Graduate Education in the Sciences in Canadian Universities 9781487584214

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GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES

Etudes sur l'Enseignement Superieur au Canada NUMERO

2

Studies in Higher Education in Canada NUMBER

2

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES

W. P. Thompson

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS LES PRESSES DE L'UNIVERSITE LAV AL

@ UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS 1963

Printed in Canada Reprinted in 2018 ISBN 978-1-4875-7350-8 (paper)

Foreword FRANK STILING Chairman, Committee on Higher Education

THE VAGUENESS which earlier beclouded the work of the Committee on Higher Education has largely disappeared and the appearance of this volume by Dr. Thompson indicates emergence into light. In other words, the author has made a definite contribution to the study with which this Committee is concerned. He not only surveys the development and condition of post-graduate education in the natural sciences, but has included significant information which will be of interest to scholars of disciplines other than science. Undoubtedly this study, and others which are to be completed within the next couple of years, will be extremely useful in preparing the ultimate study of higher education in Canada. The Committee is indebted to Dr. Thompson for presenting this survey.

Avant-Propos JOSEPH RISI, D.sc. Directeur de l'Ecole des Gradues Universite Laval

L'homme se fait servir par I' aveugle matiere. 11 pense, ii cherche, ii cree. A son souffie vivant Les gennes disperses clans la nature entiere Tremblent comme frissonne une foret au vent. VICTOR HUGO

CE MOT du grand poete fait une heureuse allusion au vent nourri a la fois d'ambitions et de crainte qui souffie presentement sur les institutions educationelles du pays. Le deuxieme volume d'une serie d'etudes sur l'enseignement superieur au Canada, publiees sous les auspices de la Conference nationale des universites et colleges canadiens, arrive a son heure. Fruit d'une riche experience academique, le travail du docteur Thompson fourmille de renseignements precieux et d'observations dictees par une grande sagesse. « Grandeurs et miseres » de nos institutions de haut savoir, aurait bien pu en etre le titre. C'est une expression de satisfaction, d'espoir et ... d'inquietude. Satisfaction et 6erte, oui, devant tant de belles realisations accomplies par les ecoles des gradues des universites canadiennes au cours des demiers vingt ou trente ans! Quand on songe que le developpement de ces institutions s'est fait avec un retard considerable sur les ecoles analogues de nos voisins du sud, on ne peut qu' etre 6er du resultat d'un si bel effort. Message d'espoir, aussi, car la breve histoire de notre enseignement superieur comporte en son sein une garantie de vitalite et de stabilite pour l'avenir. Inquietude, en6n, devant les nombreuses difficultes parsemees sur le chemin de l'evolution future et la tache ardue de ceux qui en portent la responsabilite. C'est avec courage et une grande foi clans l'avenir que le docteur Thompson cristallise ses craintes et son experience clans d'admirables pages de critique saine et constructive.

viii

AVANT·PROPOS

Certes, les difficultes que l'on rencontre dans l'organisation des etudes superieures sont nombreuses et de taille. Manque d'uniformite dans les norm es et Jes programmes d'enseignement des diverses disciplines, insuffisance en nombre et en valeur des bourses d'etudes et de recherches, penurie de personnel enseignant qualifie, budgets trop faibles ou inexistants des ecoles des gradues, definition imprecise de leur statut dans le cadre universitaire, autorite reduite a la routine administrative des preposes a la direction, tels sont les principaux problemes qui taxeront les efforts de reorganisation et d'adaption aux exigences de l'heure. Si les problemes purement materiels peuvent etre resolus sans trop de heurts dans un pays riche, jeune et vigoureux, l'orientation future de I'enseignement superieur merite, par contre, de serieuses reflexions. Citons, a titre d'exemple, un probleme d'orientation qui, parmi beaucoup d'autres, parait etre d'une importance exceptionnelle: la preparation d'une maitrise doit-elle consister en une simple prolongation ou un complement des etudes au niveau du baccalaureat professionnel avec un programme surcharge de cours et de travaux pratiques, ou doit-elle etre une veritable etape preparatoire au doctorat permettant au candidat de developper sa curiosite scientifique et de s'entrainer a la pensee originale? D'une fa~on plus generale, Jes connaissances encyclopediques et la dexterite experimentale ont-elles preseance sur le developpement de la personnalite et l'acquisition d'une vaste culture generale? Attachons-nous trop d'importance au bagage de savoir dans une discipline scientifique donnee et pas assez a la primaute de I'esprit? Nos diplomes en sciences sont-ils suffisamment eveilles aux graves problemes qui agitent l'humanite? Ne conviendrait-il pas de leur donner egalement une bonne formation en philosophie sociale a.fin qu'ils puissent jouer un role utile parmi I'elite de la societe modeme? Les universites, dans ce siecle de l'automation, doivent-elles former des robots de la science ou des savants a forte personnalite et au large horizon? Le robot monstre qui, un jour, ira a la lune, sera-t-il con~ par un robot-pere ou par Ia substance grise d'un homme connaissant infiniment plus que Ia mecanique et I'electronique? Voila en quelques mots la nature des problemes academiques qui nous attendent au carrefour des opinions. L'immortel Pasteur a dit que Ia science n'a pas de patrie, mais que les hommes de sciences en ont une. Si le savant a une patrie a servir, il est aujourd'hui, plus que jamais, citoyen d'une societe universelle de plus en plus complexe et evoluee. L'homme de sciences sans formation

AVANT-PROPOS

ix

convenable dans les humanites et Jes sciences sociales n'a plus de droit de cite dans ce siecle qui exige plus que le vieux gabarit professionnel. Le moule dans I'education a tous Jes echelons doit etre proscrit parce qu'il tue la personnalite, il empoisonne la raison, il detruit la notion de sensibilite et de beaute. « Regardez le lis des champs > I Nous sommes trop portes au culte de la specialite et nous oublions trop facilement que l'universite est, au dessus des disciplines, une communaute d'esprit et de pensee au service de l'humanite. L'avenir appartient aux hommes de vaste culture, aux curieux de profession, car la curiosite stimule l'imagination et celle-ci catalyse l'action creatrice dans tous les domaines du savoir humain. On ne pourrait mieux presenter l'ouvrage de haute portee du docteur Thompson que par le mot celebre de Leon Daudet : « La culture, c'est ce qui reste quand on a tout oublie >.

Preface THIS STUDY of graduate work in the sciences in Canadian universities is one of several on higher education which have been commissioned by the National Conference of Canadian Universities and Colleges through its Committee on the History and Philosophy of Higher Education. On behalf of the Committee its chairman, Dean Frank Stiling of the University of Western Ontario, gave me the widest possible terms of reference, stipulating only that special attention be paid to the history of the subject. Accordingly the first four chapters are largely historical. Although the subjects of the remaining chapters do not lend themselves so readily to historical treatment, wherever possible developmental phases are described. The study is restricted to the sciences, both pure and applied, but much of the information and many of the conclusions are equally valid for the humanities and social subjects, because most of the developments, regulations, and practices are the same for all. In fact, many of the statistical records cannot now be broken down into scientific and non-scientific. A second restriction on the scope of the investigation is that it has been concerned almost entirely with graduate work which leads to an advanced degree and usually involves research. No attempt has been made to survey systematically the work of those who merely wish to supplement their undergraduate education in some respect and have no intention of proceeding to a degree; or of those whose aim is to improve their technical and professional competence through more experience and training, such as those taking "refresher" courses in medicine or becoming specialists in some phase of surgery. Courses of the latter type often lead to a diploma or to standing which is formally recognized in some other way, but it has been considered unwise to include them in this study. Graduate work of the kind which has been examined in this study is so closely bound up with research that it has frequently been necessary to include brief reviews of certain developments and activities in research. It was agreed, however, that no comprehensive examination of the research activities of Canadian universities should be attempted. Research has been considered only in its relation to graduate studies.

