Mission Statement

The Graduate School-New Brunswick is responsible for master’s and doctoral education in all fields that offer academic degrees and is the primary advocate for graduate education and for graduate students on the New Brunswick/Piscataway campus. Graduate education provides students with advanced training for their chosen fields, developing leaders who will contribute to knowledge through original research, teach future generations and solve problems of importance to society.

The mission of the Graduate School-New Brunswick is the pursuit of excellence in graduate education and of the welfare of its students. The School accomplishes its mission in three ways:

1. The Graduate School-New Brunswick promotes high quality in graduate education and works to improve the effectiveness of graduate education. It does so by the maintenance of rules governing requirements for the degree, through oversight of admissions standards, and by reviewing and approving curricular initiatives and changes. To assess the effectiveness of graduate education it collects data on current graduate student support, external awards of current students, student success within programs, and placement and career advancement of its graduates. It provides topical and timely support to assist students to progress and succeed, through flexibility in the application of standard rules and various forms of financial assistance through direct student support for inter-decanal and cross-campus programs, competitive support of outstanding students, and support for training grant and other funding initiatives. The Graduate School keeps abreast of trends, best practices, and comparative data on graduate education through multiple memberships and various forms of participation in national organizations devoted to aspects of graduate education. It promotes and oversees participation in local and international consortia and exchanges. By disseminating best practices and results of assessments of activities in graduate education, the Graduate School-New Brunswick works with individual degree programs to improve the effectiveness of graduate education to enhance mentorship, reduce time-to-degree and increase completion rates. The Graduate school is an ongoing source of advice and assistance for graduate program directors, faculty members, and staff on the full range of issues they confront in conducting the everyday work of graduate education.



2. The Graduate School-New Brunswick seeks to enhance the quality of student life for graduate students by serving as an advocate for their needs in such matters as the development of policy and planning pertaining to housing, dining, facilities, recreation, health and psychological services, and other aspects of student life and procedures governing issues of graduate student conduct and status. The Graduate School-New Brunswick also seeks to enhance student welfare through the services it provides directly, including ombudsperson and conflict resolution services, the Teaching Assistant Project, the services of its center for assistance to students seeking external funding, and general guidance and assistance with regard to the registration, degree attainment, financial support, insurance and other matters pertaining to the matriculation and persistence to degree.



3. The Graduate School-New Brunswick actively supports efforts to diversify the student community in graduate education. It does so through its summer program for undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds, through recruitment efforts, through financial support of students that supplements the funding from individual programs, through advocacy for international scholars, and through measures that underpin a supportive environment for students from all walks of life.

Adopted December 2007

A PDF version of this statement is available here.