The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced on Tuesday that it will not be offering a new batch of graduate students after the end of the year.
The announcement comes amid concerns about job market conditions for some students.
The announcement comes amidst concerns about the labor market conditions of many recent grads who have taken jobs at the nation’s largest public universities.
A recent report by the Pew Research Center found that about half of recent graduates had not had a job in two years and many of those who had not gotten a job were not eligible for unemployment benefits.
The report also found that the share of recent grad who had been out of work was significantly higher than the share who had found a job.
“As the number of graduate student positions available declines, it is vital that we provide an appropriate number of job openings for our graduates to help support our economy and our students,” University President Rebecca Blank said in a statement.
“That is why we will be taking additional steps to prepare for this transition.”
University President Rebecca M. Blank speaks to reporters on her way to the university’s campus after her news conference announcing the university will no longer offer graduate student jobs at Wednesday, July 8, 2018 in Madison, Wisconsin.
The university said that it is not aware of any new positions being offered and that the university would continue to look for candidates who can fill positions.
The university’s news conference was part of a conference call with news media, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, to discuss the university and its economy.
In addition to its news conference, the university announced that it has made a commitment to hiring up to 5,000 additional new graduate students over the next five years.
Blank said that the announcement is not meant to imply that the UW will not attract new graduate workers.
“[The] news is not a signal that we won’t attract students, but it’s not meant that we aren’t looking for those positions,” Blank said.
On Wednesday, the school also announced that its board of trustees will be meeting on Thursday to discuss a plan to hire 100,000 new faculty members.
On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that the University of Texas, was considering the possibility of reducing its undergraduate tuition by $2,000, which would save $15 million annually.
At least 20 other schools have announced their plans to cut their undergraduate tuition in the next year or two, according to the Associated Board.
At this point, it’s still unclear whether or not the University will offer new grad students a job, but some have said that they are worried that the school is not providing enough job openings.
As of Wednesday, a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill study found that, on average, only about 1,100 new grad grads are hired each year at the public university, according the AP.