xii

PREFACE

The factual information presented in the following pages was obtained from a variety of sources. Much of it was secured through the usual device of a rather elaborate questionnaire which was sent to all deans of graduate schools, and to the chairmen of committees on graduate studies in those institutions which have no graduate schools, or to registrars. For information secured in this way as well as that from official calendars and from conversations with officials, no authorities are referred to in the text. I am very grateful to the deans, chairmen, and registrars who devoted a great deal of time and effort to answering the questionnaire; many of the questions involved long searches through records and compiling the results of the searches. Many of the officials were also good enough to write thoughtful and well-considered answers to questions involving matters of opinion. I have also had numerous conversations regarding graduate work in the sciences with deans, chairmen, presidents, and registrars, as well as with a large sample of faculty members, graduate students, and recently graduated Ph.D.'s. Information which does not get into formal records or regulations can be obtained in this way, but the conversations were useful chiefly in regard to matters of opinion, values, and attitudes. Fertile sources of printed information are the annual reports of university presidents ( which usually include reports of deans of graduate studies), official university calendars and announcements, the proceedings and other publications of the National Conference of Canadian Universities, the numerous educational publications of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, and the reports of the National Research Council. Some deans were good enough to send mimeographed copies of all the regulations of their institutions bearing on graduate work, and of directions to students. Several persons kindly made special studies for this report. Particular mention must be made of Mr. R. D. Mitchener, Chief of the Higher Education Section, Education Division of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Dr. J. B. Marshall, Awards Officer ( now Secretary) of the National Research Council, and Mrs. Barbara Orangers, Institute of International Education, New York. The study has been made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to the Canadian Universities Foundation.

Contents

FOREWORD AVANT-PROPOS

V

vii

PREFACE

xi

1. Beginnings

3

2. Institutions and Courses

10

3. Organization and Administration

21

4. Numbers

30

5. Migration

44

6. Regulations Governing Master's Programmes

50

7. Regulations Governing Doctoral Programmes

59

8. Finances

71

9. Student Aid

78

10. Subsequent Employment

91

11. New Developments

97

12. Assessment

99

INDEX

111

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES

1. Beginnings GRADUATE STUDY in the sciences began in Canadian universities on a very small scale and in haphazard fashion at the end of the last century. It was not the outcome of planning or even the unplanned outcome of any new policy, but simply resulted from the attraction of an occasional student to the work of the occasional research-minded member of the faculty. Graduate work as defined in this report is almost always associated with research, and its late birth and weak early development in Canada reflected the scarcity of activities in research at that time, a scarcity which can easily be documented. For example, in 1902 President Loudon of the University of Toronto in his presidential address to the Royal Society of Canada on "Universities and Research" contrasted the research activities of the universities of Germany, Britain, and the United States with those of Canada, and stated flatly: "Organized research in Canadian universities can scarcely be said to exist as yet, although within the last decade certain beginnings have been made which indicate a movement in that direction."1 The general academic attitude towards research and graduate study and the small part which they played in the life of the universities of the time are indicated by the fact that they are not even mentioned in the inaugural addresses of the presidents of the three largest universities who took office near the tum of the centuryFalconer of Toronto, Gordon of Queen's, and Peterson of McGill. During the first decade of the present century all graduate studies at the doctoral level and nearly all at the master's level were confined to two institutions, McGill University and the University of Toronto. At Queen's the M.A. did not become a graduate degree until 1919, having previously been awarded on the completion of an undergraduate honours course, but Queen's did confer an M.Sc. on an engineering student in 1906. The other central and eastern institutions of higher education rarely had a graduate student at that time, and the western universities only came into existence during that decade or, in the case of British Columbia, afterwards. Consequently a description of the situation at McGill and Toronto will cover nearly the whole of Canadian graduate studies of the time. I Proc.,

Roy. Soc. Can., Second Series, VIII ( 1902).

4

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN TIIE SCIENCES

The numbers of graduate students enrolled at McGill in the different subjects from 1906 to 1913 are shown in Table 1.1 and the numbers of graduate degrees actually conferred in Table 1.2. It will be observed: (a) that the number of students in M.Sc. courses in all the sciences taken together ranged from 13 to 44, and of Ph.D. students from 7 to 15, ( b) that the numbers of scientific and non-scientific students at the master's level were approximately equal, ( c) that nearly all the Ph.D. students were in the sciences, (d) that the number of Ph.D. degrees conferred averaged approximately one a year, although in some years none were conferred, and ( e) that at both the master's and the doctor's levels the science work was almost wholly confined to the basic sciences of the Faculty of Arts and Science, but also included some engineering. Perhaps it should also be pointed out ENROLMENT Degree M.Sc. Botany Chemistry Electricity Engineering Geology Mathematics Metallurgy Mining Physics Transportation Zoology Total M.A. Ph.D. Science Botany Chemistry Electricity Engineering Geology Physics Total Non-Science

OF

TABLE 1.11 GRADUATE SnmENTS AT McGILL, 1906-12

1906

1907

1910

1911

1912

3 2 2 2

3 3 2 5

5 3 10 8

1 9 5 11 6

2 5 1 2

2 4 2 2 1

2 8 6 11 6 1 2 3

1 1

1 2

I

1

13

34

36

43

44

20

35

35

47

49

1 5

1 5

1 5 1

1 1

1

1 2

8 1 1

7 2 1

I

1 1

4 1 1

7

8

8

10

1908

1909

1 4 3 8 4 2 3 3 5

1 4 1 11 7 2 2 2 3 1

17

33

10

19

5

1

2

2 1

2

5

3

8 1

15 1

13 1

lThe information given in this table was supplied by Mr. R. D. Mitchener, Chief of the Higher Education Section, Education Division of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, who kindly searched out and compiled the data.

5

BEGINNINGS

GRADUATE

Degree

TABLE 1.21 DEGREES CONFERRED BY McGILL, 1907-20

1907

1908

1909

2

2

1

2

2 1 3 1

1

1

1 1 3

M.Sc. Botany Chemistry Electricity Engineering Geology Mathematics Metallurgy Mining Physics Zoology

2

Total

6

7

6

7

M.A.

2

Ph.D. Botany Chemistry Geology Physics Total

1910

1911

1 2

1

1912

1913 to 1920

2 2

1 3 1 2 2

2 3

1 4 1

3 1

12

14

11

13

60

6

10

4

6

40

2 2 2

1 1

1

1 0

0

1

2

0

1

6

1The information given in this table was kindly supplied by Mr. R. D. Mitchener.

that the number of students in the individual subjects was so small that there could have been no organized class-room instruction at the graduate level, even if faculty members had thought it desirable, which is doubtful. The enrolment of graduate students in the various subjects at the University of Toronto in a typical year ( 1910-11) is shown in Table 1.3. In examining this table it should be noted that undergraduate students of the basic sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Science at Toronto received the B.A. degree, and if they proceeded to graduate study, entered a course leading to the M.A. It is evident that the situation at Toronto was in general similar to that at McGill. The differences were in the absence of engineering at Toronto, the somewhat smaller number of scientists at the doctoral level, and the greater number of non-scientific students at both levels. There were several reasons, besides the lack of research activities, for the late development and small scale of graduate work in Cana-

6

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

TABLE 1.3 ENROLMENT OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, 1910-11

M.A.

Ph.D.

4 6 1 1

Science Biology Chemistry Chemistry and Mineralogy Geology Mathematics and Physics Mineralogy Physics Physiology Total

5

3 11 1 1 1

5 22

24

Non-Science

89

7

111

31

Total

2 5

dian universities. The chief reason was that no need for it was felt. Few posts were available for which graduate training was a prerequisite. On the completion of an undergraduate course the student could go directly into his chosen field without further study. Any subsequent need for more advanced knowledge or skill could be met by self-directed effort. It was the immense growth of scientific knowledge later and the resulting complexities of all disciplines that made necessary a period of further study for many. An undergraduate course became insufficient for a student to master a discipline and to acquire adequate knowledge of cognate subjects. It should also be remembered that nearly all the older Canadian institutions of higher education were established during the nineteenth century as church colleges primarily for the purpose of educating the clergy, and that their students had little interest in advanced scientific study. It was only as other types of students increased in numbers and proportions and as staff were provided to meet their needs that more favourable conditions for graduate work in science developed, for both staff and students. In addition there were a number of practical and specific reasons for the tardiness of graduate development. The universities were perennially hard-up and graduate work has always been expensive. The limited staff that could be provided had all they could do in teaching undergraduates. Libraries and laboratories were inadequate

