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Graduate Education in Catholic Colleges
and Universities: A Report on the ACCU
Survey of Graduate Programs
David M. Johnson
I. Introduction: One of the proper functions of any
national association of educational institutions is the
dissemination of information about its member in-
stitutions in response to requests from members, pro-
spective students, dissertation writers, foundations,
Congressional aides, the media and others. As a rule
this information is already available in published form
somewhere, and staff members can quickly refer to the
proper source.
Such has not been the case regarding data on
graduate programs in Catholic institutions. Ata time
when graduate education is undergoing important
shifts in enrollment patterns and national leaders are
threatening to abandon graduate students to their
own, often limited, financial devices, ACCU found the
existing sources of data on graduate education to be
woefully incomplete with respect to the Catholic sec-
tor. Accordingly, and because of the importance of
issues concerning graduate education today, the As-
sociation set out to collect that information through the
1981 Survey of Graduate Programs in Catholic Col-
leges and Universities.
We were supported in our efforts by the Association
of Graduate Schools in Catholic Colleges and Univer-
sities. An AGSCCU committee of seven graduate
deans reviewed early drafts of the survey instrument
and offered helpful suggestions for improvement.
The survey population was selected through an
examination of HEGIS report summaries for the fall
semester of 1980. In all, 113 Catholic colleges and uni-
versities (excluding seminaries) reported some
graduate enrollments in that semester. The survey
was mailed to the individual identified as the graduate
dean’ at each of these institutions in mid-July, 1981.
Two reminder notices were sent to non-respondents
in the months that followed, and an overall response
rate of 81 percent was eventually achieved.
In tribute to our respondents (and in fairness to
those who did not respond) the final Survey form
' Higher Education Directory, (National Center for Education Statis-
tics, Washington, D.C., 1980). Where no individual was identified
with the title of “graduate dean” or similar designation, the Survey
was mailed to the institution’s chief academic officer.
required considerable effort to complete. It consisted
of two parts. The first requested institutional totals on
enrollment and financial aid for the fall semester of
1980, as well as degree production statistics for 1970,
1975, and 1980. Most, if not all of this data was readily
available in the graduate dean’s office. The second part
of the Survey, however, asked that these institutional
totals be broken down by department and graduate
program, which necessitated considerable internal re-
search on the part of many of our respondents. To
these individuals go our sincere thanks; whatever
value is to be found in this report is the direct result of
their efforts to provide the requested information in
the desired form.
Respondents were asked to include in their reports
data on all graduate level programs offered at their
institutions, with the exception of legal and medical
professional degree programs.
The careful reader will notice certain flaws in the
data; the major one is that the program data totals
detailed in Appendix B of this report do not add up to
the institutional totals given in Appendix A, as they
should in an ideal statistical world. The fact is that a
number of institutions found the institutional data
section fairly simple to complete, but were unable to
provide at least some of the detailed data requested on
each particular program which they offer.? Although
some forty letters requesting clarification of particu-
larly glaring discrepancies were mailed, not all errors
of omission or arithmetic could be accounted for in the
time available to complete this report.
II. Institutional Totals (Appendix A): Responses
were received from 91 of the 113 Catholic colleges and
universities to which the Survey was mailed, for an
overall response rate of 81 percent.? Two of these
institutions reported that they have no graduate de-
? Three colleges and universities which submitted institutional to-
tals and are included in Appendix A did not submit any data on
specific graduate program offerings for inclusion in Appendix B.
They are: Georgetown University, Rosary College, and Seton Hall
University.
* Here, and throughout this report, statistics have been rounded to
the nearest whole number unless otherwise indicated.
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