ABSTRACT
Graduate education takes different forms from one country to the next. 1 In recent years, however, there has been marked movement internationally to copy the American model. In the United States graduate education consists of accumulating courses and credits, passing examinations, and producing a dissertation. Largely course work-driven, it follows what might be called a professional model, as opposed to what might be termed the apprenticeship model that has characterized European graduate education. I connect the form and function of graduate education to important factors in the political and organizational economies of higher education. I attribute the movement to follow the American model to transnational forces and environments that constitute a world system in education.
