits of a Masters Degree?

There are several reasons one might consider doing a Masters degree rather than a PhD in their graduate education. These include:

• It takes approximately a third of the time to do compared to a doctorate degree and costs less too.
• It’s a good way to differentiate yourself from those that hold only an undergraduate degree without having to commit to a substantial research degree.
• The end goal is more career-focused as opposed to research-focused. For example, it is practically an ‘easier’ route to changing or progressing your career if that aligns with your professional goals.

What are the Benefits of Doing a PhD?

You may continue on into a doctoral program after a Masters or you may even dive straight in after completing your undergraduate studies. So, what are the advantages of completing this third-cycle?

• You’ll have developed a wealth of transferable skills at graduate school, such as effective communication of complex concepts, multi-tasking time-management and the ability to adapt to and solve unexpected problems.
• A doctorate helps to establish you as an expert within your chosen subject area; your work will hopefully have furthered the knowledge in this.
• It will open up career paths and teaching positions within academia that may otherwise be very difficult to get a hold in (although these career paths will still be very competitive).
• You can add the title ‘Dr’ in front of your name!

Which Degree Is More Impactful: A Masters or a PhD?

On paper, the answer should be clear: A doctorate degree is the highest degree you can earn, so has more impact than a Masters, which in turn has more impact than a Bachelors.

The reality is that the size of the impact (if any) really depends on the subject area and the career path you choose (if the measure of impact is how it positively improves your career prospects, that is).

For someone with aspirations of becoming a professor, a PhD will be of greater value than a Masters alone.

Equally, it’s also possible that someone with a PhD entering a different field or one that doesn’t require a PhD may find that their degree has no bearing on their career or in some cases may even be seen as a ‘negative’ with a concern of the person being ‘over-qualified’ for a position. There are many scenarios in which professional experience would be more valuable to an employer than a doctorate degree.

Check out the links below to our interviews with Prof. Debby Cotton and Dr Nikolay Nikolov to read their experiences of when a going through a PhD program has had a clear benefit (Prof. Cotton) and when it hasn’t been helpful (Dr Nikolov).

Do You Need to Have a Masters to do a PhD?

This really depends on the university, department and sometimes even the project and supervisor.

From a purely application process perspective, some institutions may formally require you to hold a Masters degree relevant to the subject of the PhD project before you can enter their doctoral program.

In another scenario, most universities are unlikely to accept candidates that were awarded below a 2:1 (in the UK) in their undergraduate degree but may consider someone who has ‘made up’ for this with a high-grade Masters.

Lastly, some universities now offer PhD programmes that incorporate an additional year of study in which you would complete a Masters degree before carrying directly on into a PhD project. As you’d expect, even if a university doesn’t formally require you to hold one, a Masters degree can help separate you from other applicants in being accepted on the project.

Check out our detailed guide to doing a PhD without a Master’s .

Why Do a Masters before Your PhD?

Even if you don’t need to have one, it could still be beneficial to begin your postgraduate study by doing a Masters first before you embark on your doctorate journey.

As mentioned previously it’ll help you stand out from applicants that don’t have one, but beyond that, it’ll give you a taster of what research life could be like, especially if you stay at the same university and department for your PhD.

The one-year commitment (in the UK at least) of carrying out a Masters first, and in particular your research project, will help you better understand if this is truly something you want to commit the next three or more years to.

You’ll learn some of the skills of independent research, from performing detailed literature searches to more complex, analytical writing.

At the end of it, you should be in a stronger position to consider your options and decide about whether to continue into a PhD at graduate school.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

How Long Does It Take to Get a Masters Degree?

In the UK, a full-time Masters degrees take students one calendar year to complete: The programme of study usually starts in September, the final research project the following April and final project viva around August. Part-time degrees are usually double the time.

How Long Does It Take to Get a PhD?

In the UK, most PhD projects take 3-4 years to complete , as reflected by the majority of funded projects offering stipends to cover living expenses of about 3.5 years.

For many reasons, projects may end up taking longer to complete, however. This might be because of difficulties in collecting enough data, or if the project is being done part-time.

Which One is More Expensive to Do?

As you’d expect, as a PhD takes three times as long to complete as a Masters degree, it will cost you more to do as far as university fees are concerned.

Another thing to consider is that many PhD projects come with some level of funding equivalent to a low salary, which may cover the cost of tuition fees and living expenses, whilst it is usually more difficult to obtain funding for Masters study.

Conversely, a Masters graduate may progress into a higher (versus PhD funding) salary sooner whilst a PhD student will endure three years of a comparatively low income.

A Masters vs a PhD: Conclusion

If you’re considering continue further graduate study after your undergraduate degree, the question of doing a Masters vs a PhD is likely to come up. They are both considered an advanced degree, each with their own advantages.

There are benefits to doing either of these graduate programs or even both of them; your decision here can be easier if you have an idea of the career you want to follow or if you know you have a love for research!

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Should I Pursue A Master’s or A Ph.D.?

The first step in deciding on the right graduate program for you is to figure out which degree will best serve you—a master’s or a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.). Here are a few factors to consider.

What are your career goals?

• Professional master’s: A good choice if you want to develop a particular skill set in order to practice a particular profession. This type of degree provides coursework focused on learning and practicing skills.
• Research master’s: A good fit if you want to gain expertise in a discipline and know how to teach it. A research master’s typically includes a research project or thesis and comprehensive exams in addition to coursework and provides experience in research and scholarship.
• Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy): Consider this option if your goal is to ground yourself in a body of research and develop the ability to add to that body of knowledge. Ph.D. study includes a major research project in addition to coursework, and a Ph.D. is the highest scholastic degree awarded by American universities. Contrary to common perception, career paths for Ph.D. graduates are quite varied, not just limited to academia. Ph.D. training helps you hones skills such as writing, research, teaching, data analysis, communicating complex topics—all of which can translate into many sectors, including industry, government, nonprofit, and entrepreneurship.

See career data for Duke graduate programs' alumni

How much time do you have to pursue a graduate degree?

Master’s degrees typically take two years to complete, while Ph.D. programs generally take five to seven years ( see Duke programs' time-to-degree ). That is a significant difference in commitment and opportunity costs. It might also play a key role in deciding which factors take higher priority as you evaluate a program. How does the length of the program fit with your career and family plans? How important is the surrounding community if you are going to be there for seven years instead of two? How long are you able or willing to go on a limited income while in graduate school?

How much can you afford to pay for a graduate degree?

Consider your personal financial situation (e.g., how much savings and student loans do you have), as well as how much financial aid you can get. Master’s and Ph.D. programs differ greatly in the amount of financial aid available. Ph.D. programs tend to offer significantly more financial support than master’s programs (but often will have research or teaching requirements). 

A typical Ph.D. financial aid package usually includes coverage of tuition and fees, a living stipend, and some level of support for health insurance for a set number of years. For instance, Duke’s standard Ph.D. package covers tuition, mandatory fees, and a stipend for five years, as well as health insurance premiums for six years. 

Within an institution, the level of financial support often differs across programs, so be sure to ask your specific program about the financial aid it offers. There are also many national organizations that provide competitive fellowships and scholarships for graduate students.

