Bryan Gopaul

The Part-Time Doctoral Student Experience

Although scholarly interest in doctoral education has increased dramatically over the last two decades, much of this attention has focused on the experiences of doctoral students who are enrolled full-time in their programs. This study explored the experiences of 10 part-time doctoral students in different disciplines. Through semi-structured interviews with these students, we found that many of the issues surrounding these part-time doctoral students involved concerns related to balance, support, and fitting the mold of a “traditional” doctoral student. Importantly, while some of these issues are consistent with the experiences of full-time doctoral students, the experiences of part-time doctoral students are more complicated and required sustained and flexible efforts to adequately address. We conclude by suggesting both institutional and empirical efforts to better understand the complicated experiences of part-time doctoral students as well as to develop multi-faceted initiatives to support the experiences of this growing doctoral student population.

Distinction in Doctoral Education: Using Bourdieu's Tools to Assess the Socialization of Doctoral Students

This conceptual article uses the tools of Pierre Bourdieu (1977, 1986, 1990) to examine the socialization of doctoral students by suggesting that the processes of doctoral study highlight inequities among students. Using Youngs (1990) social justice approach as a framework to complement the ideas of Bourdieu, I demonstrate how aspects of academic work, which tend to socialize doctoral students, also operate as mechanisms to create or maintain inequities within doctoral education. I conclude by suggesting specific strategies that contribute to a more diversified conception of socialization and achievement in doctoral education.

Promoting Human Capital Development: A Typology of International Scholarship Programs in Higher Education

This article sheds light on the availability and characteristics of international scholarship programs that are sponsored by national and federal governments worldwide and that are intended to promote student mobility. Utilizing descriptive and cluster analyses, the article produces a framework for organizing the population of these programs. The analyses take into account both the central characteristics of programs and economic and political characteristics of the nations sponsoring the program. The typology produced in this analysis may be used by policy makers and researchers to facilitate cross-national comparisons of program design, implementation, and outcomes.

Doctoral Education and the Global University: Student Mobility, Hierarchy, and Canadian Government Policy

This chapter focuses on (1) the changing role of doctoral education (and the doctoral student) in the context of the global university and (2) the role of government funding policies in these changes. The repositioning of the research university as a central institution within the “knowledge economy,” the increasing use of research outputs as the primary inputs to global rankings, and the complex pressures associated with globalization all suggest major changes in the role and positioning of doctoral education in major research universities. These changes include the rise of Mode 2 knowledge— that is, knowledge produced in collaboration with parties outside the university—in the context of doctoral research, the increased corn-modification of knowledge and education, and a shift in emphasis toward doctoral programs in science and technology. Our analysis of recent policies and trends in Canadian higher education suggests that there are national nuances to these global trends. Doctoral education continues to be defined in national terms, and, given the heavy dependence of doctoral programs on research funds, these programs are influenced by national research policies and funding priorities. We begin this chapter with a historical review of federal government policies related to doctoral education in Canada.

Teaching, Research, and the Canadian Professoriate

This chapter focuses on academic work in the context of Canadian higher education, with a particular emphasis on exploring the balance between teaching and research. As noted in previous chapters in this volume, Canada can be categorized as a semi-core system that has been strongly influenced by what Ben-David (1977) has referred to as the core systems in the historical development of higher education. In the Canadian case, these historical influences began with its colonial ties to France and Great Britain, but there is little doubt that the greatest core influence on the development of the Canadian system has been its American neighbor to the south.

Applying cultural capital and field to doctoral student socialization

Purpose Although the production of a dissertation and the transition to an independent researcher undergird the outcomes of doctoral education, this study aims to emphasize issues of inequality in doctoral study through the use of Bourdieu’s (1977, 1986) concepts of cultural capital and field. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study with 15 doctoral students in Engineering and in Philosophy revealed that activities in doctoral study that tend to socialize students possess value, given the conventions of various contexts or social spaces related to academe. Findings Doctoral students who attain particular accomplishments experience doctoral study in ways that suggest that doctoral study is a system of conventions and norms that imbue particular activities with value, which then impact students’ doctoral education experiences. Originality/value Inequality is tied to students’ portfolio of achievements, as the value of these achievements suggests differential socialization experiences, such that different students learn about the norms and practices within doctoral study in different ways.