Graduate Work in Engineering in Universities and Colleges in the United States. Bulletin, 1936, No. 8
Author: John, Walton C.
Date: 1936-00-00
Type: Historical Materials
Subjects: Graduation Requirements,Advanced Courses,Engineering Education,Engineering,Grants,Scholarships,Graduate Study,Surveys,Student Needs,Academic Standards,Questionnaires,Professional Associations,Masters Degrees,College Faculty,Part Time Students

This survey of graduate work in engineering has for its objective the presentation of the development and present status of graduate work in engineering in this country. The relatively rapid changes that have taken place in engineering education in recent years have caused greater activity and increased responsibility in graduate departments, making necessary new adjustments to meet the needs of increased numbers of advanced engineering students. In order that adequate standards for higher engineering degrees may be maintained, a study of current practices in graduate work in engineering was considered to be highly desirable by many leading engineering educators. In the spring of 1933 the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education approached the Office of Education  with the purpose of undertaking a survey of graduate work in engineering on a Nation-wide basis. In view of the importance of the project the Commissioner of Education approved a plan of cooperative effort between the Society and the Office. The principal basis of the survey is a comprehensive questionnaire which was prepared by the committee on graduate work of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education in cooperation with the Office of Education and was sent out on October 15, 1934, to 155 institutions granting degrees in engineering. The engineering schools gave prompt response. Of these, 72 were eliminated because they did not offer advanced degrees in engineering. The survey is, therefore, the result of the analysis of the returns of 83 schools that grant the master's degree in engineering. Of these, 34 also grant the doctor's degree in engineering. It is hoped that the findings presented here will serve the purpose of enabling the engineering schools of this country to meet more adequately the demands for advanced study in engineering. This bulletin is divided into 13 chapters, as follows: (1) Development of Graduate Work in Engineering in the United States; (2) Present Status of Graduate Work in Engineering; (3) Administration of Graduate Work in Engineering; (4) Teaching Staff and Graduate Work; (5) General Characteristics of the Program of Graduate Work in Engineering; (6) Cooperative and Part-Time Graduate Work; (7) Admission Requirements; (8) Graduation Requirements--The Thesis--Examination Methods--Degrees; (9) Relationship of Graduate Work to Undergraduate Work; (10) Subsidized Graduate Work, Scholarships, Fellowships, etc.; (11) Improvement of Graduate Work in Engineering; (12) Industry and the Graduate of Advanced Courses; and (13) Interpretation of the Survey by the Committee on Graduate Work in Engineering of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education. A copy of the questionnaire and forwarding letter are appended, and an index is also included. (Contains 8 tables and 15 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]