BEGINNINGS

7

for graduate study. There were scarcely any scholarships for the support of graduate students. Even now only a: small fraction of undergraduates proceed to graduate study, and the number of undergraduates in each institution at the beginning of the century was too small to provide a substantial number of graduate students. Although one can find little evidence of active antagonism towards graduate work on the part of teachers of undergraduates such as Berelson describes in American universities of a generation before,2 nevertheless there was little enthusiasm and much indifference. In fact, as late as 1934 Dean Brett of the University of Toronto in an address to the National Conference of Canadian Universities on the shortcomings of Canadian graduate work, expressed his strong conviction that even at that time few faculty members had become in any significant sense graduate-minded. 3 It should be remembered also that even early in the century the well-developed graduate schools of American universities were eager to attract Canadian graduate students and provided many good scholarships for them. Many Canadian faculty members were quite content to have their good students proceed to American universities, encouraged them to do so, and assisted them to secure American scholarships. And faculty members were eager to have their s·tudents go to British universities. At the 1916 meeting of the National Conference of Canadian Universities a resolution was passed calling upon British universities to improve their arrangements and to increase their facilities for Canadian graduates, and a committee of university presidents was set up to negotiate with the authorities of British universities for that purpose. By 1920 that committee was able to report that several British universities had acted on the Canadian request and had established Ph.D. programmes with regulations designed to meet the needs of overseas students. As Canadian universities other than Toronto and McGill one by one entered the graduate field, there was naturally considerable variation in the nature and quality of the work and in the regulations which were formulated to govern it, regulations concerning such matters as admission, residence, length of course, requirement of a thesis and of research, etc. Indeed the regulations frequently changed within individual institutions. They were often stated in general language leaving much scope for interpretation. But the variations were not so 2 B. Berelson, Graduate Education in the United States (New York: McGraw Hill, 1960). &Proceedings of National Conference of Canadian Universities, XVI ( 1934).

8

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

great as might have been expected, and a reasonable degree of uni· formity was reached sooner than might have seemed possible. In this respect the influence of the American graduate school was strongly felt. While Canadian graduate studies were still undeveloped or on a very small scale, the American graduate school had already taken on most of its permanent characteristics. It developed during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, beginning with Johns Hopkins in 1876, and by 1900 had settled most of its debatable issues. The length of the course, both master's and doctor's, the standards, the foreign language requirements, the major and minor requirements, the intermingling of undergraduate and graduate studies, the nature and importance of the thesis, the primacy of research, the dominance of the Ph.D., the general organization, the inclusion of all fields, basic and professional, in one administrative set-up-these and other matters had been the subjects of lively controversy. But by 1900 the pattern had been fairly well settled. It is true that when the Association of American Universities, which was organized in 1900, provided a forum for inter-university discussion many of these topics were debated at annual meetings and are still being discussed. But few fundamental changes have been made. The Canadian universities, arriving late on the scene as far as graduate studies were concerned, seem to have gone through few of these struggles, or at least have not recorded them. Apparently they adopted the American pattern with little change. Since many of their students wished to go to American graduate schools, some seeking advanced standing, and some were returning to join the Canadian faculties this was to be expected. Certainly the evidence indicates that there was very little Canadian inter-university debate on such problems. The National Conference of Canadian Universities was not organized until 1911 and its first meeting was devoted entirely to consideration of subjects to come before an approaching Congress of the Universities of the Empire. From 1915 when the second meeting was held, the programmes of the annual meetings provided for reports of a committee on graduate studies. But for many years neither those reports, nor the discussions of them, nor formal papers included any consideration of the nature or objectives of the graduate enterprise or of the regulations which should govern it. They were almost entirely restricted to ways and means of establishing and expanding graduate studies and providing facilities for them. Under the American influence the pattern of Canadian graduate studies was established rather quickly and effortlessly. Regulations

BEGINNINGS

9

became fairly uniform across the country, although of course variations remained and new ones arose from time to time and from place to place. Those which have persisted will be reviewed in later chapters. In one respect many Canadian faculty members and some universities refused for a long time to accept the American pattern. They disliked the more formal class-room instruction with examinations and grades and closely regulated supervised study which they regarded as a prolongation of undergraduate-type work. They maintained that graduate study should throw a student more on his own resources and force him to develop his capacity for independent work. One long and acrimonious debate in American graduate schools which seems not to have concerned Canadians was the contest between those who wished to adapt the graduate enterprise to training for college teaching through emphasis on breadth and on large, central, recognized issues, and those who wished the primary, timeconsuming emphasis to be on research and training in research methods and techniques. The debate still continues, but the latter view has largely prevailed, and has been accepted in Canada.

2. Institutions and Courses MASTER'S Woruc WE HAVE SEEN that graduate studies were confined almost entirely to McGill and Toronto during the first decade of this century. But one by one other universities began to enrol students in courses leading to the master's degree. 1 By 1927 there were sixteen, eleven of which offered courses in science subjects. Most institutions began by offering courses in only one or two sciences and enrolling very few students, but the number both of courses and of students increased gradually. By the end of World War II, fifteen institutions had master's students in one or more sciences, the aggregate enrolment reaching 750. At present twenty-two institutions are enrolling annually more than 1800 candidates for the master's degree in the sciences. For a long time most of the scientific graduate work was confined to the basic sciences but occasionally a faculty member initiated work in engineering or the pre-clinical subjects of medicine. During the second decade the four western universities began to give master's work in agriculture. The Ontario Agricultural College started such work in 1926. Many of the institutions had no professional schools or only one or two, but wherever a professional school was in existence it was likely to enter the graduate field, at least on a small scale. Throughout much of the first half of the century, therefore, the situation could be described broadly as follows: in addition to Toronto and McGill, many smaller universities offered master's work chiefly in the basic sciences but some of them also on a small scale in professional fields. If the masters wished to proceed to the doctorate or if new graduates wished to proceed directly from the undergraduate college to doctoral studies, and if they wished to remain in Canada, they enrolled at McGill or Toronto, except that after 1925 a few went to Queen's and one or two to Manitoba, and after 1928 FrenchlThe word "course" is used in two senses : (a) a whole programme of studies usually including several subjects, extending over several years, and leading to a degree or diploma, and ( b) a set of instructional exercises in a single subject usually of a few hours a week for one year ( or half-year). Hereafter in this report the word will be used in the first sense; when the second is intended the word "class" will be used.

INSTITUTIONS AND COURSES

11

speaking students could go to Laval. But large numbers went to American and fewer to European universities for doctoral studies. The member institutions of the National Conference of Canadian Universities and Colleges which are now carrying on graduate studies at the master's level in one or more sciences are shown in the list below. ( The names are arranged in alphabetical order of the distinctive words, such as Alberta, Memorial etc. In the rest of this report individual institutions will be designated by those distinctive words only, omitting "university" or "college.") Acadia University University of Alberta Assumption University of Windsor University of British Columbia Carleton University Dalhousie University Universite Laval McGill University McMaster University Mount Allison University University of Manitoba Memorial University of Newfoundland

Universite de Montreal University of New Brunswick Nova Scotia Technical College Ontario Agricultural College2 Ontario Veterinary College3 University of Ottawa Queen's University Saint Francis Xavier University University of Saskatchewan University of Toronto University of Waterloo University of Western Ontario

The following institutions are not at present carrying on graduate work in the sciences, although some of them offer master's courses in the humanities or social subjects. ( An asterisk indicates that the university concerned is not a member of the N.C.C.U.C.) Bishop's University Brandon College College Jean-de-Brebeuf King's College Laurentian University of Sudbury• Loyola College Marianopolis College Mount St. Vincent College Nova Scotia Agricultural College Osgoode Hall Law School• Royal Military College of Canada 2Through the University of Toronto.

Universite du Sacre-Creur 0 St. Dunstan's University Universite-Saint-Joseph U niversite-Saint-Louis • St. Mary's University St. Patrick's College• St. Thomas University• College Saint-Anne• Universite de Sherbrooke Sir George Williams University United College Waterloo Lutheran University a1bid.

