1st appeared 17 September 1998

PhD Overload in Life Sciences

Last year, Daybreak ran a story about how US medical schools and residency programs were training too many specialists. The article was based on a report written, in part, by the UCSF Center for the Health Professions, whose researchers predicted that by the year 2010, California would have 37 percent more physicians than it needed.

Well, this year, the alarm bell is signaling a different excess -- that of doctorates in the life sciences. According to a new report by a committee of the National Research Council, the number of PhD recipients in the life sciences exceeds the number of research positions available to them. Since 1973, faculty positions in the life sciences have increased only 2.5 percent a year, research jobs in industry have risen only 7 percent a year, and jobs in government laboratories have shown only "modest growth," according to the report.

The Council is urging university graduate programs in the field not to grow beyond current levels, in order to "ensure that the most talented students will pursue careers in life sciences."

In a statement about the report, which is titled "Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists," the Council wrote: "To help improve the employment opportunities for such PhDs and ensure that the most talented students will pursue careers in life sciences, universities and research institutions should not continue to expand enrollment in existing graduate education programs or develop new ones unless they are directed at a specific need -- such as increasing the number of minority students in a certain area or providing trained researchers for emerging new fields."

Links:

Graduate Education Programs in Life Sciences Should Curtail Growth (National Research Council)

Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists (full NRC report)

Report Says State Has Too Many Specialists (Daybreak)

DAYBREAK | ARCHIVES | CALENDAR | CAMPUS NOTES
CAMPUS EYE | LIFESTYLE | QUICK LINKS | HELP/RESOURCES | SEARCH

Copyright ©1998 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Last Updated May 11, 1999.
Please direct all comments and questions to the Daybreak Editor .
Please contact the UCSF Web Developer for questions of a technical nature.