Know which degree you want to pursue? Here are some key things to look for in a program .

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A Johns Hopkins postdoc, Herbert Baxter Adams, brought the seminar method of teaching from Germany, where he earned a PhD in 1876. The idea: That students would learn more by doing than by listening to lectures and taking exams.

That spirit of inquiry , of challenging the way things are done, lives on today in our nine academic divisions, all of which offer full-time graduate programs.

More information about our graduate programs is available below

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Since 1893, Johns Hopkins Medicine has trained the next generation of great medical leaders and is widely regarded as one of the best med schools and hospitals in the world, with top programs in internal medicine , women’s health , HIV/AIDS , geriatrics , drug/alcohol abuse , and pediatrics

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The U.S. News & World Report top-ranked school prepares graduate level pre-licensure students and current BSN or advanced practice nurses to be health care leaders through a variety of MSN, DNP, and PhD programs. Students can focus on a wide range of advanced practice specialty areas – including health care organizational leadership , nurse anesthesiology , pediatric , adult/Gerontological , family , or critical care .

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Students in our PhD programs are encouraged from day one to think of this experience as their first job in business academia—a training ground for a challenging and rewarding career generating rigorous, relevant research that influences practice.

Our doctoral students work with faculty and access resources throughout HBS and Harvard University. The PhD program curriculum requires coursework at HBS and other Harvard discipline departments, and with HBS and Harvard faculty on advisory committees. Faculty throughout Harvard guide the programs through their participation on advisory committees.

How do I know which program is right for me?

There are many paths, but we are one HBS. Our PhD students draw on diverse personal and professional backgrounds to pursue an ever-expanding range of research topics. Explore more here about each program’s requirements & curriculum, read student profiles for each discipline as well as student research , and placement information.

The PhD in Business Administration grounds students in the disciplinary theories and research methods that form the foundation of an academic career. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program has five areas of study: Accounting and Management , Management , Marketing , Strategy , and Technology and Operations Management . All areas of study involve roughly two years of coursework culminating in a field exam. The remaining years of the program are spent conducting independent research, working on co-authored publications, and writing the dissertation. Students join these programs from a wide range of backgrounds, from consulting to engineering. Many applicants possess liberal arts degrees, as there is not a requirement to possess a business degree before joining the program

The PhD in Business Economics provides students the opportunity to study in both Harvard’s world-class Economics Department and Harvard Business School. Throughout the program, coursework includes exploration of microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, probability and statistics, and econometrics. While some students join the Business Economics program directly from undergraduate or masters programs, others have worked in economic consulting firms or as research assistants at universities or intergovernmental organizations.

The PhD program in Health Policy (Management) is rooted in data-driven research on the managerial, operational, and strategic issues facing a wide range of organizations. Coursework includes the study of microeconomic theory, management, research methods, and statistics. The backgrounds of students in this program are quite varied, with some coming from public health or the healthcare industry, while others arrive at the program with a background in disciplinary research

The PhD program in Organizational Behavior offers two tracks: either a micro or macro approach. In the micro track, students focus on the study of interpersonal relationships within organizations and the effects that groups have on individuals. Students in the macro track use sociological methods to examine organizations, groups, and markets as a whole, including topics such as the influence of individuals on organizational change, or the relationship between social missions and financial objectives. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program includes core disciplinary training in sociology or psychology, as well as additional coursework in organizational behavior.

Accounting & Management  

Business economics  , health policy (management)  , management  , marketing  , organizational behavior  , strategy  , technology & operations management  .

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Master’s vs. Ph.D.: What’s the Difference and Which One to Choose?

If graduate school is on your radar, one of the first things to consider is what type of degree you should pursue . While a bachelor’s degree is required for any postgraduate study, many people think you need a master’s to pursue a Ph.D., but that isn’t always the case. While there are benefits to receiving your master’s degree before your Ph.D., it’s not always necessary or required. However, there are important differences to note when deciding which type of program to apply to.

Master’s degree

A master’s degree usually takes about two years to complete full time. There are programs that allow a student to attend on a part-time basis, but that of course extends the completion time. Many master’s programs require a thesis to be completed, but not all. A thesis is a research project that is completed during the final year of a master’s program under the guidance of your program chair or advisor.

Under the master’s umbrella, there are quite a few specific degrees you can obtain. Your professional path will determine which of these you pursue.

• Master of Arts (MA) is given for disciplines in the arts and social sciences.
• Master of Science (MS) is given for sciences, health, engineering and statistics.
• Master of Research (MRes) is focused on training students to become researchers. This is advantageous to a student if they’re pursuing a research-based career or planning to apply for a Ph.D. program.
• Master by Research (MPhil) is similar to a MRes but is more advanced and focuses on research topics to be explored in depth. It’s often considered a precursor to a Ph.D. program.

Specialized master’s degrees

There are numerous specialized master’s degrees that are categorized by profession. These are often (not always) preceded by some professional experience prior to undertaking these types of advanced degrees.

• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• Master of Library Science (MLS, MLIS, MSLS)
• Master of Public Administration (MPA)
• Master of Public Health (MPH)
• Master of Social Work (MSW)
• Master of Laws (LLM)
• Master of Education (MEd, MSEd, MIT, MAEd, MAT)
• Master of Engineering (MEng)
• Master of Architecture (MArch)
• Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
• Master of Divinity (MDiv)

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

There are many Ph.D. programs and, in general, it’s considered the most advanced type of research degree you can obtain. Ph.D. candidates are required to complete a dissertation to obtain their degree. Unlike a thesis, a dissertation is longer and consists of original research conducted throughout the entire doctoral study. In some cases, students may be awarded a stipend, or pay, to complete the doctoral program and dissertation.

Ph.D.’s take a considerably longer time to complete than a master’s, five to eight years on average, and they carry a rather high rate of noncompletion due to time and financial commitments. Many Ph.D. programs have stipends available, so it’s important to inquire about that when researching a particular program.

Specialized doctorate programs

As with master’s degrees, there are several specialized doctorate programs specific to different disciplines and areas of study:

• Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
• Doctor of Engineering (EngD/PhD)
• Doctor of Education (EdD/D.Ed)
• Doctor of Social Science (DsocSci)
• Doctor of Professional Studies (DProf)
• Doctor of Architecture (DArch)
• Doctor of Theology (Th.D)
• Doctor of Divinity (DD/DDiv)
• Doctor of Science STEM (Dsc/ScD)
• Doctor of Science Arts & Humanities (DLitt/LitD)

When deciding which one to get, consider your immediate or long-term career goals — which degree would serve you best? In some cases, you can obtain a Ph.D. with just a bachelor’s degree, but often it’s recommended you get a master’s first for the research experience that will be required for a Ph.D.

As with anything, there are exceptions. Students in law school obtain a J.D. (Juris Doctor) but can then further obtain a master’s in a sub-specialty like tax or immigration law. The health care occupations of physical therapist and pharmacist are also doctorate programs obtained post undergrad.

Making your choice

As with any decision, weigh your options, list pros and cons, and go from there. Once you’ve narrowed your options , you’ll have a precise list of programs and institutions generated for your specific goals.

