Towards graduateness: Exploring academic intellectual development in university master’s students

Our research aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on
graduateness by proposing a model that explicates the expected
level performance of graduates. In this study, the model is
elaborated for 3 graduateness domains: reflective thinking,
scholarship, and moral citizenship. We used data on students’
perceived abilities in these domains that were collected at both
the beginning and end of 1-year master’s programmes in 3
faculties at a research-intensive university. The model appears to
be suitable for investigating students’ academic intellectual
development. Not all students appeared to achieve the expected
level of graduateness by the end of the master’s programme.
However, the results revealed an increase in the proportion of
students meeting the thresholds for graduateness. The students’
reports reveal growth in reflective thinking and scholarship during
the master’s programme.