12

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN TIIE SCIENCES

Most of the institutions in the first list have students actually enrolled for master's work in all the basic sciences, biology ( or botany and zoology), chemistry, geology, mathematics, and physics. Those lacking students in one or more of the basic sciences are Acadia, Assumption, Memorial, Mount Allison, Nova Scotia Technical College, Ontario Veterinary College, and Waterloo. At the great majority of institutions the degree awarded in those subjects is Master of Science, but at Saskatchewan and Toronto it is Master of Arts, and at Acadia and British Columbia it is either M.Sc. or M.A. depending on the bachelor's degree held. In some cases the degree is given in branches of the basic subjects, such as entomology at Alberta and Manitoba, or genetics or plant pathology at McGill. Institutions which have a particular professional school usually offer master's courses in a range of professional subjects taught in that school. For example, the four western universities which have schools of agriculture offer courses leading to the degree in subjects like agronomy or soil science. Such subjects and the institutions offering them are so numerous that no attempt is made to list them here. A particular subject may be called by different names in different institutions, for example agronomy or field husbandry. The designation of the degree in the same subject is often different in different institutions. Thus a graduate degree in agriculture is M.S.A. at British Columbia and Saskatchewan, but M.Sc. at Alberta and Manitoba. In engineering it may be Master of Science ( e.g., Queen's), Master of Applied Science ( British Columbia, Toronto), Master of Engineering ( McGill, McMaster, Saskatchewan). In medical subjects it may be Master of Arts (Toronto), Master of Science ( Alberta, McGill), Master of Science in Medicine for the basic medical sciences or Master of Clinical Science for the clinical subjects ( W estem Ontario). Some of the less common science subjects in which master's degrees are granted and the institutions granting them are as follows: Aerodynamics: Laval Agricultural Mechanics: British Columbia Architecture: British Columbia, Manitoba, McGill, Toronto Astronomy: Toronto Cancer Research: Saskatchewan Electrical Communications: McGill Engineering (Aeronautical): Carleton, Toronto Engineering (Forest): British Columbia, Laval

INSTITUTIONS AND COURSES

13

Engineering (Nuclear) : Ottawa Engineering (Petroleum): Alberta, Saskatchewan Food Chemistry: Toronto Forestry: British Columbia, Laval, New Brunswick, Toronto Home Economics: Alberta, Manitoba Household Science: Toronto Medical History: Western Ontario Meteorology: McGill Nutrition: McGill, Montreal, Toronto Parasitology: McGill Plant Ecology: Saskatchewan Public Health : Queen's, Toronto Public Health Nutrition : Toronto Veterinary Science: Ontario Veterinary College ( through Toronto) Apparently little if any restriction is placed on the authority of departments to offer courses leading to the master's degree. If they are required to secure permission from the faculty as a whole or from a committee before offering such courses ( as for the Ph.D. ) no examples were discovered of permission being withheld. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

The records of the National Conference of Canadian Universities show that early in the century the authorities of a number of universities were dissatisfied with the Ph.D. work being carried on at McGill and Toronto, to which their students would have to go for doctoral courses if they remained in Canada.4 It was their opinion that neither of those two institutions was properly equipped to offer doctoral work in ,a number of fields and that the quality of the work was not high enough. In this opinion they were joined by the authorities of McGill. Recognizing their own inability to carry on comprehensive doctoral work, the authorities of several universities began in 1916 a determined effort to devise a plan by which universities would pool their resources in order to provide more comprehensive coverage and to improve the quality of the work. This was an interesting and important episode in the history of graduate studies in Canada. At the 1916 meeting of the Conference a committee on graduate studies was instructed to consider a scheme for pooling university facilities, with 4Proceedings of the National Conference of Canadian Universities, 1916 et seq.

14

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

students moving to particular institutions for study in particular fields. From that year until 1922 the subject recurred regularly but little progress was made. It was realized that McGill and Toronto would have to carry most of the load and in fact, at one stage, those two universities were asked by the Conference to get together and produce a workable plan for their joint operation of a Ph.D. programme. They reported later, however, that such a plan was not feasible. Then in 1922 and 1923 formal papers were read on co-operative pooling arrangements, and extended debates were carried on. Three plans were considered: ( 1) A single national graduate school, to be located at Ottawa where there were good libraries and laboratories and many scholars in the government service. It was hoped that the federal government would permit those scholars to act as part-time teachers and directors of graduate research. All universities would support the school, even with money. ( 2) A national graduate study board, which would control all doctoral work wherever carried on. All universities would agree to submit to its regulations and directives. Some delegates would have placed master's work also under its jurisdiction. ( 3) A less formal co-operative and pooling arrangement in which individual universities would undertake Ph.D. work only in those fields in which they were specially well equipped in facilities and personnel, and would leave to other institutions the work in other fields. An over-all committee would make recommendations about the allocation of different subjects to different ins·titutions. ( Nothing was said about whether those recommendations would be binding.) Uniform standards would be adopted and uniform regulations formulated. Students could spend time at different institutions and carry their credits with them. Examinations would be conducted by external examiners. No agreement could be reached about any of these co-operative plans, and the effort was eventually abandoned except in a halfhearted way in relation to a single subject, agriculture. The western universities were to prepare a programme of requirements in the biological sciences fundamental to agriculture, and the biological departments of the central universities were to be called into conference to see if they could meet the requirements and work out a programme leading to the Ph.D. But nothing came of this proposal any more than of the larger ones. It appears to have been a sop to the western universities which were strongest in their pressure for the larger scheme. On later occasions the prairie universities carried on discussions among themselves in an effort to work out a co-operative

INST111JTIONS AND COURSES

15

arrangement in several fields involving only the western institutions. But these efforts also proved unsuccessful. Dissatisfaction persisted and broke out in an acrimonious debate at the 1929 meeting of the Conference when several complaints were aired. Among them were that neither Toronto nor McGill were properly equipped for doctoral work in several fields, that they had almost no scholarships to offer to graduate students, that they refused to give sufficient credit for undergraduate and master's work done elsewhere, that they were inconsistent in the credits which they did grant, and that many graduates of other universities had to spend a year marking time or repeating work which they had already covered. Whether or not the complaints were justified, the treatment of graduates of the smaller universities was in strong contrast to their reception by universities in the United States. The American graduate schools offered many valuable scholarships to Canadian students, granted them generous credits for work done in Canada, usually provided a much greater variety of programmes, and made Canadian students welcome in every possible way. Consequently large numbers of graduates were being attracted to American universities and being lost to Canada, and many Canadian faculty members were encouraging their students to go to the United States. The representatives of McGill and Toronto pleaded poverty, the expense of graduate work, and, in the matter of credits, the maintenance of standards. At the 1934 meeting of the Conference, Dean Brett of the University of Toronto maintained that there were really few posts for Ph.D.'s in Canada-too few to justify a large graduate enterprise. He confessed that Toronto and McGill did not regard doctoral work as an objective which they should strive for, but were rather having it forced upon them. They were, he said, employing a temporizing policy in the sense of encouraging graduate work by accepting suitable candidates and yet hoping to evade the liability which every graduate student created. While the demand for specialized instruction increased, the overworked teacher became steadily less a specialist. Dean Brett doubted whether many of the staff were in any significant sense graduateminded. On the contrary, in their hearts they felt that it was enough to give Canadians a good education and then to let them go to American or European universities for graduate study. Of course they did not like to advertise that attitude. As late as 1945 J. B. Brebner, a distinguished scholar of Canadian origin on the staff of Columbia University, wrote: "Advanced students in Canada have only three English-speaking universities (Toronto,

16

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN TIIE SCIENCES

McGill, and Queen's) which seriously attempt to provide staff and facilities for conclusive graduate work, that is, to the doctoral level, and these do so only in some areas. Canada does not possess a single fullyrounded graduate school. The result has been a steady movement south... .''5 This situation may have been a factor in leading other universities to start Ph.D. work as soon as they felt capable of doing so. The years in which doctoral programmes were organized in the different universities and those in which the first degrees were actually conferred are shown in Table 2.1. Although Queen's adopted formal regulations TABLE 2.1 DATES OF ORGANIZATION OF PH.D. WoRK AND OF THE FmsT AwARD OF THE DEGREE

Institution Queen's Toronto McGill Manitoba Laval Western Ontario Alberta British Columbia Saskatchewan McMaster New Brunswick Ottawa Dalhousie Carleton Waterloo Assumption

Formal organization

First award

1889 1897 1906 1925 1928 1944 1946 1948 1948 1949 1950 1955 1955 1959 1960 1960

1925 1902 1909 1928 1931 1947 1953 1950 1952 1951 1953 1958 1959 1961

governing the award of the Ph.D. as early as 1889, the degree was actually conferred there for the first time in 1925. In 1928 the University of Manitoba began to confer an occasional Ph.D. on the basis of distinguished published work and an oral examination, without organizing graduate classes and without the usual regulations regarding admission, etc. Until 1940 only five universities, including Laval, granted the Ph.D. In the second half of the decade of the 1940's, following World War II, the other three western universities as well as McMaster and Western Ontario began to offer doctoral work, mostly in the sciences. The launching of Ph.D. programmes by so many uni-

5J. B. Brebner, Scholarship for Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Social Science Research Council, 1945).