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Engineers can build on their skills with advanced degrees in a wide range of specialties.

• # 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• # 2 Stanford University
• # 3 University of California, Berkeley
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Environmental / Environmental Health Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

Best Nursing Schools: Master's

Nurses are increasingly encouraged to earn a graduate degree to enhance their knowledge of patient care.

• # 1 Emory University (Woodruff)  (tie)
• # 1 Johns Hopkins University  (tie)
• # 3 Duke University
• Master's Nurse Practitioner: Family
• Master's Nursing Administration

Best Education Schools

Educators may find it necessary to earn a graduate degree to meet their career goals.

• # 1 Teachers College, Columbia University  (tie)
• # 1 University of Wisconsin--Madison  (tie)
• # 3 University of California--Los Angeles  (tie)
• # 3 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor  (tie)
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Elementary Teacher Education
• Higher Education Administration
• Secondary Teacher Education
• Special Education

U.S. News Grad Compass

Unlock our comprehensive data, rankings and interactive tools to help you choose the right graduate program.

Expanded Profiles

Access expanded data for business, engineering, education, medical, and nursing programs.

Test Scores

What test scores do you need to get into your dream school? Receive all MCAT, GMAT, and GRE data.

Financial Aid

Find out the average grants, scholarships and student debt for business, and medical schools.

More Graduate School Rankings

• Graphic Design
• Painting / Drawing
• Photography

Public Affairs

• Environmental Policy and Management
• Health Policy and Management
• Information and Technology Management
• Nonprofit Management
• Clinical Psychology
• Health Care Management
• Occupational Therapy
• Biological Sciences
• Biostatistics
• Computer Science

Library and Information Studies

• Archives and Preservation
• Digital Librarianship
• Information Systems
• Services for Children and Youth

Social Sciences and Humanities

• Criminology

Featured Advice

Is Graduate School Worth the Cost?

Find B-Schools That Lead to Good Jobs

How to Get Into a Top Law School

Engineering Graduate Degree Jobs

Preparing and applying for graduate school.

If you’re interested in a profession that requires graduate school , such as law or medicine, it’s important to ensure that you’re committed to that career path before investing time, money and effort into a graduate education. U.S. News & World Report offers guidance to prospective students on how to decide whether to attend grad school and how to identify the correct type of program. The Best Graduate Schools rankings  provide data that you can use to discover schools that match your preferences.

Aspiring business executives, for example, can explore the Best Business Schools  rankings, future lawyers can refer to the Best Law Schools  rankings and medical school hopefuls can consult the Best Medical Schools  rankings. Meanwhile, individuals who plan to pursue graduate engineering degrees can check out the Best Engineering Schools  rankings, and those who wish to obtain an education-related graduate credential may want to look at the Best Education Schools  rankings. People who intend to become advanced practice registered nurses with graduate-level training in nursing can examine the Best Nursing Schools  rankings.

U.S. News also offers rankings of graduate schools within the following disciplines:

• Library and information studies
• Social sciences and the humanities
• Public affairs

Each of these rankings lists includes links to school profile pages where you can find details about the academic institutions. Website users who purchase a subscription to U.S. News Grad Compass  can gain access to school-specific information beyond what is displayed for free on school profile pages. Both paying and nonpaying readers have access to the U.S. News graduate school search tool  that allows them to find grad schools within a specific academic discipline or geographic region.

In addition to its rankings database, U.S. News also offers an abundance of advice  to prospective graduate students. Expert tips cover topics such as deciding where to apply and how to assemble a compelling application, including ways to identify a person who can write a persuasive letter of recommendation for graduate school and techniques that can be used to craft an eloquent personal statement. Plus, U.S. News offers insight into what factors matter most to graduate school admissions officers and answers common questions about the admissions process, such as how much grad schools care about where you went to college  and how to prepare for admissions interviews.

In addition, U.S. News provides advice on how to prepare for graduate school entrance exams such as the GRE , tips for winning graduate school scholarships  and other strategies to pay for graduate school . U.S. News even provides guidelines to applicants who have been admitted to multiple grad programs on how they should choose among those options. All of this advice content, plus the rankings and the grad school directory, can serve as valuable resources for individuals who dream of attending graduate school.

Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Additional Information

• Download the Doctoral Viewbook
• Admissions & Aid

The Harvard Ph.D. in Education trains cutting-edge researchers who work across disciplines to generate knowledge and translate discoveries into transformative policy and practice.

Offered jointly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Ph.D. in Education provides you with full access to the extraordinary resources of Harvard University and prepares you to assume meaningful roles as university faculty, researchers, senior-level education leaders, and policymakers.

As a Ph.D. candidate, you will collaborate with scholars across all Harvard graduate schools on original interdisciplinary research. In the process, you will help forge new fields of inquiry that will impact the way we teach and learn. The program’s required coursework will develop your knowledge of education and your expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative methods needed to conduct high-quality research. Guided by the goal of making a transformative impact on education research, policy, and practice, you will focus on independent research in various domains, including human development, learning and teaching, policy analysis and evaluation, institutions and society, and instructional practice.   

Curriculum Information

The Ph.D. in Education requires five years of full-time study to complete. You will choose your individual coursework and design your original research in close consultation with your HGSE faculty adviser and dissertation committee. The requirements listed below include the three Ph.D. concentrations: Culture, Institutions, and Society; Education Policy and Program Evaluation; and Human Development, Learning and Teaching . 

We invite you to review an example course list, which is provided in two formats — one as the full list by course number and one by broad course category . These lists are subject to modification. 

Ph.D. Concentrations and Examples

Summary of Ph.D. Program

Doctoral Colloquia  In year one and two you are required to attend. The colloquia convenes weekly and features presentations of work-in-progress and completed work by Harvard faculty, faculty and researchers from outside Harvard, and Harvard doctoral students. Ph.D. students present once in the colloquia over the course of their career.

Research Apprenticeship The Research Apprenticeship is designed to provide ongoing training and mentoring to develop your research skills throughout the entire program.

Teaching Fellowships The Teaching Fellowship is an opportunity to enhance students' teaching skills, promote learning consolidation, and provide opportunities to collaborate with faculty on pedagogical development.

Comprehensive Exams  The Written Exam (year 2, spring) tests you on both general and concentration-specific knowledge. The Oral Exam (year 3, fall/winter) tests your command of your chosen field of study and your ability to design, develop, and implement an original research project.

Dissertation  Based on your original research, the dissertation process consists of three parts: the Dissertation Proposal, the writing, and an oral defense before the members of your dissertation committee.

Culture, Institutions, and Society (CIS) Concentration

In CIS, you will examine the broader cultural, institutional, organizational, and social contexts relevant to education across the lifespan. What is the value and purpose of education? How do cultural, institutional, and social factors shape educational processes and outcomes? How effective are social movements and community action in education reform? How do we measure stratification and institutional inequality? In CIS, your work will be informed by theories and methods from sociology, history, political science, organizational behavior and management, philosophy, and anthropology. You can examine contexts as diverse as classrooms, families, neighborhoods, schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions, nonprofits, government agencies, and more.

