McDonald’s is famous because of its excellent quality control. The quality is not necessarily the finest in the world, but it is consistent from one store to another throughout the world.
Harvard, like other “elite” universities, prides itself on its quality, and that quality is achieved primarily in two ways: first, by admitting only people who have demonstrated that they can perform at an academically high level, and second, by helping its students and graduates get known by employers who are at the highest level of their own businesses.
Some research universities measure academic quality by the amount and significance of the research output of their faculties.
How do we know what to teach? At profession-oriented institutions, from law schools to welding programs, the content of instruction is primarily found in the experts in whatever trade or skill is being taught. These resources exist as sponsors, advisory committees, donors of equipment and materials, and providers of internships and other forms of student work experiences. At research and liberal arts institutions the content for teaching is derived from the research, inventions, discoveries, adjudicated publications, and productions of the qualified faculty at such institutions.
Accreditors typically define academic quality as a measure of how fully the students learn what is being taught. This definition assumes that learning is measured in a way that demonstrates how student learning is directly related to what is being taught. Secondarily, but also important for accreditors, is that the faculty can demonstrate that what is being taught reflects the proper content and level of understanding/performance that is consistent with the mission of the institution.
Academic quality is a function of the ultimate goals being achieved or not.
Some, for example, have a goal of getting married to a specific type of person, they actually choose the college based primarily on this criteria. So, if they achieve this goal, then the academic quality of their college education was high.
Most people with ordinary brains will not remember academic facts that they learned in academic setting after few years down the road. However, they can built on their background in their next stage of life, which could be grad. school, employment, or staying at home mom / dad, or something else. If they are successful in their next life after college, if they were accepted where they wanted to be and if they are happy with their surroundings / environment and responsibilities, then I say that their college education was of high academic quality. I do not know how else the academic quality may be measured as it is vastly different for different people at the same institution and even for those who are taking exactly the same classes in the same college.
BTW, while this is done often, “Some research universities measure academic quality by the amount and significance of the research output of their faculties.” - it is actually counter of the academic quality. The busier profs with their own research, the less they pay attention to their students, resulting in lectures being given by TA’s.
I am a graduate of two research U’s (both undergrad and grad). Ditto my spouse (three degrees from different universities) and all of my children. None of us have ever had a lecture given by a TA.
TA’s grade exams, run review sessions, suggest additional reading for students interested in the material, proctor exams, teach lab techniques or troubleshoot. None of us have ever had a TA substitute for a professor.
I don’t believe that a professor involved in research is “counter” to academic quality. You want to learn biomechanics from a professor who isn’t involved in research? You want to study how composite materials are being used to make prosthetic devices from a doctor or professor who isn’t actually doing his or her own research on mechanical arms? Do you think you can learn nanoscience from a professor who doesn’t have access to a lab for research?
Miami- I don’t even think YOU believe what you write some of the time.
Universities have 3 main goals: producing new knowledge, disseminating knowledge and service to the community. Those who attend universities or colleges have their own goals. For them, the match between their own goals and that of the university is probably relevant along with how well the school meets the goals that overlap with those of the student.
It is true that the importance given to each of the three general goals does differ across schools. LAC usually put more emphasis on dissemination of knowledge (which is teach in a LAC) and service to the community. That is why I’d recommend LAC over most (but not all) universities for most (but not all) students. Many universities favor producing new knowledge (which includes generating funds to do so) over dissemination. And that can mean that there are more GAs and TAs teaching classes and even being instructor of record for senior seminars. I think that is pretty awful but does happen. So, I respectfully disagree with the post above. I’ve known many instances of graduate students being the instructor of record in a couple of public universities that I know quite well. These are the same places where junior faculty are warned not to spend too much time on teaching. Teaching undergraduates is denigrated.
Lost- you know your institutions and I know mine. It is an LAC myth that if your kid goes to a research U they will spend four years being taught by TA’s. My kid graduated from MIT and never had anything less than a professor in a lecture, seminar or lab. TA’s ran review sessions and graded exams. And held special sessions outside of class for kids who needed help on programming or lab techniques.
And some of the most revered professors at the Institute (including a Noble laureate or two) are among the most popular faculty members, regularly winning teaching awards by undergrads, etc.
My niece who is a recent Yale grad didn’t even meet a TA until her senior year when the professor supervising her required senior thesis introduced them since they had an overlapping area of interest. But had zero contact up until then.
It may be awful but it is not universal at research universities.
I used to lecture at UMich as a graduate student (I’m not teaching this year but I’ll probably lecture next year when I start teaching again). GSIs here generally run “discussion” sections where they will lecture, hold discussions, etc depending on the class. If the class doesn’t have a breakout section but is still large enough for a GSI, then they will often lecture.
As an undergrad, I rarely had TAs lecture in courses because I was in a small residential college within a large research U. However, none of my TAs were bad and many were way more up-to-date on the material than the professors were. I really liked them.
At the research institutions I am familiar with professors teach a lot of the classes. Some of the classes are taught by adjunct professors which are basically really good teachers but not on the tenure tract. And Post docs actively involved in research teach a few of the classes. TAs are a really good addition as blossom points out. They don’t teach classes though. Some of the most distinguished profs are some of the best teachers
Faculty dedication to undergrads is very important IMO (especially if you ARE an undergrad). There should be a good variety of labs available to undergrads, and those labs should be accessible, rather than being tied up by grad students doing research. The lab equipment should be up-to-date and relevant. Faculty should be competent at teaching, with solid credentials (vast majority with PhD’s from reputable schools). Lastly, the school should have standards, both for accepting students and graduating students. This does NOT necessarily mean having a low acceptance rate, but rather requiring a minimum GPA from applicants, and requiring a certain level of rigor for classes taken in HS.
I’m of the belief that academic quality is more a function of the school than the students. Students play by the school’s rules, and the school can set whatever rules it wants.
Having attended a LAC for undergrad, an ivy league university for grad school, and taught at both a large public university and a medium-sized private university (both with large graduate populations and TAs who assisted advanced classes, but also served as instructors of record for some introductory seminars), I have a strong preference for LAC’s for undergraduate education. I am not alone in this preference: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-professors-send-their-children-to-college/
But I agree that a lot depends on a student’s intended major, and some majors simply aren’t available at LAC’s.
I attended an LAC as an undergrad and grad school at a research oriented university. I never took a course taught by a TA at the research university, they and I as a grad student taught study sessions, etc. As an UG at the LAC I also ran study sessions and helped with labs of courses I had taken the prior year, so the TA thing was about equal, though I really liked the opportunity to work as a TA as an UG upperclassman at my LAC.
The biggest difference I noticed between the two was that the professors who taught at the LAC were far more consistently talented at teaching, while at the research university it was very hit and miss. Research and teaching are VERY different skillsets, especially in a medium to large size class room. The PhD’s at my LAC all had smaller research projects going on that they augmented with full time research fellowships or other similar year or half year sabbaticals every 5-7 years. The LAC profs were primarily judged for promotions, tenure, etc based on teaching ability. The profs at the research university were primarily judged on success in research, basically publishing and being awarded grants. Some were gifted teachers, others were horrible either from lack of interest in teaching or simply lacking the skills needed to be a quality teacher. In those cases I would have been much happier having a non-tenure track lecturer teach the course (my niece does this at a different university and enjoys it greatly), or even a TA, while the big name research prof stayed in their lab doing what they do well.