INSTITUTIONS AND COURSES

17

versities after the war reflects their growth in resources and in numbers of students, their increasing interest stimulated by the war in research and graduate work, their recognition of its importance to the nation, and their realization that work at the doctoral level must be carried on in order to recruit and retain the best staff. Since 1955 five other universities ( Ottawa, Dalhousie, Carleton, Waterloo, and Assumption) have announced doctoral programmes, and the three first named have actually conferred the degree. By 1961 seventeen universities were offering Ph.D. work in science and graduating nearly 200 students annually at that level. Most of the institutions which have launched their Ph.D. programmes since 1944 offer the work for the degree in only a limited number of disciplines, mostly scientific, in which they feel that they are specially well equipped, some in only two or three. Whether some of those institutions started Ph.D. work too soon, or in too many fields, may be a matter of opinion. One general trend in Ph.D. study which should be mentioned is the increasing amount which is of a professional nature. We have seen that nearly all the early candidates at McGill and Toronto were in the fundamental sciences. But both at the older institutions and at those which launched their programmes later an increasing number of candidates have been in agriculture, engineering, and medicine. Moreover, much of the work in the fundamental sciences has become professional in the sense of preparing men who go into industry and, in the case of biology, into agriculture. The pre-clinical subjects of medicine have largely been taken over by Ph.D's; few M.D.'s now join the staff of those departments of medical schools. This trend is deplored by those who feel that the Ph.D. should be reserved for pure learning and preparation for teaching and that a different degree or degrees should be awarded for professional types of work. Some are of the opinion that the kinds of study are too diverse to be covered by one degree and that the name of the degree should be related to the subject. In addition there is a fear that the work may lead only to professional qualifications. On the other hand, a serious and usually successful effort is made by professional faculties, at least in some institutions, to involve their Ph.D. candidates in basic research problems, students in strictly applied work being restricted to the master's degree. And much of the research in industry, carried on by Ph.D.'s, is now of the fundamental type. Moreover in a sense all Ph.D. work is professional-even that in the humanities-since it prepares men for the profession of university work. At any rate, the Ph.D.

18

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

degree is now so firmly entrenched in all fields that it is not likely to

be dislodged even though use of the term may seem illogical.

The scientific subjects in which the different universities offer courses leading to the Ph.D. are shown in Table 2.2 The subjects are TABLE 2.2 SCIENCE SUBJECTS IN WlDCH DOCTORAL COURSES ARE IN THE VARIOUS UNIVERSITIES ( 1960)

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19

INSTITUTIONS AND COURSES

TABLE 2.2 (continued) C:

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~ Fisheries Forestry Medicine Anatomy Bacteriology Biochemistry Biophysics Cancer Research Dentistry Hygiene Medicine Med. Expt'l. Med. Invest. Microbiology Neurolofo; Parasito ogy Pathology Path. Chem. Pharmacology Phbsiology Pu lie Health Veterinary Sc. Pharmacy

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designated as in the official announcements of the universities and in each case no doubt reflect the departmental organization of the institution in question. Therefore the table is not to be interpreted as meaning that the only institutions in which a Ph.D. course can be taken in certain divisions of larger disciplines are those marked with an asterisk. For example, courses in which the major subject is genetics are offered in several institutions other than British Columbia and McGill; a Ph.D. in entomology may be obtained at several universities besides Alberta, Laval, and Manitoba. The institutions marked with asterisks happen to have special departments in those subjects. In all institutions but one every department wishing to offer Ph.D. work must apply formally in writing for the privilege. The decision regarding the application may be made by the faculty as a whole or by the council, or by the executive committee. It is difficult to say how carefully the applications are considered, but several institutions report cases of rejection. Probably in some cases informal conversa-

20

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

tions are first held and applications are withheld if it is found that they are likely to be refused. At Toronto there is provision for withdrawal of the right to recommend candidates for the Ph.D., after investigation by a special committee, and this has been done. I have not been informed of instances of withdrawal at other universities. At present several institutions permit only a few of the stronger departments to offer Ph.D. work. Even so, the opinion is held in several institutions that others are offering the work in fields in which they are not properly qualified either in personnel or in facilities. Though they may have individual faculty members who are well qualified to direct the researches of Ph.D. candidates and may have adequate facilities in restricted areas, they lack the all-round development in other phases of the discipline necessary to give the candidate proper training and experience. And if a small and generally weak institution permits the training of Ph.D.'s in one area, by reason of the presence of one or a few strong men, it is not easy to deny the privilege to other departments. POST-DOCTORAL STUDY

The highest type of graduate work, post-doctoral study, was established on a regular basis in 1954 when the National Research Council made a considerable number of post-doctoral fellowships available to Canadian universities. The number of holders of the fellowships has now reached 90. The Council awards the fellowships on the nomination of the individual universities. Candidates from other countries indicate in their applications the university of their choice. The Council had previously awarded a large number of fellowships tenable in its own laboratories and continues to do so. The universities have almost no post-doctoral fellowships of their own to offer and many officials consider that this is a matter of some urgency. With the immense growth of knowledge and the increasing complexity of each discipline, a period of study after the doctorate has become desirable for many, just as at an earlier stage a period of study after the bachelor's degree became necessary.

3. Organization and Administration FROM UNDERGRADUATE FACULTY TO GRADUATE SCHOOL THE ORGANIZATION of the universities for supervising graduate studies and granting graduate degrees has undergone some interesting changes over the years. As might have been expected from the way in which the work originated, much of the supervision and control, as well as the stimulus, was provided at first in some places by the individual departments, the faculty as a whole talcing little part, although they formally approved the award of the degrees. Elsewhere the faculty as a whole took control from the beginning, drawing up regulations and exercising at least general supervision. In time this procedure was adopted everywhere. It should be emphasized that at this stage each of the individual schools or faculties which made up the university ( arts, science, medicine, etc. ) had full control of the graduate work in the disciplines taught in that school. Thus the faculty of agriculture controlled the M.S.A. as fully as the B.S.A. Many of the institutions had very few faculties or only one. Usually each faculty came to function with respect to its graduate work through a committee. The next step was the establishment of a university-wide board or committee on graduate studies which supervised the work in all faculties. This step was taken sooner or later at nearly every university which had more than one faculty active in graduate work. The committee regularized procedures and provided for uniformity in regulations and standards throughout the university. Such committees were set up at McGill in 1906, Alberta 1915, McMaster 1918, Saskatchewan 1922, Manitoba 1925, Queen's 1943, Ottawa and Carleton 1954. At Toronto a committee of the senate serving the same purposes had been established very early and functioned until 1915 when a Board of Graduate Studies was established. At the Ontario Agricultural College a conjoint committee of the College and the University of Toronto was established in 1926, previous to which no graduate work had been carried on. The composition of the committee on graduate studies varied from place to place: it might include only deans or heads of departments or the men most actively engaged in graduate work or representatives of all these categories. The method of selection also

22

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN 1llE SCIENCES

varied: membership might depend on the office held or election by the whole staff or by departmental colleagues, or appointment by senate or president. As the number of faculties and departments offering graduate work increased, as the work within departments became more diversified, and as the number of graduate students multiplied, most of the larger universities took the next step and established an autonomous faculty of graduate studies on an equal footing with the other faculties in the university. It has its own dean or director and is responsible for the graduate work in all departments, no matter what the undergraduate affiliations of the departments may be. This body is usually called a faculty but in some institutions a school (Alberta, Toronto, New Brunswick) or college (Saskatchewan) .1 A UTIIORITY