Education Policy and Program Evaluation (EPPE) Concentration

In EPPE, you will research the design, implementation, and evaluation of education policy affecting early childhood, K–12, and postsecondary education in the U.S. and internationally. You will evaluate and assess individual programs and policies related to critical issues like access to education, teacher effectiveness, school finance, testing and accountability systems, school choice, financial aid, college enrollment and persistence, and more. Your work will be informed by theories and methods from economics, political science, public policy, and sociology, history, philosophy, and statistics. This concentration shares some themes with CIS, but your work with EPPE will focus on public policy and large-scale reforms.

Human Development, Learning and Teaching (HDLT) Concentration

In HDLT, you will work to advance the role of scientific research in education policy, reform, and practice. New discoveries in the science of learning and development — the integration of biological, cognitive, and social processes; the relationships between technology and learning; or the factors that influence individual variations in learning — are transforming the practice of teaching and learning in both formal and informal settings. Whether studying behavioral, cognitive, or social-emotional development in children or the design of learning technologies to maximize understanding, you will gain a strong background in human development, the science of learning, and sociocultural factors that explain variation in learning and developmental pathways. Your research will be informed by theories and methods from psychology, cognitive science, sociology and linguistics, philosophy, the biological sciences and mathematics, and organizational behavior.

Program Faculty

The most remarkable thing about the Ph.D. in Education is open access to faculty from all Harvard graduate and professional schools, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Learn about the full Ph.D. Faculty.

Jarvis R. Givens

Jarvis Givens studies the history of American education, African American history, and the relationship between race and power in schools.

Paul L. Harris

Paul Harris is interested in the early development of cognition, emotion, and imagination in children.

Meira Levinson

Meira Levinson is a normative political philosopher who works at the intersection of civic education, youth empowerment, racial justice, and educational ethics. 

Luke W. Miratrix

Luke Miratrix is a statistician who explores how to best use modern statistical methods in applied social science contexts.

Eric Taylor

Eric Taylor studies the economics of education, with a particular interest in employer-employee interactions between schools and teachers — hiring and firing decisions, job design, training, and performance evaluation.

Paola Uccelli

Paola Ucelli studies socio-cultural and individual differences in the language development of multilingual and monolingual students.

View Ph.D. Faculty

Dissertations.

The following is a complete listing of successful Ph.D. in Education dissertations to-date. Dissertations from November 2014 onward are publicly available in the Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) , the online repository for Harvard scholarship.

• 2022 Graduate Dissertations (265 KB pdf)
• 2021 Graduate Dissertations (177 KB pdf)
• 2020 Graduate Dissertations (121 KB pdf)
• 2019 Graduate Dissertations (68.3 KB pdf)

Student Directory

An opt-in listing of current Ph.D. students with information about their interests, research, personal web pages, and contact information:

Doctor of Philosophy in Education Student Directory

Introduce Yourself

Tell us about yourself so that we can tailor our communication to best fit your interests and provide you with relevant information about our programs, events, and other opportunities to connect with us.

Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Doctor of Philosophy in Education experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

Reshaping Teacher Licensure: Lessons from the Pandemic

Olivia Chi, Ed.M.'17, Ph.D.'20, discusses the ongoing efforts to ensure the quality and stability of the teaching workforce

Lost in Translation

New comparative study from Ph.D. candidate Maya Alkateb-Chami finds strong correlation between low literacy outcomes for children and schools teaching in different language from home

• Guide to Applying for Graduate School

The process of preparing for and applying to a PhD program can be overwhelming. The University of Pennsylvania has created this webpage to help prospective PhD students think through the process so you can put together a strong application.

A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the highest degree one may obtain within a particular field of study. This ranges from studies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields; Social Science fields such as Education, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology; as well as Humanities fields such as English, History, Music, Philosophy, and more. The PhD degree aims to prepare people to think critically, develop research, and produce scholarship that may be used for further research or implementation . The PhD historically prepared students to take on faculty roles in colleges and universities, and that is still the goal for many students pursuing the PhD. However, today the PhD is a sought-after degree in many other industries including pharmaceutical research, arts organizations and other nonprofits, publishing, government policy, big tech, finance, and more.

• Who can apply to a PhD program?   PhD education is available to people from various educational, occupational, socioeconomic, and demographic backgrounds.
• Who should get a PhD?  People interested in uncovering new ideas, solutions, or processes within a specific area of study through conducting independent research.
• Why is it important for diverse candidates to become PhD holders?   Our world thrives on heterogeneous ideas and experiences, which is why it is indispensable to include students with diverse perspectives in our PhD programs. These students will generate important and original research.

Most PhD programs are fully funded, meaning that for a specific number of years, the program will pay for your tuition and fees and health insurance, as well as provide you with a stipend for living expenses . The structure of this funding varies by field. Below is an outline of general funding information as well as trends according to field of study.

• Teaching Assistantships or Research Assistantships: Part-time service that provides teaching and research training opportunities within your area of study.
• Funding packages provided through faculty research grants: Many STEM fields fund students through research grants awarded to faculty. In these cases, students perform research alongside the faculty. 
• Fellowships: Internal or external merit-based funding. Some fellowships require an application while others are given via nomination. Educational institutions typically have a resource listing fellowship opportunities. Winning a competitive fellowship looks good on your resume.
• Grants: Requires an application with supporting materials of either your grades, scholarly work, and/or anticipated research. These are available through internal and external means. Grants greatly vary so be sure to always understand the requirements. Educational institutions typically have a resource listing grant opportunities. Winning a competitive grant looks good on your resume.
• Employment: For example, serving as a residential advisor, on-campus jobs, etc. Some PhD programs restrict additional employment, so be sure to check before applying for jobs.
• The funding opportunities described here often can be combined.

Choosing a school or program that provides the most potential funding may be a challenging decision. The value of the same amount of funding will differ depending on the cost of living in different geographic locations. Admitted applicants should investigate cost-of-living tools (available on the web) and be sure to understand how their funding will be structured. Ask questions when you are admitted, such as: 

• Could you share more about your program’s funding mechanism?
• For how long is funding guaranteed? How does that compare to the average time-to-completion? Historically, what percentage of students have received funding beyond the guaranteed funding package?
• Does funding cover tuition, fees, books, health insurance?
• Does the funding rely on teaching, research, or other service? How much and for how long? 

Choosing a program for your studies is a personal decision that should reflect not only your research interests, but your work style, and interests outside of the classroom. Here we have identified five key tips to consider when selecting schools. 

