On the other hand, it may diminish the opportunity to develop the Graduate College as a distinctive entity of the University. We know no convenient reconciliation of the competing forces that lead universities to structure graduate schools as they do. UVM is a relatively small entity within the larger field of graduate education. If eventually it seeks to build greater strength in graduate programs, then it may find benefit in devising some different model that may encourage more aggressive innovating in graduate programs. Not all of the University's colleges and schools offer graduate programs.
Several programs report that they are financially stressed.
Generally speaking, the evidence provided is persuasive and merits the attention of the administration. We heard in interviews that graduate students often identify themselves in terms of their departmental or programmatic affiliations rather than in terms of their status as graduate students. The self-study may explain why this is so in its descriptions of the relationships between undergraduate and graduate programs in a specific college or school. Here emphasis is consistently placed on continuity of studies, on the links between undergraduate and graduate education. We did not hear an assertion of benefit or harm from the speaker who described how students identify themselves, but we are persuaded that the University might benefit by analyzing both the statement and its implications.