AND RESPONSIBILITY

The university-wide committee on graduate studies was not established without misgivings on the part of many faculty members and the active opposition of some, opposition which was renewed when the faculty of graduate studies was established. The argument was that the staff of any one school ( arts, science, agriculture, etc.) was better qualified to supervise graduate work in the disciplines of that school than a body of representatives from all fields, each of whom was unlikely to be an expert in any field but his own and possibly not interested in any other. Although nowadays little is said publicly about these misgivings, they have not been entirely allayed as anyone who talks to many faculty members about graduate studies will discover. The opinion is widespread that certain weaknesses in the administration of graduate work are only to be expected in an organization with so many diverse constituent parts, fundamental and applied, academic and professional, scientific and humanistic, traditional and recent. That opinion is in part responsible for the fact that graduate schools have not yet been established by some large universities which carry on a good deal of diversified graduate work, and that one or two others, although they have established graduate schools, have nevertheless left much authority and responsibility for graduate work in the hands of other faculties. IThe word faculty is used in two senses in Oanada : (a) to designate a main division of the university, the whole enterprise including staff and students, and ( b) to designate the teaching staff only. To avoid confusion it will be used in these pages in the second sense, as indicating the staff. When the whole division is meant the word "school" will be used.

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

23

The location of authority and responsibility is a difficult problem

in such advanced work. It is a problem of reconciling departmental

autonomy with over-all direction. Scholars in one discipline are not likely to look with favour on sharing with scholars in other disciplines their authority in many phases of the work of their graduate students, such as readiness for admission, nature of the work, research content, standards, who shall receive the degree, and so on. A department or section of a department or even an individual may demand full autonomy. And the demand is defensible because in such advanced and highly specialized work no one else knows so well what should be done. But autonomy of department or group or school has its faults. It would be a unique university which shows no unevenness among departments or sections in quality, achievements, and standards. Unevenness among departments is in fact incorporated in official announcements of some universities, for example with respect to the research content of a master's course. Different men who may be of equal or comparable scholarly attainments may be very unequal in the soundness of their judgment in making practical decisions or in promulgating general regulations. Complete autonomy may be unfair to individual students because of personal antipathies or likings. The impression cannot be avoided that at least in some places and to some extent the university-wide committee and the graduate school were established not because of inherent virtues but because of doubt about the competence of some divisions in relation to graduate work ( or conviction of incompetence) and of doubt about the standards which they would maintain. It may therefore be asked whether the best organization for strong departments was discarded because of the weakness of others or for administrative convenience and tidiness or because the organization had become fashionable elsewhere. In a sense the graduate school represents an attempt to get around the autonomy which should be confided to groups or individual scholars. It could establish general rules to which all must conform and could bring about some degree of uniformity in practices and standards. Individuals could be kept in line by bringing to bear on them the judgment of others in particular situations. But the school can influence departments or groups or individuals only in a general way, and to a limited extent, if they are given the autonomy which they think they should have. And to the extent that they are given that autonomy the rest of the apparatus of the graduate school becomes largely superfluous. Although decisions may nominally

24

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

be made by the staff of the school or its committees or officers, in practice they are in most cases actually made by the departments and only ratified by the school. They come to the staff in the form of recommendations which few members are in a position to question or perhaps even to understand. Many members end by approving automatically the recommendations which come before them. Administration of the graduate school is therefore different from that of other divisions of the university. In a sense the school is an association of small diverse schools detached from their natural affiliations and held together loosely by the prestige of research and graduate degrees. This general situation is associated with and in part responsible for the relatively weak position of the dean of graduate studies. He has nothing to do at any university with the business of the departments, even that part concerned with graduate work. Although all but two of the universities which have a graduate school have a budget for it, that budget includes only an appropriate proportion of the dean's salary and that of his secretary and his office expenses ( in one instance also certain scholarships). The bulk of the expenditure for graduate work is provided for in other budgets. The dean takes no part in decisions about establishing new posts or in recruiting staff or in promotions or salary increases. It is true that he is usually free to consult directly members of other faculties regarding academic matters, but if he is wise he will in some places approach them through the officers of those faculties-a procedure which he must follow in one institution. Participation in budget making and in appointments and promotions enables other deans to exert powerful influences. But in respect to graduate studies departments look, not to the dean of graduate studies, but to those other deans for securing facilities and for recruiting and promoting staff. The dean of graduate studies is therefore severely handicapped. He can secure his results only through persuasion. To a large extent his duties consist of approving recommendations of others. Yet nominally he bears the chief responsibility for securing some of the most difficult objectives in higher education. The wealmess of his position is not due entirely to the fact that the graduate school was the last on the scene and has not yet succeeded in taking enough authority away from other schools, but rather to incompatible arrangements in the general organization. Universities should seriously consider two ways of dealing with this general situation. One is to strengthen the position of the dean and faculty of graduate studies so that they can really function like those of other schools. The other-and to some extent converse-action is to

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

25

return much authority and responsibility to the other faculties who are much more expert on most of the real problems involved. In the latter case the faculty of graduate studies would function only in connection with the most general, over-all issues. EXISTING SCHOOLS OF GRADUATE Snmms

The institutions which have established schools of graduate studies and the dates of establishment of the schools are as follows:

McGill Toronto Laval Saskatchewan Western Ontario British Columbia Dalhousie

1922 1922 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949

Manitoba New Brunswick Alberta McMaster Assumption Carleton Waterloo

1949 1951 1957 1957 1960 1960 1960

The Ecole des Gradues which Laval set up in 1939 was for the sciences only but in the following year it was expanded to include all disciplines. With the exception of the schools at McGill, Toronto, and Laval, all were set up after World War II, in most cases at the same time as the decision was made to offer work leading to the doctorate. Members of the N.C.C.U.C. which are carrying on graduate work in the sciences but have not established graduate schools are as follows: Acadia Memorial Montreal Mount Allison Nova Scotia Technical College Ontario Agricultural College2 Ontario Veterinary College3 Ottawa Queen's St. Francis Xavier J,t will be observed that this group is by no means restricted to the smaller institutions with narrow offerings. For example, Montreal, 2Graduate work supervised by School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto.

a1bld.

26

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

Queen's, and Ottawa are larger and offer more comprehensive sets of graduate courses than some of those which have graduate schools. Three of the institutions have only one faculty: Nova Scotia Technical College, Ontario Agricultural College, and Ontario Veterinary College. At most of these institutions the direction of graduate work is in the hands of a committee composed of representatives from different divisions of the university. An exception is the University of Montreal where graduate work remains the responsibility of the individual undergraduate faculties. At the others the membership of the committee on graduate studies is as follows: Acadia: seven, elected by the staff from the major departments carrying on graduate instruction; Memorial: president, dean of arts and science, five members with research interests nominated by the faculty; Ottawa: fourteen heads of departments; and Queen's: (a) ex officio: administrative officers and two research professors; ( b) elective: four representatives of each of the faculties of arts, science, applied science, and medicine.

Staffs The schools of graduate studies may be divided roughly into two general groups on the basis of the inclusiveness of their faculties. In the first group all or nearly all members of all other faculties who are directing graduate students are included. Schools in this group usually have a large "council'' which directs the affairs of the school; the staff as a whole may never or rarely meet. In the second group the membership is more restricted and is selected from the general staff of the university under regulations which usually provide for both ex officio members and those elected on the basis of their activity in graduate work. The faculty as a whole functions like the council of the other group. Schools in the first group are Alberta, Assumption, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Toronto, and Waterloo. British Columbia and Manitoba include all heads of departments whether or not they are engaged in graduate work. Procedure for choosing the council is quite variable. Members may be selected by dean or president and formally approved by the Board of Governors; they may be chosen by the council itself or its executive with or without the recommendation of department heads; some of them may be elected. The organization at the University of Toronto is more complicated than elsewhere. There the faculty council is a body of approximately 100 and includes the president, dean, two associate deans, and members of the faculty "constantly and extensively engaged in graduate