• Ask about which programs are strong in your area of interest, which have high completion rates, and which have career outcomes that align with your goals. 
• Explore the websites of the professional academic associations in the field(s) that interest you. Many will have a directory of doctoral programs and other resources for graduate students. For example, see the American Economic Association’s list of graduate programs and their preparing for graduate school page .
• Conduct a general internet search with terms related to your research interest.
• Determine your geographic and personal preferences. Does the area meet your community needs? Is it important that the university aligns with your sociopolitical values? Do you prefer a large city or a smaller/college town? Is there a particular region(s) that has better access to resources needed to conduct your research?
• Access your current or former university career center. These services are often still available for former students!
• As you narrow your choices, try to identify at least 3 faculty in the programs of interest with whom you’d like to study. Also note how many of them have tenure. If relevant, research which of those faculty are taking on advisees in your year of matriculation.
• Read articles from faculty with similar research interests.
• Note the number of awards, publications, and service activities of faculty.
• Identify research opportunities funded by both your program and university at large.
• Connect with current and former students in the program for informational interviews.
• Connect with campus Diversity Offices.
• Whenever possible, before submitting your applications, make an appointment to visit the campuses and department(s) that interest you.
• Use  LinkedIn  to see what graduates of your program are doing and how they are involved in their communities.
• Estimate your feasible cost of living by geographic location and compare to the funding package offered.
• Consider availability of health insurance, childcare, housing, transportation, and other fringe benefits.
• Connect with a local bank or your prospective university’s financial services office for budgeting, savings, and other financial wellness advice.
• Research the career outcomes for PhD graduates from the institutions that interest you in your specific field.
• Your First Year in a Ph.D. Program
• What Does Academic Success Mean and How to Achieve it?  (STEM)
• Pathways to Science  (STEM)
• 7 Advantages PhDs Have Over Other Job Candidates  (Industry)
• During your undergraduate/master’s education, you should pursue coursework and/or research that will prepare you for the higher expectations of a PhD program; for example, taking a research methods course, pursuing a summer research experience, or conducting research with a professor at your home institution.
• Identify instructors who could write a letter of recommendation. Share with those instructors your interest in doctoral studies; faculty can be excellent resources for advice as well as recommendations!
• Experiences outside of higher education can also strengthen your PhD application. These may range from project management to volunteer work.
• Develop soft or hard skills. A soft skill that is most useful from the first day of your PhD program is networking. This is necessary not only for meeting other students but also to find collaborators with similar research interests and selecting faculty for your dissertation committee. Learning how to negotiate will also serve you well when approaching collaborative projects. Hard skills related to your field might include learning statistical analysis software, economic theory, a foreign language, or search engine optimization. In short, identify a few soft and hard skills that you can familiarize yourself with prior to your program’s start date.
• Finally, prepare by identifying leading researchers and practitioners in your field , exploring peer-reviewed literature and/or publications, and gain familiarity with research methods.
• Typically, PhD applications are due 10-12 months in advance of the program’s start date (i.e. apply in November to start the following September). A good rule of thumb is to begin your application process 6 months before the deadline. 
• The availability of reduced application fees or fee waivers varies and sometimes depends on financial status and/or experiences (AmeriCorps, National Society of Black Engineers, attending certain conferences, etc.). If you are interested in a reduced fee or waiver, reach out to the program coordinator for details.
• Be sure to address all the specific questions/topics in the statement prompt. 
• Clearly state why you want to pursue a PhD.
• Propose your research interest.
• Identify the faculty you’d like to study under. 
• Discuss the unique qualities/experiences you offer to the program/school.
• Outline what you hope to do with your degree.
• Ask for recommendation letters early in the process, at least 2-4 weeks before the deadline. A good letter takes time to write!
• Provide recommenders with your resume, information about the program, your statement of purpose and/or information about your research interests and research goals.
• Consider your current/former instructors, supervisors, colleagues. These should be people who can speak to your work ethic, academic abilities, and research interests.
• Test scores (i.e. TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, etc.) may or may not be required.
• All transcripts including those for coursework completed abroad and transfer credits. Some programs require official transcripts, which take longer to procure.
• Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Writing sample (field dependent): Include a graduate-level sample and update any statements, statistics, etc. as needed. It is highly encouraged that you edit your previous work.
• Diversity statement: Many institutions offer an optional short statement where students can expand on their diverse backgrounds and experiences that may contribute to the diversity interests/efforts of the school.
• Dress professionally, even if the interview is virtual. You don’t necessarily need to wear a suit but dress pants/skirt and a blouse/button down shirt would be appropriate.  
• Develop an engaging elevator pitch, a 30-60 second summary of your research interests and what you hope to gain by becoming a student at that particular university. Practice your pitch with a career counselor, faculty advisor, or friends, and ask for honest feedback.
• Prepare 2-3 questions to ask during the interview. These could include questions about program expectations, the experience and success of their PhD students, and (academic/financial/mental health) support for PhD students.
• Some interview programs will include multiple activities including a social event. Be sure to maintain a professional attitude: do not drink too much and keep conversation on academic/professional topics.
• This is also your opportunity to decide whether this campus is a good fit for you.
• Academia Insider  is a good resource. 

Unlike undergraduate and master’s level education, coursework is just one component of the degree. A PhD comes with additional expectations: you must independently conduct scholarly research in your field of study, train in specific activities such as teaching or lab/field research, pass “milestone” requirements along the way, such as comprehensive exams, and complete the process by writing a dissertation. Furthermore, some fields require you to write multiple articles (number varies by field/program) for conference presentation and/or peer-reviewed publication.

There are other important elements as well:

• Student/Advisor relationship. This is one of the most valuable relationships you can have as a PhD student. Your faculty advisor not only assists you with learning how to approach your research topic, but also typically serves as the lead supervisor of your dissertation research and writing, and ideally mentors you throughout the PhD experience. The selection process of choosing your advisor varies so be sure to know what is expected of you as a student and what is expected of the faculty member. Whenever possible, it is important to align your personality and work style with that of your faculty advisor. Many universities publish expectations for the PhD student/faculty advisor relationship;  AMP’ed  is Penn’s guide.
• Other relationships: Your faculty advisor is far from the only important person during your PhD career. Other faculty members will also serve on your dissertation committee and be potential mentors. Students in your program can also provide good advice and guidance along the way.
• Coursework: Most programs have a number of required courses all students must take regardless of research interests. Once you have finished this requirement, the classes you choose should closely align with your research topic. Choose courses that will help you learn more about your dissertation topic and research methods. It is a good idea to discuss elective course selection with your advisor. 
• The dissertation is a large-scale, written document that explores a narrow research topic of your choice. It is the final step before receiving your degree and must be presented and “defended” to your dissertation committee (made up of faculty members) for approval. Defending means that you have to answer in-depth questions about your topic. While this might sound daunting, the dissertation is simply a demonstration of all the knowledge and expertise you have acquired through your PhD education. 
• Networking comes in many forms and includes connections with your fellow classmates, faculty members, and scholarly community. Formal networking events typically take place at academic conferences, where scholars and students present research. Increasing your academic circle will not only allow you to have study buddies, but offer you the opportunity to collaborate on articles or even gain employment. Your school’s career center can provide best practices for effective networking. 

Explore  graduate programs at the University of Pennsylvania  and click on the programs that interest you to learn more about admissions and academic requirements.

Upcoming Penn information sessions and recruitment events include:

• Fontaine Fellows Recruitment Dinner (by invitation only): every March
• Summer Virtual Series for undergraduates thinking about graduate school: June-July, 2024
• DEEPenn STEM  (Diversity Equity Engagement at Penn in STEM): October 11-13, 2024. Application deadline is May 24, 2024.
• DivE In Weekend  (Diversity & Equity Initiative for Mind Research): October 18-20, 2024. Application due May 30, 2024.
• IDDEAS@Wharton  (Introduction to Diversity in Doctoral Education and Scholarship): April 2025. Application opens in November 2024.

