In an effort to better understand the needs of PhD graduates and to analyze the demand for doctoral education, the faculty of graduate and postdoctoral studies has released a report and an interactive website detailing the career outcomes of its UBC PhD graduates.
Out of 3,790 students who graduated between 2005 and 2013, UBC was able to learn about the career outcomes of 91 per cent of them through a survey and public information.
The report finds that 88 per cent of the 1,866 survey respondents are currently employed, while nine per cent are pursuing postdoctoral fellowships and “1.7 per cent are out of the workforce.” Only 1.6 per cent of the survey respondents are unemployed.
Fifty-one per cent of PhD graduates “over all years” work in higher education.
Graduates from humanities and business programs are the most likely to obtain higher education positions. Within that, the majority of graduates are in research-intensive positions, while term faculty positions are the least prevalent. Graduates from the humanities are the most likely to obtain term faculty positions, while health sciences and engineering graduates are the least likely.
“At the same time, some positions (especially faculty positions) can be very challenging to obtain,” wrote Susan Porter, dean and vice provost of the faculty of graduate and postdoctoral studies, in an emailed statement. “[They] will likely require moving away from Vancouver.”
PhD graduates’ career paths have also extended beyond academia.
According to the report, 26 per cent of graduates are in the private sector, nine per cent are in the public sector and four per cent are in the non-profit sector. The non-profit sector also has the lowest career outcomes, as shown in the comparison between data from three to seven years after graduation and data from eight to 11 years after graduation.
The report further features alumni profiles to illustrate the variety of career paths for PhD students.
Hannes Dempewolf expected to work in a research-based position after graduating in 2012 with a PhD in botany, but is now a senior scientist at Global Crop Diversity Trust. He travels to places like Ethiopia and Costa Rica to improve crop conditions and diversity.
With a PhD in gender, race, sexuality and social justice, Lauren Hunter now works for the government of Canada as head of IN.spire Innovation Hub. In the report, Hunter states that she uses her “education for the public good.”
Beside sharing career outcome data, the report also notes that UBC is making an active effort to accommodate the shift in career outcomes for PhD graduates. For instance, the university is “providing opportunities to engage with PhD holders [and to experience work environments] from outside academia” through career events and internship programs.
However, there is still room for improvement.
“UBC is providing much more support than during the time of many of the alumni's programs — however, it’s still insufficient,” said Porter in the emailed statement. “Some of the opportunities for enhanced support are relatively easy to meet [albeit] resource-requiring, but some require a continuing culture change within the academy, and meeting those will be more challenging and long-term.”
This article has been updated to include additional statistics that would give a more accurate illustration of UBC PhD graduates' employment rate.