Lack of TAs could hurt grant money, education quality

The University has seen fewer teaching assistants as the percentage of graduate students has decreased, and administrators say that could hurt both the classroom experience and research for undergraduates.

Administrators are evaluating the impact of this change, which comes despite the fact that the ratio of undergraduate to graduate students has remained constant during the last decade.

In the last 10 years, the ratio has remained at about 63 percent undergraduates and 37 percent graduate and professional students.

On Wednesday, Steve Matson, dean of the graduate school, asked members at an enrollment policy advisory committee meeting if they were comfortable with this ratio.

While the percentage of graduate students has decreased, the percentage of professional students has remained steady, and the number of undergraduates has increased.

“It’s the impact of these percentages that I begin to worry about,” Matson said.

Second-year graduate students with at least 18 credit hours can teach, said Bobbi Owen, senior associate dean for undergraduate education and a member of the committee.

Owen said with class sizes increasing the role of TAs is more important because they tend to teach as part of large survey courses.

But fewer graduate students are serving as TAs, Matson said.

According to Matson’s presentation, there were 1,032 graduate students assisting at UNC from 2008 to 2009. This year, there are 884.

This means less support for undergraduate students, since 12.3 percent of courses have TAs as the primary instructor, he said.

If there are fewer graduate students serving as research assistants, it could also be harder for faculty to get grants, Matson added.

“We should recognize the huge impact graduate students have on the quality of undergraduate education, not just in the classroom,” Matson said.

He said graduate students also help undergraduates by offering them more research opportunities.

“We are fortunate to have this mixture,” Owen said. “It helps our undergraduate graduation rate to be exposed to a robust program.”

Matson said UNC’s percentages of professional, graduate and undergraduates are similar to peer institutions.

Executive Vice Provost Dr. Ron Strauss, chairman of the committee, added that the schools with the largest enrollment, such as Ohio State University, are skewed toward undergraduate enrollment.

The future of the ratio of students is unclear, but Matson said he hopes the committee will consider its impact in the future.

“We sometimes forget about the graduate and professional population of students,” he said.

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.