National conferences to explore:

• The Leadership Alliance  supports students into research careers
• McNair Scholar Conferences
• SACNAS , the largest multidisciplinary and multicultural STEM diversity event in the U.S.
• ABRCMS , the annual biomedical research conference for minoritized scientists
• The PhD Project  for students interested in business PhD programs

Degree Search Home Page

Graduate degrees and certificates, explore graduate degrees by interest, architecture and construction, communication and media, computing and mathematics, education and teaching, engineering and technology, entrepreneurship, exploratory, health and wellness, interdisciplinary studies, law, justice and public service, social and behavioral sciences, sustainability.

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Marie Fowler, 83, becomes Howard University's oldest doctoral graduate

Fowler earned her doctoral degree in ministry over the weekend. She already has her bachelors and two masters but wasn't sure at her age she could manage the work. She stayed the course.

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

• Arnold School of Public Health
• Location Location
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• Colleges and Schools
• 2024 News Archive

Passion for public health paves path for graduate to make an impact

May 17, 2024  | Erin Bluvas,  [email protected]

Titilayomi (“Titi”) Abiodun may have been born in Philadelphia and graduated high school in Blythewood, South Carolina, but she wouldn’t say she’s from either of those places.

“I’m a Nigerian girl,” she says of the lasting impact made by those intervening years. They were also the beginning of her path to public health .

“In Nigeria, you choose art or science as a high school student, and science usually meant engineering or medical school,” Abiodun says. “I knew I wanted to work in health, but I wanted to make a difference for more than just my patients. I just didn’t know what that field was called.”

Everyone I’ve met at the Arnold School has a story about how their advisors have set them up for success.

When she made the move to the U.S. in 2019 to live with her Auntie, the 16-year-old began learning about the field as she considered which college to attend. She loved that public health used research to impact entire populations, and she enjoyed learning about possible careers from her Uncle, Bankole Olatosi , an associate professor of health services policy and management .

USC wasn’t just in her backyard; it was home to the only accredited school of public health in the state, and it became her first choice.

“But really,” she says, “it was USC who chose me.” 

Abiodun remembers the moment when she received her acceptance. She was sitting in her AP Biology class and immediately knew she’d found her place.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic delayed her plans to jump into university life that fall, she more than made up for lost time. Over the past four years, the Capstone Scholar has served as a U101 Peer Leader, Orientation Leader and Resident Mentor.

She has been one of the inaugural Arnold School of Public Health Ambassadors , a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, a mentor for the Multicultural Assistance Peer Program, and the public relations officer for the Pan-African Student Association. Abiodun also became involved in the honors society, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the community service organization, Alpha Phi Omega.

As an undergraduate research assistant in the Nolan Lab of Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases, Abiodun became even more passionate about using science to improve public health. Under the guidance of epidemiology associate professor Melissa Nolan , the team investigates the spread and impact of vector-borne diseases. With the lab, Abiodun traveled to conferences, attended training in the field (Tick University) and co-authored two peer-reviewed publications.   

“Dr. Nolan is a woman who is working to change the world, and she’s committed to preparing the next generation of researchers to be able to do the same,” Abiodun says. “ Barbara Cuevas and Sara Corwin have been my rocks. Everyone I’ve met at the Arnold School has a story about how their advisors have set them up for success.”

And, of course, Olatosi has played an important role for his niece as well. “He has taught me to love public health and nudges me in the right direction while also giving me the autonomy to make decisions for myself,” she says of her mentor. 

The right direction for Abiodun is research. However and wherever it happens, she’s committed to conducting research and implementing interventions – hopefully in Nigeria one day. Her goal is to work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization.

“Whichever one chooses me,” she says of keeping an open mind for what comes next. For now, Abiodun is reveling in the experiences of the past four years as she graduates this month with the Outstanding Senior and Outstanding Bachelor of Arts in Public Health Student Awards. 

Study Public Health

The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) curriculum is for students who want to apply the degree to social and behavioral sciences, while the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) is for students who are interested in a broad-based natural science. 

Meet Our Class of 2024

The Arnold School is proud of our 2024 graduates, who will go on to change the world locally and globally. Learn about some of the other outstanding individuals who completed one of our 34 programs this year.

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

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No evidence foreign students are abusing UK graduate visas, review finds

Migration Advisory Committee says the risks are low, despite Tory claims the route is being exploited

There is no evidence of widespread abuse of the UK’s graduate visa route, the government’s immigration advisers have concluded, despite repeated claims from senior Conservatives that it is being exploited to enter the jobs market.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said the graduate visa entitlement – allowing international students to work for two or three years after graduating – should remain in place. Members said the risks of abuse were relatively low and were “not undermining” the integrity and quality of the higher education system.

The report’s release has stoked an internal Conservative party row over net migration, with senior rightwing MPs describing it as a “whitewash”.

Robert Jenrick, a former immigration minister, wrote that the committee’s inquiries were tightly controlled by the commission from James Cleverly , the home secretary.

“The MAC’s conclusions have clearly been constrained by the narrow terms of reference deliberately set by the government. If you order white paint, you get a whitewash,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Neil O’Brien, a Tory MP who is an ally of Jenrick, described the report as a “whitewash” on Substack: “We are pursuing an arbitrary target, and the expansion of universities for their own sake.”

Another Conservative MP said backbenchers were “piling pressure” on Rishi Sunak to ignore the committee’s conclusions.

The government has so far declined to say whether it will accept the MAC recommendations. A source close to the home secretary said he would read the review thoroughly and listen to Prof Brian Bell, the committee’s chair, carefully before he makes any decision. They were due to meet on Tuesday afternoon.

The committee’s decision was greeted with relief by university vice-chancellors, who have warned that abolishing the graduate visa would spell financial turmoil for the sector. But higher education leaders said they still feared No 10 could cherrypick elements of the report to justify a further crackdown.

University leaders had been told to expect the government’s response in the middle of next week, alongside the publication of the ONS’s net migration figures. But the MAC report in favour of retaining graduate visas may have scuppered plans by ministers to use it as the centrepiece of a fresh crackdown.

Cleverly commissioned the review amid a growing clamour in Tory circles that graduate visas were being abused to gain access to employment.

Last week, Jenrick published a report with the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank that called for the graduate visa to be abolished, claiming it “allowed people to come and work in the gig economy and on very low wages”.

In a forthright response, Bell said: “Our review recommends the graduate route should remain as it is, and is not undermining the quality and integrity of the UK’s higher education system.

“The graduate route is a key part of the offer that we make to international students to come and study in the UK. The fees that these students pay helps universities to cover the losses they make in teaching British students and doing research. Without those students, many universities would need to shrink and less research would be done.”

The committee said:

There is no evidence of widespread abuse specifically for the graduate route. The risks of abuse are relatively low due to the limited number of conditions the route imposes.

