Ratio of faculty positions to applicants

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SUMMARY

The discussion highlights the declining ratio of faculty positions to PhD graduates in Management Information Systems (MIS), which has shifted from 3:1 to 4:1 in recent years, leading to the closure or merging of many MIS departments. The conversation also explores potential faculty shortages in various fields such as Animal Sciences, Genetics, Psychology, Sociology, Wildlife Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Statistics. It emphasizes that faculty shortages are exacerbated by stringent admission criteria for PhD programs, particularly in nursing and computing disciplines, where faculty from other fields are being repurposed for computing roles.

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  • Understanding of PhD program structures and admission criteria
  • Familiarity with faculty hiring trends in higher education
  • Knowledge of fields experiencing faculty shortages
  • Awareness of the impact of departmental mergers on academic programs
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  • Research current faculty shortages in specific fields such as Nursing and Computer Science
  • Investigate the impact of PhD admission criteria on graduate employment opportunities
  • Explore trends in departmental mergers within higher education
  • Analyze the growth of the education sector in emerging markets
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Academics, prospective PhD students, university administrators, and policymakers interested in understanding faculty hiring dynamics and trends in higher education.

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A few years ago for every fresh PhD graduate in MIS, there were three open faculty positions. Then the ratio of graduates to positions dwindled to 1: 2, then to 1:1.5, later to 4:1. Finally MIS departments all over started shutting down or being merged into Management, Operations or other departments and today hardly any schools offer a PhD in MIS.

It is possible that there are still many fields where for every PhD graduate there are 2, 3 or more open faculty positions. Are there any areas with faculty shortages these days? Animal Sciences? Genetics? Psychology? Sociology? Wildlife Sciences? Mechanical Engineering? Computer Science? Statistics? Any field at all?
 
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interview2 said:
It is possible that there are still many fields where for every PhD graduate there are 2, 3 or more open faculty positions. Are there any areas with faculty shortages these days? Animal Sciences? Genetics? Psychology? Sociology? Wildlife Sciences? Mechanical Engineering? Computer Science? Statistics? Any field at all?

Economics, business, and math/science education.

The bad news is that there are faculty shortages because those fields sharply limit the number of people that get admitted to the Ph.D. programs.
 
Why not do a Google search on "faculty shortages". Nursing topped that list:

http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-faculty-shortage

Having spent a lot of time in computing faculties I noted that new computer science PHDs were having trouble getting faculty positions because any faculty with any computing experience (physicists, chemical engineers, whatever...) were being " converted" into computing faculty. I guess "nursing" would be too much of a stretch for most...

Or why not move to somewhere where the education sector is growing quickly:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Change-foreign-faculty-rule-IITs/Article1-594967.aspx
 
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