Value of Graduate Degree

8

Value of Graduate Degree Communications Plan: Research Section

Cui Tang

College of Professional Study, Northeastern University

CMN6010 Strategic Communication Management

Professors Powers and Strauss

November 13, 2021

Background

Northeastern University is a private research university that has its main campus in Boston. The University was established in 1898 and offers undergraduate and graduate programs (Northeastern University, 2021). The University has different satellite campuses in various cities in the United States, including San Jose, Seattle, San Francisco, Toronto, Charlotte, Portland, and North Carolina, among others (Northeastern University, 2021). The mission of the University is to create a vibrant and diverse community characterized by collaboration, creativity, and unwavering commitment to excellence. In addition to that, it also focuses on creating an environment that builds respect for one another.

Being a university, it is in the educational services industry. Northeastern is a university very engaged with the world with a network of more than 3300 employer partners all over the seven continents. The University has a cooperative education program that integrates classroom study experiences with professional experiences (Northeastern University, 2021). Northeastern University has a curriculum of experiential learning, which involves internship experiences for the students after they acquire concepts in class. The university partners with organizations through the experiential learning model to ensure that students get hands-on experience locally and abroad (Northeastern University, 2021). These employer partners include Amazon, IBM, Wells Fargo, Clean Air Carolina, and many others (Northeastern-University, 2021).

The University also has research partners who help the University have over 40 cutting-edge research laboratories granted approximately 100 million dollars in research every year. Some of these include the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Digital Analytics Association, and The Mississauga Board of Trade. As a result of its highly effective educational and research programs since its inception, Northeastern University is considered one of the best educational institutions in the USA (US-NEWS, 2021). The University ranks in the ‘highest research activity’ category among colleges and universities. It is only 115 accorded top tier, R-1 status by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (Northeastern University, 2020). Northeastern University's ranking in the 2022 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities is #49 (US-NEWS, 2021).

Situation Analysis

One of the significant challenges that Northeastern University faces today is its graduate programs and, specifically, the Master's program. There have been a lot of challenges from different groups questioning the significance and value of graduate programs. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal dated August 10, 2021, students today have questions about debt, tuition fees, and job prospects concerning advanced degrees in their fields (WSJ, 2021). Many are therefore questioning whether the Master’s degrees are worth it (WSJ, 2021). Since Northeastern is a University dedicated to providing high-quality education, this is a critical challenge because it affects the core function that it is engaged in: to provide education.

Addressing this challenge is critical to ensuring that Northeastern continues to provide high-quality graduate programs to students. Graduate programs allow students to explore different educational concepts that help to increase innovation (Northeastern-University, 2016). Without these graduate programs, critical concepts in various academic disciplines would not be passed on. This can create a literacy gap that will cause a problem in the educational services industry and the economy. The significant challenges to addressing this problem are the economy with the strain many students feel today and the level of debt associated with taking student loans. At the same time, the lack of high-paying jobs brings a lot of concerns when it comes to discussing solutions.

Core Problem or Opportunity

Northeastern University wants to ensure that enough information about master's programs is available to students to counter the effects of the negative information on the importance of master's programs: failing to achieve this would see a decrease in its enrollment for master's programs.

References

US-NEWS. (2021). Northeastern University - profile, rankings and data | US ... US-NEWS. Retrieved November 13, 2021, from https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/northeastern-university-2199.

Northeastern-University. (2016, May 14). 7 ways a master's degree can help you get ahead. Northeastern University Graduate Programs. Retrieved November 13, 2021, from https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/value-of-masters-degree/.

Northeastern University. (2020, November 25). Northeastern achieves the highest classification for research activity. Northeastern University Graduate Programs. Retrieved November 13, 2021, from https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/northeastern-research-activity/.

Northeastern University. (2021, April 14). Our partnerships. Charlotte. Retrieved November 13, 2021, from https://charlotte.northeastern.edu/the-charlotte-campus/our-partnership/.

Northeastern-University. (2021, July 16). Our Partnerships - Northeastern University. Toronto. Retrieved November 13, 2021, from https://toronto.northeastern.edu/our-partnerships/.

WSJ. (2021, August 10). Opinion | is Graduate School Worth the cost? The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 13, 2021, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/graduate-school-mba-masters-phd-tuition-academia-11628632688.

Part 2: Explanation and Thought Process

The research section of the communications plan has three areas: background, situation analysis, and the core problem or opportunity. In the paragraphs below, I will explain my thought process when building this section of the communications plan. I will discuss the sources examined, the ideas from the textbook, the options considered when building out the sections and, my thought process. This will be done respectively for each section.

Background

When creating the background section, I considered several sources to get factual information. These mainly included websites. The advantage of using websites is that they provide current information on specific topics. When researching the history and background of Northeastern University, I used information from the Northeastern University website. The website provided the details about the University. Some of the information I found from the website includes the organization's mission, the programs it offers, which include the experiential learning program, and the research and employer partnerships that the University has. My thought process on this was focused on identifying highly credible sources, and as such, the University website is the highest credible source for this information.

In addition, I also found critical information about the University's rankings as of 2021 by reading news articles. Although U.S. NEWS's university rankings are more authoritative, U.S. NEW's scoring standards pay more attention to the reputation of undergraduate teaching (Bridgestock, 2016). Through a news article on US News, for example, I learned about the institution’s history in regards to when Northeastern University was started and its rankings. The website also provided information about the tuition and fees that the average student pays at the University, cited at $57,592. Some of the other options I considered when building out the section were research articles, but I felt that they would not provide the most updated content as of 2021.

Situation Analysis

I primarily built in this section by thinking about the focus of the research question as provided in the coursework assignment. The question focused on the article on the Wall Street Journal that questioned whether the graduate school was worth the cost or not. I then considered my thoughts on the importance of education and some options that I would be willing to explore in my educational journey. I also looked at the history of the University concerning the programs that it has created over time. The research process identified different aspects of Northeastern University, including that it is an experiential learning University that focuses on partnerships for the students. It is also a research university and is considered one of the best in terms of its research activities.

By correlating the information about the negative opinions given about the importance of the graduate programs and the view offered by the University, I was able to identify the issues that the University is facing and why this was irrelevant to the University. I then proceeded to identify some of the challenges that the University may have in addressing this problem. This was mainly done through research. I found that many students have a dilemma when it comes to the tuition fees they have to pay, the debt they acquire, and the job crisis where students cannot get high-paying jobs. Some of the other options that I considered for this section included the impact of this problem on the general education services industry.

Core Problem or Opportunity

The core opportunity written down in the research section resulted from the situation on the analysis I conducted. I consider this an opportunity for the University because informing the students about the importance of graduate programs would help them see the positive aspect of graduate programs and why they are essential. I found an article on the Northeastern University website that explains how a Master's degree can help a person get ahead.

Reference:

Bridgestock, L. (2016, September 13). How do the Latest Q.S. and U.S. News Rankings Compare? Top Universities. https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/world-university-rankings/how-do-latest-qs-us-news-rankings-compare.