There is concern about potential exploitation of both student and graduate visa holders due to poor practices by certain agents who recruit students on to courses and may be mis-selling UK higher education, but this is a separate issue from abuse of the rules of the graduate route.

114,000 graduate route visas were granted for main applicants in 2023 with a further 30,000 granted for dependants.

The use of the graduate route is concentrated among four nationalities: the top four – India, Nigeria, China and Pakistan – account for 70% of all graduate visas with India accounting for more than 40%.

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Most of those on the graduate route completed postgraduate taught courses.

Graduate visa holders are initially “overrepresented in lower-paid work” but their outcomes improve over time, the report said.

The MAC review was unable to assess the risk of overstaying due to a lack of Home Office data.

Alex Proudfoot, the chief executive of the representative body Independent Higher Education , said: “We urge the government to swiftly confirm they will follow their experts’ recommendation that the graduate visa be retained in its current form, and commit afresh to working with the education sector to maximise the benefits that international students bring.”

Tim Bradshaw, the chief executive of the Russell Group of leading research universities, said: “The overall message from the MAC is that the graduate route is achieving its objectives as set out by the government. We would therefore urge ministers to end the uncertainty and confirm as soon as possible that the route will continue in its entirety.”

In February, Universities UK (UUK) said it would review international student admissions processes after the allegations of “bad practice” by agents recruiting overseas students.

The MAC has recommended the government should establish a mandatory registration system for international recruitment agents, and universities should be required to publish data on their use of agents to “help protect the integrity” of the UK higher education system.

The review was launched in March after Cleverly instructed the committee, which gives independent advice to the government, to investigate “any evidence of abuse” of the graduate route, “including the route not being fit for purpose”, and to look at which universities were producing graduates who used the route.

Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of UUK, said: “The MAC’s recommendation that the graduate route should remain on its current terms is extremely important and welcome.

“The uncertainty caused by the decision to review the visa has been toxic,” she said. “We hope and expect that government now listens to the advice they have been given and provides categorical reassurance that the graduate visa is here to stay.”

A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to attracting the best and brightest to study at our world-class universities, whilst preventing abuse of our immigration system, which is why the home secretary commissioned an independent review of the graduate route.

“We have already taken decisive action to address unsustainable levels of migration and our plans are working, with a 24% drop in visa applications across key routes in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

“We are considering the review’s findings very closely and we will respond fully in due course.”

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Graduate visa route should remain, report finds, after home secretary raised immigration concerns

James Cleverly commissioned an emergency report into the graduate visa route over concerns it was being abused for immigration purposes.

Political reporter @alixculbertson

Tuesday 14 May 2024 14:31, UK

The graduate visa route should remain as it is key to funding British universities and is "not undermining the quality and integrity" of higher education, a new report has said.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) looked at whether the visa was being abused and if it was not being "driven more by a desire for immigration" after Home Secretary James Cleverly requested an emergency review in March.

A graduate visa permits overseas students to stay in the UK for up to three years after completing a university course in the UK. Partners and children can also apply as dependents.

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick published a report last week calling for the graduate visa to be abolished, claiming it "allowed people to come and work in the gig economy and on very low wages".

University and industry leaders had voiced fears that the route, introduced in 2021, could be axed or curtailed if the report had been negative, with universities reporting a steep drop in international students applying over fears of restrictions being introduced.

But the committee, made up of five university professors and a Home Office representative, said they found "no evidence of widespread abuse" of the graduate route.

"The risks of abuse are relatively low due to the limited number of conditions the route imposes," the report said.

It also found the visa route is helping universities to expand the range of courses offered while making up for financial losses from domestic students and research, and is "supporting the government's international educational strategy".

The report said 114,000 graduate route visas were granted for applicants in 2023, with a further 30,000 for dependents.

It said students from India, Nigeria, China and Pakistan account for 70% of all graduate visas, with India accounting for more than 40%.

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MAC chair and leading labour economist Professor Brian Bell, the head of economics at King's College London, said: "Our review recommends the graduate route should remain as it is, and is not undermining the quality and integrity of the UK's higher education system.

"The graduate route is a key part of the offer that we make to international students to come and study in the UK.

"The fees that these students pay help universities to cover the losses they make in teaching British students and doing research.

"Without those students, many universities would need to shrink and less research would be done.

"This highlights the complex interaction between immigration policy and higher education policy."

A government spokesman said: "We are committed to attracting the best and brightest to study at our world-class universities, whilst preventing abuse of our immigration system, which is why the home secretary commissioned an independent review of the graduate route.

"We have already taken decisive action to address unsustainable levels of migration and our plans are working, with a 24% drop in visa applications across key routes in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

"We are considering the review's findings very closely and we will respond fully in due course."

Reacting to the report, Mr Jenrick said the graduate route "should be scrapped" and the UK needs to "urgently unwind the sector's growing dependency on foreign students" as he called the route a "backdoor for foreign students to do low-wage work...that isn't attracting top talent".

He said the review's conclusions were "constrained by the narrow terms of reference deliberately set by the government" to back up their International Education Strategy that includes the "arbitrary target" of attracting 600,000 foreign students a year.

"If you order white paint, you get a whitewash," he said.

The British Chambers of Commerce welcomed the report and said businesses have told them finding people with the right skills to plug the gaps "remains a serious issue".

The MAC recommended the government establishes a mandatory registration system for international recruitment agents and that universities should be required to publish data on their spend on recruitment agents and the number of students recruited through such means to ensure the route is not exploited.

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The report found most people on the graduate route had completed postgraduate courses, with the highest growth in the visa from non-Russell Group universities' postgraduate courses - accounting for 66% of all graduate visas.

Since 2021, the proportion of main applicants aged over 25 has increased by 15 percentage points to 54% in 2023.

It also found graduate visa holders are initially overrepresented in lower-paid work but their job prospects and wages improve over time.

Among the first cohort of graduate visa holders, about half moved to skilled worker visas, primarily into skilled roles.

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Distinguished Graduate Student Award Winners Honored At 2024 Faculty Affairs Spring Award Ceremony

The Texas A&M Graduate and Professional School, in collaboration with The Association of Former Students, recently presented 16 Aggies with Distinguished Graduate Student Awards. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding contributions by graduate students in research or teaching. Generous contributions to The Association of Former Students’ Annual Fund have made these awards possible.

“Since 1965, The Association of Former Students has been proud to honor the very best of Texas A&M’s graduate students with the Distinguished Graduate Student Award,” said Porter Garner ’79, president and CEO of The Association of Former Students. “These exceptional Aggies have made an indelible contribution to Texas A&M and our world through their teaching and research across disciplines. They embody the Aggie Core Values and represent the Aggie Network with distinction.”

Dr. Fuhui Tong, interim associate provost and dean of the Graduate and Professional School, extended gratitude to The Association of Former Students and kudos to the awardees. “Thanks to The Association of Former Students for their support in helping us recognize this year’s Distinguished Graduate Students,” Tong said. “And congratulations to these outstanding students for making such a positive impact on our university and the world.“

Distinguished Graduate Student Award winners were honored at the Faculty Affairs Spring Award Ceremony on Friday, April 26. Each was presented with an engraved watch and a framed certificate.

