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Changing the Way Researchers Are Trained

Nov 02, 2009

"The question is, do we need to rethink how academia functions?" asks blogger Michael White at Adaptive Complexity. White draws on a recent article from Louis Menand in Harvard Magazine who writes — though he focuses mostly on the humanities — that graduate education is a "lengthy apprenticeship" that doesn't necessarily prepare those students who will be taking jobs outside of academia. White says the problem isn't as bad in the sciences, but agrees that "there is a huge inefficiency in the training system." White writes:

But do you really need a 7-year PhD in cell biology, followed by a 3-year postdoc to work for Merck doing drug discovery? In many cases, the answer is no, and this is why proposals are floating around for creating professional masters degree programs in the biomedical sciences, much like those that already exist in engineering.
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