Comprehensive Standard 3.6.2: The institution ensures that its graduate instruction and resources foster independent learning, enabling graduates to contribute to a profession or field of study.
Off-site review question:
“William and Mary’s Master of Arts degree programs, Master of Sciences degree programs and doctoral programs require independent research and or thesis/dissertation defenses as part of the degree completion process. These are well-accepted practices conducted by high quality faculty and they generally produce a public product that can be reviewed by external evaluators.
For the non-thesis programs, for example, the Master of Public Policy and Master’s degrees in Management and Education that incorporate associated internships and practica in place of theses, there is no evidence presented that the students actually demonstrate independent learning or contribute to a professional field of study. These may be reasonable; however, the argument for compliance might be strengthened by evidence of collection and feedback from employers and on site supervisors of graduate students.
Compliance for the Master of Accounting program is argued based primarily on participation in specific course work. This type of justification requires a course based assessment to verify the claim. The program faculty should add evidence from such an assessment or consider justifying the claim of compliance on other evidence (i.e., taking advantage of what appear to be strong corporate ties and providing employer survey feedback or external review reports).”
Response:
The Master’s degree sequence in the School of Education includes courses on research methodology and field-based (action) research. In addition, CRIN 599 is an independent research course that serves as a culminating course. Master’s degree students produce a paper that is not formally a thesis. However, the paper reports on research and the work is guided by School of Education faculty members. Faculty members evaluate the final papers, and students present the papers in a public forum.
In the School of Business, master’s students are required to do field consultancies in client companies that include written and oral reports on research findings and recommendations. Business School faculty members grade these presentations using explicit standards. Executive Partners of the Business school review the findings and recommendations, and interview members of client companies to assess the quality of the work and the outcomes.
The Master of Accounting Program fosters independent learning by requiring each student to perform in-depth research related to three areas of critical importance to the practice of accounting: company valuation, the consequences of accounting choices, and researching accounting standards. Students create detailed computer models of a company’s financial statements and tie those models to company valuation. Students also research a selected company, document accounting policy choices, and estimate the effects of those choices on company value. Finally, students engage in real-time negotiations of complex accounting issues that require intensive research of the accounting standards. Faculty members in accounting evaluate each of these projects based on strict professional standards. Professionals in the field, mostly W&M alumni, support the research efforts. The accounting program has strong corporate ties and the Mason School of Business consistently is considered a “key school” for recruiting accounting professionals.
Successful completion of the Biology Department graduate core course by all non-thesis M.A. students (Biology 580, Introduction to Graduate Studies), combined with successful completion of advanced courses (numbered in the 600s), meet the requirement that the non-thesis M.A. program foster independent learning, enabling the graduate to contribute to a profession or field of study. For Biology 580, students are required to do an independent literature review that leads to a grant proposal that is an independent inquiry. That requirement is a major part of the course and the course grade. The other advanced courses taken by non-thesis M.A. students all have literature review and discussion elements that also include independent inquiry and that are components of the course grade.
The Master’s degree in Public Policy requires completion of an approved, degree-relevant summer internship and a Policy Research Seminar. The internship must be approved by the Program in advance, and the supervisor must agree to write an evaluation of the student's performance at the completion of the internship. The seminar is based on a professional consulting project. Students work for a client in small teams, under the supervision of a faculty member. Both instructors and clients evaluate student work in these projects.