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

21

instruction up to the number for each department decided by the executive." The council determines the list of graduate departments, whose membership may or may not be the same as that of corresponding undergraduate departments; in fact even the heads are different in one-fifth of the cases. Each head nominates to the executive of the council those persons to be members of the department and those to be members of the council. Each department represented on the council may have from one to six representatives who are nominated by the head, recommended by the President, and formally appointed by the Board of Governors. The staff as a whole never meet. Toronto is alone in having the faculty divided into two sections, one for the sciences and one for the humanities and social subjects, each section having an associate dean. The second group ( of more restricted membership) includes Dalhousie, Laval, McGill, McMaster, Saskatchewan, and Western Ontario. At Saskatchewan, for example, the faculty consists of the president, all deans, all heads of departments offering work leading to graduate degrees, one other member of each department which had graduate students in the previous year ( elected by the members of the department), and up to five members at large nominated by the executive and elected by the faculty. McMaster leaves out the heads and increases the number of other representatives. McGill has a faculty of 90 who are appointed by the Committee on Research. At Dalhousie the head and one other member of "certain" departments are included. At Laval membership in the Ecole des Gradues is on the basis of qualifications, including publications and the actual instruction of graduate students. The affairs of the school are directed by a council composed of the rector of the university, the director of the school, the deans of the various faculties, the secretary-general of the university, the secretary of the school, and the secretary of the graduate committee of each discipline. The various faculties have retained much more authority with respect to graduate work than in English universities. The number of members of the staff who are engaged exclusively in research and the direction of graduate studies is very small. There are none at Alberta, Assumption, Laval, Toronto, or Western Ontario. There are a few in the Faculty of Medicine at British Columbia and Dalhousie, although at the latter they are not members of the school of graduate studies. McMaster has four, all attached to its atomic energy project. Saskatchewan has a few in its special research institutes ( Upper Atmospheric Research and Cancer Research). McGill

28

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

has several, O.A.C. thirteen, and Manitoba fifteen. The percentage of the total permanent staff in the sciences who devote their efforts exclusively to research, including the direction of that of graduate students, varies from none to five. The only universities in which staff members are formally designated "research professors" are British Columbia, Manitoba, and Queen's. Several deans of graduate studies stated that the formal designation of staff members as research professors is contrary to the policy of their institutions, since it is expected that all or nearly all professors will be engaged in research.

Committees Much of the administrative work is done through committees. The one with the most general duties is the executive which is in existence at eight of the schools and which may be a committee of the whole staff or of council. Where the staff or council is small an executive may not be needed. It usually includes some ex officio members and some elected by faculty or council. At McGill it is called the Research Committee. At Toronto its membership consists of the president, dean, two associate deans, four representatives from Division 1 (humanities and social subjects) and four from Division 2 (sciences). Saskatchewan has a committee in general charge of Ph.D. work as distinct from master's work, and Toronto has two such Ph.D. committees, one for each division of the school. Some schools have a "committee on studies" which appears to deal with the more strictly academic details. At all universities for which the information was available, except Laval, a committee is specially named to direct the work of each Ph.D. candidate and at most the work of each master's candidate. At Laval there is a single committee for all candidates in each discipline, the scientific ones being for agriculture, biology, chemistry, geology, physics and mathematics, medicine, physiology, and biochemistry. Institutes Finally, a number of "institutes" devoted to research have been established, most since World War II. They are commonly associated with one or more university departments and members of their staffs are also at least part-time members of the university staff. But there are various degrees of integration of the institutes into the university organization. They may be almost completely separate and independent in staff, financial support, and functions. At the opposite

ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

29

extreme they may be in almost all respects like a department of the university. Between these extremes are gradations. Examples of such bodies are the Institutes of Parasitology and Cellulose Chemistry at McGill, Oceanography and Fisheries at British Columbia, Cancer Research, Upper Atmospheric Studies, and Northern Studies at Saskatchewan. For some types of research, such as those requiring the collaboration of men from diHerent disciplines, the institute form of organization has certain advantages in securing support and meeting problems encountered in university organization, particularly where traditions of inter-departmental collaboration do not exist. They are important in relation to graduate studies because some graduate students usually carry on their researches under the direction of members of the institute's staff.

4. Numbers CLASSIFICATION IN ANY CONSIDERATION of the numbers of graduate students, whether in different institutions or courses or at different dates, it is necessary to keep in mind that the classification may be different in different institutions, and that therefore reports of numbers may not be strictly comparable. The chief groups are as follows: those who have met all admission requirements and have been accepted as candidates for a graduate degree; those who have received a bachelor's degree and are seeking a graduate degree but have not met all requirements for admission as candidates and who may or may not be placed formally in a qualifying year; those who wish to supplement their undergraduate education but have no intention of proceeding to a graduate degree; those who wish to improve their professional or technical competence through further experience and training, and are taking courses which require a bachelor's degree for admission and may lead to a diploma but are not equivalent to degree courses. Some institutions regard all four groups as graduate students, some only the first, and some include one or two of the other groups. In the following pages only the first two groups will be considered. GENERAL GROWTH IN NUMBERS

DURING

THE CENTURY

The increase in the numbers of graduate students in all disciplines in all Canadian universities between 1910 and 1960 is shown by tenyear intervals in Table 4.1, as is the increase in the number of degrees of various kinds actually conferred. It is unfortunate that the figures of enrolment cannot be broken down into scientific and non-scientific but the necessary information is not available for most years. It may be assumed, however, that approximately half the students were in the sciences. As noted in chapter 1, that was true in 1910; and in 1950 48 per cent of the master's degrees and 59 per cent of the doctorates were conferred in the natural and applied sciences. By 1959 the percentage of scientific Ph.D.'s had risen to 65. Table 4.1 may give the impression that non-scientists largely outnumbered scientists because

31

NUMBERS

more Master of Arts degrees were conferred than Master of Science. But in some universities students of the basic sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Science were ( and are) awarded the B.A. and if they proceeded to graduate study, entered M.A. courses. TABLE 4.1 TOTAL GRADUATE ENROLMENT AND DEGREES CONFERRED IN CANADIAN UNIVERSITIESl

1910-11 1920-21 1930-31 1940-41 1950-51 1959-60 Enrolment Degrees conferred Master of Arts2 Master of Science3 Licentiate4 Doctorate6

328

423

1350

1569

4559

49 13

147 30 41 24

274 93 91 46

258 118 211 75

704 508 352 202

na 5

0

5234 (1958-59) 1012 463 213 284

from the series published by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Biennial Surveys of Higher Education (Ottawa: King's Printer). 2 Includes basic sciences in some universities; also commerce and education. 3Jncludes M.A.Sc., M.S.A., M.Sc.F., etc. 4Follows bachelor in French universities; does not include theology or first professional degree. 5 Not available. 6Ph.D. and D.Sc., not medicine, dentistry, and so on, or honorary degrees. 1 Data

It may be observed in Table 4.1 that the total number of graduate students multiplied by 16 between 1910 and 1960, from 328 to 5234, that the number of M.Sc. degrees multiplied by 36, from 13 to 463, and that the number of earned doctorates ( excluding first professional degrees) increased from none to 284. It may also be observed that there was an especially large increase ( 300 per cent) between 1920 and 1930, a marked slowing down in the thirties ( in fact a decrease in the M.A.'s), and another large upsurge in the forties mostly, of course, following World War II. Several factors influenced the growth in numbers of graduate students. The most important was the general growth of all Canadian universities. The larger the number of undergraduates, the larger the number who are likely to go on to graduate study. The total and graduate enrolments and the relation between them are shown by decades from 1920 to 1960 in Table 4.2. Even if the ratio of graduate students to undergraduate had remained the same over the decades, there would have been a very large increase in the number of those taking graduate work. But actually the percentage of graduate students in the total university population increased from 1.8 in 1920 to 6.6 in

32

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

TABLE 4.2 NUMBER OF GRADUATE STUDENTS IN RELATION TO TOTAL UNIVERSITY ENROLMENT 1920 TO 19601

1920-21 1930-31 1940-41 1950-51 1959--60

Total

Graduate

Percent graduate

23214 32926 36319 68595 100162

423 1350 1569 4559 5234

4.1 4.3 6.6

1.8

5.2

1Data from D.B.S., Survey of Higher Education 1948-50 and Fall Enrolment in Universities and Colleges, 1959.

