PhD Plans (Between the Lines)

The systemwide Academic Senate's website features a report on UC's doctoral education. As yours truly reads it, he sees the following implicit and explicit messaging:

PhD enrollments should not be based on the needs of departments for TAs, but rather on academic and nonacademic job prospects for graduates.

There needs to be sufficient support available for PhD programs to support students through programs apart from TAing. (So, if there isn't, presumably the programs should be downsized until enrollment matches such support.)

Time limits to degree should be enforced (which will help matching enrollments to limited resources).

Weak programs must be remedied by the university if departments can't do it.

This summary is more blunt than the wording of the report. You can read the report for yourself and make your own interpretation at:

https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/future-of-doctoral-programs-report-2025.pdf.

One suspects that the student-worker strike and the resulting rising cost of grad student workers is in some way background to this report.