Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Professional Skills Development Program: The Case of Concordia University’s GradProSkills

Oct 15, 2026

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The paper presents a case study of Concordia University’s Graduate and Professional Skills (GradProSkills) program, describing its development, implementation, and evaluation. It draws on results from a rigorously validated workshop evaluation tool and attendance figures over a little over two and a half years. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses are conducted on a pilot group of registrants providing evaluation data (n = 3,292), showing how graduate students benefit from the program. The study contributes an empirically derived model of extracurricular programming, with contextual detail on administration, curriculum development, and partnership efforts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Program development and objectives

Data sources and evaluation approach

Statistical analyses and findings

Context: higher education professional development programs

Supporting evidence and prior research

CSSHE SCÉES Canadian Journal of Higher Education Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur Volume 44, No. 3, 2014, pages 39-53 Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Professional Skills Development Program: The Case of Concordia University’s GradProSkills Vivek Venkatesh1, Jihan Rabah1, Laurie Lamoureux-Scholes, Ildiko Pelczer, Kathryn Urbaniak, & Frédérica Martin Concordia University Abstract The Graduate and Professional Skills (GradProSkills) program is an initiative developed and run by Concordia University’s School of Graduate Studies and the university’s Office of the Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies. This paper presents a case study in which we describe the development, implementation, and evaluative components of the GradProSkills program. Drawing on data from a rigorously validated workshop evaluation tool and from attendance figures spanning a period of a little over two and a half years, we provide a picture of how Concordia’s graduate students are benefiting from the GradProSkills program. We present the results of both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses run on a pilot group of registrants who provided evaluation data (n = 3,292) . Our case study contributes an empirically derived model of extracurricular programming, with contextualizing details of administrative structures, curriculum-development initiatives, and partnership efforts that have been used in operating the GradProSkills program. Résumé Le programme « Graduate and Professional Skills » (GradProSkills) est une initiative créée et dirigée par l’École des études supérieures et le Vice-rectorat à la recherche et aux études supérieures de l’Université Concordia. Cet article présente une étude de cas dans laquelle nous décrivons la création, la miseen œuvre et l’évaluation de GradProSkills. En nous fondant sur les données obtenues d’un outil d’évaluation d’ateliers rigoureux et validé, et sur des taux de participation s’échelonnant sur une période d’un peu plus de deux ans CJHE / RCES Volume 44, No. 3, 2014 GradProSkills/ V. Venkatesh , J. Rabah, L. Lamoureux-Scholes, I. Pelczer, K. Urbaniak, & F. Martin 40 et demi, nous traçons le portrait de la façon dont les étudiants aux cycles supérieurs de l’Université Concordia profitent du programme GradProSkills. Nous présentons des résultats d’analyses statistiques descriptives etdéductives tirés d’un groupe pilote de personnes inscrites à des ateliers qui ont fourni des données d’évaluation (n = 3 292) . Notre étude de cas fournitun modèle de programmation hors-programme dérivé empiriquement avec des détails contextualisés concernant les structures administratives, les initiatives d’élaboration de programmeset les partenariats dont le programme GradProSkills s’est servi. Context: Graduate Professional Development Programs at Canadian Universities With a competitive market and long-documented discrepancies between job offers and the skills of newly minted master’s and doctoral degree holders (Charbonneau, 2011; Newhouse, 1999; Tamburri, 2010), graduate students must develop professional skills, in addition to their disciplinary knowledge, to be fully equipped for transitioning to employment markets within the academy and/or the corporate environment (Chillas, 2010; Ducheny, Alletzhauser, Crandell, & Schneider, 1997; Galt, 2012; Poock, 2001) . In fact, the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies (CAGS) published in 2008 a report titled Professional Skills Developmentfor Graduate Students, which emphasized that the obligations of higher education institutions should include “providing graduate students with the best possible preparation for their future roles whether within academic or in other sectors”(p. 4) . A recent comprehensive survey of professional development programs (PDPs) available across Canadian universities, by Marilyn Rose (2012), prepared for CAGS in association with the federally funded Social Sciences and Humanities Research C

FAQs

What is the GradProSkills program and who runs it?

GradProSkills is a professional skills development initiative created and run by Concordia University’s School of Graduate Studies and the university’s Office of the Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies.

What data and evaluation approach does the paper use?

The study uses data from a rigorously validated workshop evaluation tool and attendance figures over a period of a little over two and a half years, supported by evaluation participation (n = 3,292).

How do the authors evaluate benefits to graduate students?

They report descriptive and inferential statistical analyses on a pilot group of registrants who provided evaluation data, using the results to describe how Concordia graduate students benefit from GradProSkills.

Oct 15, 2026

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