Awards in Research

Rachel Busselman,  ecology and evolutionary biology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sarah Hamer

Sambandh Dhal,  computer engineering, College of Engineering Faculty Advisors: Dr. Stavros Kalafatis and Dr. Ulisses Braga-Neto

Wenliang He,  animal science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Advisor: Dr. Guoyao Wu

Nirmitee Sanjay Mulgaonkar,  biological and agricultural engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Advisors: Dr. Sandun Fernando and Dr. Maria King

Tejaswini Reddy,  medical sciences, School of Medicine Faculty Advisors: Dr. Jenny Chang and Dr. David Huston

Kara Thomas,  biomedical sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Faculty Advisor: Dr. Michael Golding

James Tronolone,  biomedical engineering, College of Engineering Faculty Advisor: Dr. Abishek Jain

Ruida Zhou,  electrical engineering, College of Engineering Faculty Advisor: Dr. Chao Tian

Awards in Teaching

Nicholas Bradley,  communication, College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Advisor: Dr. Nathan Crick

Catherine Brooks,  anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Advisor: Dr. Shelley Wachsmann

Abigail Clevenger,  biomedical engineering, College of Engineering Faculty Advisor: Dr. Shreya Raghavan

Delaney Couri,  communication, College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kristan Poirot

Carla M. A. de Loera,  entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Advisor: Dr. Hojun Song

Avi Kister,  chemical engineering, College of Engineering Faculty Advisor: Dr. Mahmoud El-Halwagi

Virginia Redwine Johnson,  curriculum and instruction, School of Education and Human Development Faculty Advisor: Dr. John Williams, III

Xiaoyu Su,  mathematics, College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Advisor: Dr. Guoliang Yu

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How graduate visa scheme helped attract foreign students to UK

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Peter Foster , Delphine Strauss and Anna Gross in London

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The UK government’s independent adviser on migration concluded a 14-week investigation into the UK’s visa graduate programme on Tuesday and its findings were categorical: the scheme should remain in place.

The Migration Advisory Committee’s report was commissioned by home secretary James Cleverly in March in response to concerns that the route, which allows overseas students to stay in the UK for two years after graduation, was leading to politically unsustainable levels of immigration.

The MAC’s clear findings , including that there is “no evidence” of deliberate abuse of the scheme, have placed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a bind, forcing him to either confront those on the Conservative right who want it scrapped or ignore the advisory group.

Why the fuss over foreign graduate students?

Sunak has been under pressure over the levels of legal net migration into the UK after numbers last year showed a record 745,000 for the year to June 2022, and 670,000 in the year to June 2023.

The number of foreign students staying to work after graduation increased sharply after the “graduate visa route” was introduced in 2021. More than 114,000 people claimed a graduate visa last year, almost 18 times higher than those who stayed in the UK after being sponsored for a job in 2020, the last year before the scheme was introduced.

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In response to the surge in net migration, Cleverly announced a package of reforms in December. These included removing the rights of students starting one-year masters courses to bring over family members, and sharply raising salary thresholds for employers sponsoring skilled workers’ visas.

Cleverly also asked the MAC to investigate the case for making changes to the graduate route. His letter to MAC chair Professor Brian Bell raised two chief concerns.

First, that the reputation of UK universities as high-quality providers of education was “at risk” if foreign students were coming “through a desire for immigration rather than education”.

The second concern — one directly addressed in the MAC report — was that too many international students were going into low-value occupations, such as social care, when switching from graduate to skilled visas.

Cleverly said this was not what the government intended when it reintroduced the graduate route in 2021 — an earlier version was abolished in 2012 — to “attract the best and brightest students”.

What did the MAC find?

The chief finding was clear: the graduate route was not being abused.

It found that the scheme worked as intended, attracting students to the UK and helping them stay with no evidence of significant rule-breaking. Graduate visa holders swiftly found similar jobs to those of British graduates, with similar earnings. 

Application levels are already falling, in part because of changes on dependants and salary thresholds, on top of other issues such as a Nigerian currency crisis that made it more expensive for Nigerian students to fund places at UK universities.

A larger issue the report raised was that universities depend on international student fees to cross-subsidise domestic students, and any change would further exacerbate the funding crisis in the sector.

There were some caveats. The first was that there was some evidence that unscrupulous recruitment agents were mis-selling courses. It said these should be subject to tighter regulation.

Second, the majority of the growth in graduate visas is to lower-ranked universities outside the elite Russell Group, which might not fit with the idea of retaining the “brightest and best” students — even though this term is not clearly defined by ministers. 

Bell noted that some very able students from poorer countries might choose lower-ranked universities, which have lower fees, for cost reasons.

The MAC also said the data Cleverly previously cited — that about half of overseas graduates switched to social care — was wrong. The actual figure is about 20 per cent.

Bell said the skew towards care work was “almost inevitable”, given that the sector faces a lower salary threshold than other industries for students to remain after the two years.

Some graduates interviewed by the committee were struggling to find work to fit their qualifications. The MAC said some employers were unaware of the route’s existence, and others might be reluctant to hire people who would need a large pay rise two years later in order to stay on.

International students could also be putting upward pressure on housing costs, the committee noted — echoing other economists who believe high net migration has been a big factor driving up rental prices over the past two years.

However, it added that migrants were also likely to pay more tax than they consumed in public services, especially given the rule changes that would prevent students bringing their children in future.

What will Sunak’s government do?

After the report, Downing Street and Cleverly are set to make a decision on whether to close or limit the graduate visa route in the coming weeks. They are under severe pressure from warring factions of their party.

“Any changes to the graduate visa route should be properly informed by the evidence and the review,” a Labour spokesperson said. The university sector has also lobbied furiously against any changes , and welcomed Tuesday’s report.

Cabinet ministers have long been divided over whether to restrict the route. Backers of the current scheme include education secretary Gillian Keegan and chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Despite support from cabinet heavyweights, Sunak faces opposition from the right of his party. Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister and a staunch critic of government immigration policy, has told colleagues that the MAC report was a “stitch-up”.

He said the body was not asked to review the government’s goal of attracting 600,000 foreign students per year, and was asked to assess the extent of abuse in the visa system, rather than the social and economic impact of this type of migration.

“The MAC’s conclusions have clearly been constrained by the narrow terms of reference deliberately set by the government,” Jenrick, who is seen as a potential future leadership candidate for the Tory party, wrote on Twitter. “If you order white paint, you get a whitewash.”

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Graduate route: rapid review

The Migration Advisory Committee's report on the Graduate route, with a letter to the Home Secretary.

Graduate route: rapid review (accessible)

PDF , 1.47 MB , 70 pages

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Letter to the Home Secretary on the rapid review of the Graduate route (accessible)

Letter to the home secretary on the rapid review of the graduate route.

PDF , 121 KB , 3 pages

Data tables

ODS , 1.17 MB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

In March 2024, the Home Secretary commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a rapid review of the Graduate route.

The committee recommends that the route stays in place in its current form.

Added an accessible version of the report.

Added the data tables spreadsheet.

First published.

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