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4
Time to Degree, Funding, and Completion Rates
Median time to degree in the biomedical sciences is relatively constant across fields: medians
range from 4.88 to 5.73 years for all biomedical science fields with a standard deviation of less
than or equal to one year (see Appendix E). There is a “model” for doctoral training. In almost
all programs, more than 90 percent of students are fully funded in the first two years, about one-
quarter with an institutional fellowship and the rest through either a traineeship or research
assistantship. By the third year, almost all students are funded through some combination of
research assistantships and traineeships. This funding is available for 6 years of doctoral study,
although the source of funding may vary.
Table 4-1 shows the funding patterns in the biomedical sciences compared with the broad
fields of engineering and the physical and mathematical sciences. Nearly one-third of students in
the biomedical sciences receive funding through external fellowships or traineeships after the
first year, as compared with a percentage that is less than one-half as large for engineering and
the physical sciences. Since funding for the biomedical sciences comes primarily from the
National Institutes of Health, NIH can use its influence to encourage program practices in the
biomedical sciences in a way that is not available for other fields in science and engineering,
where research assistantships on grants to individual investigators are the dominant avenue for
funding doctoral students beyond the first year.
23
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24 RESEARCH-DOCTORATE PROGRAMS IN THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
TABLE 4-1 Sources of Funding for Ph.D. Students by Year of Enrollment 2005-2006, by Percent
YEAR 1 YEAR 2
Physical and Physical and
Biomedical Mathematical Biomedical Mathematical
Sciences Sciences Engineering Sciences Sciences Engineering
External fellowships or
traineeships alone or with
institutional support 9 10 11 11
25 33
Institutional fellowships and
assistantships alone or with
institutional support 25 27 17 20
34 18
Research assistantships 14 33 28 46
22 33
Teaching Assistantships 45 15 37 11
12 12
Other or less than full
support 2 4 2 4
4 3
Unfunded 5 10 4 7
2 2
YEAR 3 YEAR 4
Physical and Physical and
Biomedical Mathematical Biomedical Mathematical
Sciences Sciences Engineering Sciences Sciences Engineering
External fellowships or
traineeships alone or with
35 35
institutional support 13 11 13 10
Institutional fellowships and
assistantships alone or with
16 14
institutional support 14 18 14 17
37 40
Research assistantships 38 49 43 51
8 7
Teaching Assistantships 2 10 23 8
Other or less than full
support 2 4 2 4
3 3
Unfunded 4 7 4 8
2 2
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TIME TO DEGREE, FUNDING, AND COMPLETION RATES 25
TABLE 4-1 Sources of Funding for Ph.D. Students by Year of Enrollment 2005-2006, by Percent
(cont’d)
YEAR 5 YEAR 6
Physical and Physical and
Biomedical Mathematical Biomedical Mathematical
Sciences Sciences Engineering Sciences Sciences Engineering
External fellowships or
traineeships alone or with
institutional support 12 9 11 6
34 32
Institutional fellowships and
assistantships alone or with
institutional support 14 16 12 12
11 10
Research assistantships 47 53 48 52
43 46
Teaching Assistantships 20 7 18 7
6 6
Other or less than full
support 2 4 4 6
4 4
Unfunded 4 8 7 14
2 2
YEAR 6+
Physical and
Biomedical Mathematical
Sciences Sciences Engineering
External fellowships or
traineeships alone or with
institutional support 7 4
26
Institutional fellowships and
assistantships alone or with
institutional support 9 9
11
Research assistantships 43 40
42
Teaching Assistantships 15 7
6
Other or less than full
support 6 6
7
Unfunded 18 31
7
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26 RESEARCH-DOCTORATE PROGRAMS IN THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
In terms of completion rates, the average percent of doctoral students who complete their
degrees in 6 years or less ranges from 42 percent in genetics and genomics to 56 percent in
pharmacology, toxicology, and environmental health. There is substantial variation among
programs, however. For example, in immunology and infectious disease, one university had a
completion rate of 100 percent, while another had a completion rate of 25 percent, although both
programs average 3.4 doctorates per year. The extent to which this difference is due to variations
in admissions policies, retention efforts, funding, or other factors, is impossible to say. Case
studies or other detailed analyses would be needed to sort this out. It is noteworthy, however,
that immunology and infectious disease programs at both institutions had the same median time
to degree for those students who did complete.
As might be expected, a shorter median time to degree is correlated with a higher
completion rate. In at least six fields the coefficient is < -0.3:
TABLE 4-2 Correlations Between Median Time to Degree and Average Completion Rate by Field
Median
Time to Average
Degree Completion
Field (years) Rate (%) Correlation
Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology 5.63 45.9 -0.375
Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering 5.06 46.3 -0.134
Cell and Developmental Biology 5.66 50.1 -0.383
Genetics and Genomics 5.73 41.6 -0.451
Immunology and Infectious Disease 5.36 56.2 -0.071
Integrated Biological and Biomedical Sciences 5.62 47.4 -0.362
Microbiology 5.58 47.1 -0.493
Neuroscience and Neurobiology 5.68 46.2 -0.464
Nutrition 4.88 55.8 -0.165
Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Environmental Health 5.21 56.1 -0.260
Physiology 5.13 50.9 -0.179
