Introducing the language of antiracism during graduate school orientation.

Abstract

Higher education institutions have affirmed their commitment to antiracism but differ in how and when they introduce those values to graduate students. Engaging in a conversation about race and racism can be uncomfortable for some students, especially before trust has been established. A graduate school in the northeastern United States instituted a required orientation event to introduce race conversations to all students upon matriculation. The activity has been held eight times involving over 1,300 students. Conversations about race at the outset of an academic program allow students to confront the ways structural racism produces disparate health and education outcomes and launches their professional studies with the language for discussing how to mitigate them. To be effective, orientation conversations about race must demonstrate authentic commitment, establish a common language, create spaces for reflection, evaluate program effectiveness, and include substantive follow-up.

Recommendations for implementing an online asynchronous course about racism for graduate professional students.

“…Creating multiple opportunities for students to share feedback, through email and one-on-one conversations, a postcourse survey, and external evaluation, was essential to continuously improve the course (Cahn et al, 2022). Before launching the course for a third time, we hired outside evaluators to review previous survey results and hold focus groups with students.…”

Complex Management Countermeasures of Postgraduate Education Quality Based on Comparison of International Training Models

“…e guiding plan of "double first-class" construction of China's higher education puts forward that it is necessary to reform the training mode and system of postgraduates, enhance the innovation ability of postgraduates, and vigorously cultivate advanced, sophisticated, and urgently needed talents [6]. e United States has closely linked the development of higher education to national competitiveness and put forward plans to ensure national security and prosperity [7,8]. Germany proposed to build excellent universities and clusters and strongly support the innovation of education [9].…”