October 30, 1945
To the Members of the Department of Economics:
During the past two years the members of the Department have reviewed the contents of the various courses in the present curriculum, and have discussed problems of departmental organization. Certain of the issues raised in these discussions, and one or two related general problems, should be settled within the present year. Questions that were academic during the period of reduced registration are more pressing at the present time, and will be insistent under the heavy registration to be expected next year.
The following are some of our present and pending problems:
- The numbers of students registered in certain courses are too large for effective instruction by the methods preferred by the instructors. This problem promises to become more serious.
- The heterogeneity of the student body with respect to training and experience makes it difficult to do justice to the well-prepared students while meeting the needs of the less well-prepared.
Like problems arise from the mixture of part-time and full-time students, and from the mixture of students planning to become professional economists with students who have no serious professional interests. Standards of instruction suffer, as a result. - Failure to week out weaker students lessens the effectiveness of the work we can do with capable advanced students.
- Under present arrangements for the preparation of dissertations it is difficult properly to supervise the research work of advanced graduate students, and to give them adequate training in research procedures.
The following recommendations bear upon these and related problems. The considerations that prompt each recommendation will be familiar to members of the Department, and need not be expounded in detail.
- I propose that we set up a clear distinction between two classes of graduate students.
- Standard candidates, whose objective is the doctoral degree, with or without the M.A. as an intermediary degree.
Standard candidates will be selected upon the basis of their own statements of intention, and after careful review of their educational records by the Office of Admissions and the Department of Economics. High standards will be enforced. Standard candidates must register each term for a minimum of 12 points (or for a smaller number if that number will complete residence requirements for the doctorate).
Standard candidates may be designated at the time of admission to the Graduate School, or later.
The status of all standard candidates will be reviewed by the Department at or before the close of their first full year of graduate study. This review may take the form of special written examinations. Only with explicit approval of the Department may standard candidates register for a second year of graduate work. The Department may subject standard candidates to review at later stages of their work, as well as at the close of the first year.
Certain courses of instruction and certain seminars will be open only to standard candidates.
- Terminal M. A. candidates. These are students whose final objective in the graduate school is the Master’s degree. In general, the present rules for the M.A. degree will apply to this group.
The one important modification proposed is that grades of B or better be required for the 21 points of examination credit that must be offered for the M.A. degree. This tightening of M.A. standards seems essential. With it we might, to advantage, enforce more rigorous standards for the M.A. thesis.
The students placed in this class would include all those who contemplate no graduate work beyond the M.A., and those whose intentions regarding graduate work beyond the M.A. are uncertain.
The accomplishments of students in this group would be subject to periodic review and those with definitely unsatisfactory records would not be allowed to continue their graduate work.
- Standard candidates, whose objective is the doctoral degree, with or without the M.A. as an intermediary degree.
Unclassified graduate students, students provisionally admitted to the graduate school and students not candidates for a higher degree will be grouped with Terminal M.A. candidates in determining admissibility to graduate courses and seminars. Students desiring to work for the doctorate but whose educational records do not warrant immediate acceptance as standard candidates will also be grouped with terminal M.A. candidates. The Department may transfer such students to the standard category on the basis of demonstrated capacity.
Under this proposed classification, we shall set off for special attention legitimate candidates for professional training as economists, and for this group shall enforce standards of attendance and accomplishment more rigorous than those applied to other graduate students. If we are to preserve high standards of instruction and training for the doctorate there is only one alternative to the proposed segregation. That is the drastic curtailment of the size of the graduate group. Under present conditions this does not appear to be a feasible alternative.
In determining what courses are to be restricted to standard candidates, account will be taken of the wishes of the instructors, the specified pre-requisites and the manner in which the instructors wish to handle their classes (e.g. lectures, or discussion), as well as subject matter.
Some review of our curriculum will be called for, if this division is to be enforced. Small classes, with more emphasis on seminars and specialized research, will be appropriate in the programs of the standard candidates. Large lecture courses and courses of fairly wide scope will continue to be given for the terminal M.A. candidates and unclassified students. There will be, of course, a mixing of groups in some classes.
There should be considerable flexibility in the framing of programs for the standard candidates, so that men who come to Columbia with a considerable background of work in economics will not be obliged to take certain of the general courses intended for men who come with a liberal arts background and little specialization in economics.
2. I recommend that every doctoral candidate be required to devote a period equivalent to at least one semester, and preferably one year, to rigorous research training, under the supervision of the Department. In general this should mean a year in residence, or in an approved research position, following the oral examination on subjects. During this period the candidate’s dissertation should be substantially completed. An appropriate administrative rule, when formulated, will have to make some allowance for flexibility of application, but the objective should be clear. The writing of the doctoral dissertation is an integral part of the candidate’s professional training. It should be completed under the guidance of the Department, or under other conditions that will assure appropriate supervision and sound training in research techniques.
3. I recommend that the Department approve, in principle, the organization of two specialized centers of economic research. Plans for these institutes, or research centers, will be submitted to the President. Financial support will be sought within and without the University. It is hoped that these institutes will provide members of the faculty with research funds and research facilities, and that they will strengthen the educational work of the Department by providing advanced graduate students with opportunities to assist in research projects during their period of graduate training.
The centers now proposed are an Institute of Public Finance and an Institute of International Economics. Detailed memoranda on the organization of these institutes have been prepared.
If the Department favors these three general recommendations consideration will have to be given to requisite curricular changes and, possibly, to admission procedures and minor administrative matters. Appropriate recommendations can be placed before the Department at a later time.
Frederick C. Mills
Source: Columbia University Archives. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Central Files 1890-. Box 396. Folder: “1.1.288 1/1 Mills, Frederick Cecil.”