[A closer look] Aggressive recruiting effort set back
By Adrienne Lynett
March 8, 2005 9:00 p.m.
Last year’s drop in graduate enrollment at the University
of California will either be reversed or repeated by students
currently deciding where to attend graduate school.
Graduate student enrollment at the UC has increased steadily
over the past several years but was interrupted last year.
Past increases were largely due to the efforts of a commission
charged by the UC Office of the President to increase graduate
enrollment and support at the UC.
Years of stagnancy in graduate enrollment, in contrast to an
ever-growing undergraduate class, prompted UCOP to establish a
commission in 2001 called the Commission on Growth and Support of
Graduate Education.
The commission was charged with submitting recommendations for
increasing graduate and professional student enrollment and
improving academic and financial support.
“The commission set forth 10 recommendations,” most
of which were related to financial support, said Ami Zusman,
coordinator of graduate education planning and analysis for
UCOP.
The main goal set by the commission was to increase graduate
student enrollment at the UC by 1,000 students per year.
“That goal was met until the current year,” Zusman
said. She attributes the drop in enrollment to the state’s
financial constraints.
“Unfortunately, because of state and federal budget
issues, we haven’t been able to move forward,” Zusman
said.
The drop in enrollment demonstrated a need to reinvigorate
UCOP’s efforts to recruit and enroll graduate students,
Zusman said.
“We lost a little bit of steam because of budgetary
restrictions,” she said. “We want to get back on track
to increasing the numbers.”
But those efforts might have to wait until the state’s
budgetary problems have subsided, she said.
“We need to find a more opportune time,” she
said.
While system-wide efforts may be at a relative standstill,
recruitment at individual UC campuses ““ a factor the
commission addressed as well ““ continues.
“The commission encouraged each of the campuses to make
graduate education a higher internal priority,” Zusman
said.
Because of the nature of graduate admissions ““ which
differs from undergraduate in that students apply to and are
accepted by a specific department or program ““ recruitment is
often the charge of the individual department.
The decrease in state funding has also affected campus-specific
efforts to recruit, said Shirley Hune, acting dean of the graduate
division at UCLA.
“It does cost some money to recruit,” she said,
citing travel expenses for recruiters and the cost of attending
concerts and other events as examples of costly recruitment
efforts.
As a part of its graduate recruitment efforts, the English
department at UCLA held a reception Tuesday in Royce Hall.
The event was an informal social gathering where prospective
students could meet professors and current graduate students.
John Alba Cutler, vice president of the English Graduate Union
and an organizer of the reception, said the department’s
recruitment efforts had a major impact on his decision to attend
UCLA.
“It was a deciding factor for me,” he said, adding
that the department’s efforts made him feel welcome at the
university, more so than at other schools he visited.
While the English department hopes students will choose to come
to Westwood for the sake of the program, UCOP sees increased
graduate education as crucial for the UC system and the state as a
whole.
“The university’s graduate education is absolutely
crucial for the state in providing a workforce for a very high-tech
state,” Zusman said. She added that increased graduate
education will be necessary to accommodate for the increase in
undergraduate students the UC expects to enroll in the coming
years.
“We have a big role in providing faculty and providing …
creative workers,” Zusman said.
