Forces and Forms Global Network

Force and Forms Logo

About Forces and Forms

Our series of International Conferences on Forces and Forms of Changes in Doctoral Education Internationally focus on how to best prepare the next generation of leaders to confront a complex set of social, political, technical, and health issues within a global setting. There are numerous themes associated with globalization and the reform of doctoral education, such as the ways in which technology enables a new level of international research and policy networks, the renewed interest in and commitment to understanding the changing labor market for highly educated professionals, and the production of PhD recipients as they represent the leading labor force for knowledge-based economies. Taken together these issues create a powerful motivation to share information about how to educate these new leaders.

To facilitate the understanding of the “Forces and Forms” that shape doctoral education worldwide and interpret the emerging trends, the Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education at the University of Washington invites influential players in the international arena of doctoral education to our series of conferences, which are held biennially. Key issues visited include the need for a highly-educated labor force for the 21st century, the characteristics of this labor force, the impact of technology on research and education, the content and the pedagogy of doctoral education, the transition from doctoral education or postdoctoral appointment to stable employment, the changing demographics of the doctoral student body (i.e., gender, socio-economic class, race, and ethnicity) and the financing of graduate education, including the privatization of education throughout the world. We identify differences and commonalities among nations and share innovations and best practices currently shaping doctoral programs.

We hope these conferences will have the following impacts:

  • Move a broad coalition of scholars, policy makers, funders, and administrators toward a better grasp of the issues of graduate education across nations and further international collaboration
  • Encourage information sharing among participants about innovations and best practices currently shaping doctoral programs, and establish an international network and knowledge exchange
  • Work toward establishing greater inclusiveness within the realm of doctoral education of underrepresented groups
  • Examine ways in which issues can be addressed in policy to foster the education and training of leadership for a knowledge-based society in a global economy

The F&F Global Network

To meet the urgent need for information and innovations in doctoral education worldwide, CIRGE, under University of Washington Associate Graduate Dean and CIRGE Director Maresi Nerad, created the “Forces and Forms of Change in Doctoral Education Worldwide Network” (F&F Global Network). The F&F Global Network is designed to foster interaction and collaboration among a selected group of high-powered doctoral education experts representing key countries and regions. These experts include scientists, top-level university administrators, and higher education researchers from the European Union and more than 15 countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Czech Republic, China, India, Thailand, and South Africa.

Activities of the F&F Global Network

1. Engagement in research related to key issues in doctoral education.
2. A series of three workshops (in years 2005, 2007, and 2009).
3. Creating cross-national task forces to study critical and under-researched issues.
4. Creating a website to disseminate research on globalization in doctoral education.
5. Participation of younger scholars to increase educational impact of the network.
6. Publishing related books, articles, and reports.
7. Future collective work, collaborative research, and collaborative programs.

Three Linked Workshops

The series of three linked workshops is planned in order to structure interaction and collaboration among F&F Global Network members. Each meeting will build on the previous workshop and resulting activities, as follows:

* The F&F I 2005 workshop in Seattle, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and others, brought together diverse perspectives to piece together a global picture of contemporary innovations in doctoral education and identify key issues for further research.
* The F&F II 2007 workshop in Melbourne, Australia, will focus on the problem of comparative indicators and cross-national evaluation. (Funding has been requested from NSF.)
* The F&F III 2009 workshop, to be scheduled in Europe, will focus on policy and implementation. (CIRGE expects F&F III to be funded by a German foundation.)

The conference is funded and supported by:

The National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/

The Ford Foundation: http://www.fordfound.org

The University of Washington: