FEDERAL SUPPORT OF GRADUATE EDUCATION IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES: AN INQUIRY INTO THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF PUBLIC POLICY

This paper analyzes the impact of the federal government on doctoral graduate education in the natural sciences in American universities and makes recommendations for future federal policy. The paper is interdisciplinary in its approach, utilizing the perspectives of sociology, political science, and economics. Analysis is based upon primary sources on federal support--survey data and legislative history--and secondary sources pertinent to various aspects of the development of graduate education and federal policy.;Findings from the study are: (1) graduate education is an integral part of the social system of academic science through its functions of professionalization, productivity, and prestige; (2) increased federal emphasis on practical pay-offs for its support has led to a deemphasis on basic research and may be having deleterious consequences on the autonomy and innovativeness of academic science; and (3) federal support should be based upon criteria that maximize the stability, quality, and basic research orientation of academic science and graduate education.;Recommendations are presented for federal policy for student, research, and institutional support that will enhance the autonomy and basic science orientation of academic science and graduate education. Recommendations emphasize the stability, flexibility, and merit basis of support for both individual students and for academic programs and institutions.;The major contributions of this paper are: (1) development of a model that accounts for varieties of federal-graduate education relations; (2) delineation of the social context of graduate education, including the constituencies to which it responds and its structure and functions within the social system of academic science; (3) analysis of putative impact of federal policy on graduate education; (4) development of criteria for federal policy; and (5) presentation of recommendations for federal policy based upon the foraging analysis.