Graduate instruction at the university began in 1876 with courses
at Rutgers College, which conferred its first doctor of philosophy
degree in 1884. The college issued detailed regulations governing
graduate degrees in 1912 and set up a separate graduate faculty in
1932. The Graduate School-New Brunswick was established in 1952. The
expansion of graduate programs on the Newark and Camden campuses led to
the formation of the Graduate School-Newark in 1974 and the Graduate
School-Camden in 1981.
Seventeen units grant graduate degrees
at the university. In addition to the three graduate schools mentioned
above, there are schools offering graduate professional degrees in the
arts; business; criminal justice; education; law; communication,
information, and library studies; management and labor relations;
planning and public policy; applied and professional psychology; and
social work. The Graduate School-New Brunswick has faculties in the
academic arts and sciences, as well as several professional fields.
Together with the Graduate School-Newark, it is responsible for all
philosophical degrees awarded by the university at the doctoral level.
The school's enrollment of 3,600 students is distributed among 60
graduate programs, and its faculty comes from virtually all the
university's academic divisions.
The traditional goal of
undergraduate instruction is a liberal education in the arts and
sciences, while the traditional goal of graduate instruction is an
education that fosters creative research, criticism, and scholarship in
a particular discipline. The two goals are complementary. Most members
of the graduate faculty at the university teach both graduate and
undergraduate courses and are as concerned with general education as
with specialization. They know that a university is supposed to be an
organization of men and women dedicated to bringing about advances in
human knowledge. The measure of a university`s success is the degree to
which its faculty and students are able to enrich the life of human
societies.
The size of the graduate community stems from the
large number of departmental and interdepartmental programs offered.
Yet, actual enrollment is limited. Thus, the school can provide small
classes and seminars in most degree programs, which permits close
association between students and faculty members and encourages
independent study. The graduate school stresses flexible programs to
meet diverse student needs. Students and faculty members are engaged in
the common pursuit of learning, and the Graduate School-New Brunswick
encourages their joint exploration without imposing rigid, mechanical
requirements.
Graduate students who earn their degrees at the
university leave with a rigorous grounding in their disciplines and
possess markedly broader intellectual experience and agility than they
had when they began their studies. They will go into careers in the
professions, industry, business, museums, research institutions, or
into college or university teaching or other work with enhanced
leadership abilities. They will carry with them the potential to
contribute value to their own lives and to the lives of others.