1950. It has decreased to 5.2 during the last decade ( up to 1959-60) chiefly as a result of the great influx of undergraduates who have not yet reached the graduate stage. If the percentage of graduates in the total had remained the same as in 1930 ( 4.1) the number of graduate students in 1959-60 would have been 4100 instead of 5200. Another important general factor in the growth of graduate study was the increasing recognition of the need for it. The immense accumulation of scientific knowledge during the century and the resulting complexities in every discipline have made a further period of study necessary for many. It is no longer possible to master a discipline in an undergraduate course and to acquire adequate knowledge of cognate fields. The demand for persons with advanced knowledge and specialized training continues to grow with the increasing complexities of a scientific age. Graduate degrees are now a necessary qualification for many posts not only in universities but in government service, industry, and the professions. The best students realize that they must have the additional training in order to make the best careers of which they are capable. In addition to the general growth of the universities and the increasing demand for persons with graduate training there were a number of special factors. One of the early factors increasing the number of science students was the establishment of the National Research Council in 1917. Soon after it was founded the Council conducted a survey of Canadian research resources in both personnel and facilities. The deficiencies revealed were so great that the Council adopted the policy of giving priority to the training of research personnel through a system of graduate scholarships and of supporting those faculty members who were active in research through a system of grants-in-aid. The effects of the scholarships and of the provision of

33

NUMBERS

assistantships under the grants became evident in the substantial increase in the number of graduate students in science during the 1920's. A very large proportion of the present scientific staffs of Canadian universities were enabled to secure their graduate training through N.R.C. scholarships. Not only did many more well-trained men become available but a change also took place in the general attitude towards research as reflected in the emphasis placed on it in the making of appointments and promotions in university staffs. This had an important effect on the growth of graduate work. Another important factor was the founding of the four western universities early in the century and their great growth. Although they confined their efforts to master's work until after World War II, and at first master's students were few, the work expanded gradually. In 1921 they conferred five M.Sc. degrees; by 1950 the number had risen to 417. During the 1930's growth of graduate work in science was retarded by the economic depression, graduate work being very expensive in the amount of space required, in equipment, in the time of teachers and in library facilities. In fact, the increase in the percentage of graduate students in the total enrolment during that decade was very small-from 4.1 to 4.7. Universities were fortunate if they could mark time in graduate studies during that decade. But since World War II there has been great expansion, not only because much more money has .been available but also because the potentialities of graduate work and research in science were made clear to everyone during the war. DETAILS OF GROWTH SINCE WORLD \VAR

II

The increase in numbers of graduate students in science since World War II and the details of present enrolments are shown in Tables 4.3 to 4.8. The year 1946-47 was selected for these tables as the first full year after the war and the year 1949-50 because it was a decade before the latest year ( 1959-60) for which figures were available at the time of writing. The data from which these tables were compiled were supplied by deans of graduate studies, chairmen of commiltees on graduate studies, or registrars. Table 4.3 shows that the number of science students at the master's level has grown from approximately 750 to 1850 since the war. It also shows that seven institutions have started to give the master's degree during the period. These are naturally smaller institutions whose numbers do not greatly affect the total enrolment. Twenty~two

34

GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES

TABLE

4.3

NUMBER OF GRADUATE STUDENTS REGISTERED IN THE SCIENCES IN DIFFERENT UNIVERSITIES IN THREE RECENT YEARS

Acadia Alberta Assumption B.C. Carleton Dalhousie Laval McGill McMaster Manitoba Memorial Montreal N.B. N.S.T.C. O.A.C. Ottawa

o.v.c.

Queen's Saskatchewan Toronto Waterloo Western Total lFigure is for 2Jbid.

Master

Ph.D.

1946-47 1949-50 1959-60

1946-47 1949-50 1959-60

4 75 0 123 0 30 17 187 7 34 0

5 104 0 202 0 30 32 255 34 76 0

7

10 3

na

0

28

na

38

0 32 24 189 0

0 0 45 62 323 0

757

1219

0

na

na

3 128 12 243 7 18 60 278 54 165 17 91 1 40 12 62 30 18 106 129 305 20 54 1852

0 0 0 0 0

0 25 123 0 1 0

na

0 0

0

0

0 0

20

0

0 46 169 2 3 0 na

0

0 0 0

0

86 0 109 4

3 36 296 42 35 0 4()2 18 0 0

35

0 0 0 0 138 0

0 2 4 195 0 na

25 49 186 0 49

287

441

1013

na

0

1960-61.

institutions now grant the master's degree in one or more sciences. Formerly nearly all students who were proceeding to the doctorate took the master's degree early in the doctoral course but there has been a growing tendency for such students to omit the lower degree and not to register in the course leading to it. Otherwise enrolment at the master's level would have increased still more. Table 4.3 also shows that there has been a much greater proportionate increase in the number of doctoral candidates, which now stands at more than 1000. The most striking feature of this portion of the table is the large number of candidates in institutions which were not granting the doctorate at all at the end of the war. This decentralization of doctoral work can be observed particularly in connection with the three westernmost universities, McMaster, New Brunswick, Ottawa, and Wes·t ern Ontario. Manitoba and Queen's may be con-

NUMBERS

35

sidered in the same group because their pre-war candidates were very few. Several of these institutions now have quite substantial bodies of graduate students-enough to provide good graduate schools. In 194647 more than 90 per cent of the Ph.D. students in science were attending McGill or Toronto, whereas at present less than 50 per cent are at those two institutions. In Table 4.4 the enrolment of the master's level in each university in 1959-60 is broken down according to the major subjects. For each institution the classification is that of the institution itself, except that in a few cases categories have been combined. For example, those listed by the institution in genetics have been placed in biology, and those in geophysics have been placed in geology. No doubt some who have been placed in botany or zoology by some institutions would be placed in biology by others. Those listed under medicine were chiefly in the basic medical sciences ( anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, bacteriology, pharmacology) but in certain universities there are a considerable number of candidates in the clinical subjects at the master's level. A similar breakdown of present enrolment at the doctoral level is given in Table 4.5. It will be observed that several of the seventeen institutions which offer work at this level confine their efforts to one or a very few subjects. No doubt these are the subjects in which the institutions feel that they are best qualified in personnel and equipment. The numbers in the basic sciences ( chemistry 257, physics 146, biology 142, geology 71) may be regarded as satisfactory, but the 53 in mathematics are too few to meet the needs. In many cases students listed under one of the applied sciences ( agriculture, engineering, medicine) could no doubt have been placed in one of the basic sciences, since in most institutions an effort is made to select thesis subjects which involve fundamental problems. However, the students are classified according to the departmental organization of the institution. Since these tables were compiled the National Research Council has published a list of graduate students in science enrolled in Canadian universities in 196~1 ( the year following the last one dealt with in the present report) and has summarized the numbers in the different subjects in the different institutions. 1 That publication also gives the lList of Students Registered in the Graduate Schools of Canadian Universities in Physical Sciences, Engineering, and Biological Sciences, 1960-1 ( Ottawa: National Research Council, Division of Administration and Awards, December 1960).

TABLE 4.4 NUMBER OF MASTER'S STUDENTS IN DIFFERENT SCIENCES IN THE DffFERENT UNIVERSITIES IN 1959-60

~

.s .s r:Q Acadia Alberta Assumption B.C. Carleton Dalhousie Laval McGill

McMaster Manitoba Memorial Montreal2 N.B. N.S.T.C. O.A.C. Ottawa O.V.C. Queen's Saskatchewan Toronto Waterloo Western Total

2

.f! 0

r:Q

1 1 3

14 1

16 6

4

7 5 4

2

6 14

4

-~5's

>. ,..c:

u

c.,

Cl)

,..c:

13 9 29 1 2 1 16 12 17 2 10 3

9

1 8

3

16

7

18 14

4

7

a.. ~

bO

0

Cl)

"' :c t)

~ 0 0Cl) c.,

2 15 5

22 5 23

11

15 2 2 2 36 12 10 5 9

13 10 14 144

-61 -50 -179 -66 -161

s"' Cl)

-:S ::E"'

f

"' .$:l "'>. ,..c: 0-t

~

J

6 2 31

5 1

12 1 29 1 6 9 22 13 7 3 13 2

3

2 6

4

11

2

3 11

3 14 3 4

3 3 16 11

25 35 2 13

-80 212 -

4 3

.5...

·;:::

.5

"30

bO

bO

i::