An International Perspective on Graduate Education in Physical Oceanography

¹Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
²Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
³School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Canada
⁴Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA
⁵Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, UK
⁶Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, USA
⁷Laboratoire d'Océanographie Dynamique et de Climatologie, Univ. P. et M. Curie, Paris, France

During the inaugural Physical Oceanography Dissertation Symposium in
June 2002 we found that the graduate school experience varied markedly
amongst the 20 international participants.  The diversity of
backgrounds led to lively discussion about the differences between
physical oceanography programs.  Here we review the length, content,
and quality of education for graduate programs in Australia, France,
Germany, the UK, and the USA.  We also comment on the financial,
social, and scientific status of graduate students in these countries.
Graduate programs in physical oceanography face the challenge of
introducing students to the wide range of tools and techniques which
define the field, ranging from observational work and remote sensing,
through dynamical theory, to numerical modelling.  While individual
character largely determines the success of the PhD experience, a
graduate education in physical oceanography should include the
following factors to best serve students in their future career: solid
mentorship, regular department level progress checks, course work,
summer schools, field work, practise in communication skills,
scientific and social integration, international exchange, and stable
and sufficient funding.  We propose a model four year physical
oceanography graduate degree structure, distilled from the best
aspects of international physical oceanography programs.

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