The GSAS Admissions & Graduate Education committee (GAGE) completed its work in summer 2023, releasing a final report in September. The report includes recommendations for advising, the scale and strength of the academic program, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging, employment outcomes, teaching, and finances, with further recommendations for admissions.
In 2020, then-FAS Dean Claudine Gay created the FAS Study Group (FSG), tasking it with considering financial sustainability, organizational flexibility, and institutional resilience. The FSG identified several areas that required a deeper look, including graduate education.
To address this call, Harvard Griffin GSAS launched GAGE in spring 2022, charged with “Considering advising, teaching, employment outcomes, institutional finances, and equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging to develop actionable steps in how admissions slots are allocated and to outline what the PhD means in the 21st century.”
From April 2022 through May 2023, the GAGE Working Group met 26 times and reviewed materials that included data on mental health, advising, time to degree, outcomes, teaching loads, and finances. As the committee turned its attention from information gathering to making recommendations, members recognized that variation across 40 different FAS graduate programs would make blanket recommendations unfeasible due to the wide diversity of academic activities and cultural norms. The committee’s recommendations instead offer a framework for programs to follow, establishing a certain baseline standard.
For more information, visit GSAS Admissions and Graduate Education Planning or reach out to GSASdean@fas.harvard.edu.