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Digest of Education Statistics
2000 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 255. Master's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by discipline division: 1970-71 to 1997-98 
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            Discipline division                 |1970-71 |1975-76 |1980-81 |1985-86 |1986-87 |1987-88 |1988-89 |1989-90 |1990-91 |1991-92 |1992-93 |1993-94 |1994-95 |1995-96 |1996-97 | 1997-98
________________________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|_________
                   1                            |   2    |   3    |   4    |   5    |   6    |   7    |   8    |   9    |   10   |   11   |   12   |   13   |   14   |   15   |   16   |   17
________________________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|_________
     Total .....................................|230,509 |311,771 |295,739 |288,567 |289,349 |299,317 |310,621 |324,301 |337,168 |352,838 |369,585 |387,070 |397,629 |406,301 |419,401 | 430,164
                                                |________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|_________
Agriculture and natural resources ..............|  2,457 |  3,340 |  4,003 |  3,801 |  3,522 |  3,479 |  3,245 |  3,382 |  3,295 |  3,735 |  3,965 |  4,119 |  4,252 |  4,569 |  4,516 |   4,475
Architecture and related programs ..............|  1,705 |  3,215 |  3,153 |  3,260 |  3,163 |  3,159 |  3,383 |  3,499 |  3,490 |  3,640 |  3,808 |  3,943 |  3,923 |  3,993 |  4,034 |   4,347
Area, ethnic, and cultural studies .............|  1,032 |    995 |    804 |    945 |    864 |    911 |  1,016 |  1,212 |  1,263 |  1,385 |  1,523 |  1,633 |  1,639 |  1,713 |  1,651 |   1,617
Biological sciences/life sciences ..............|  5,728 |  6,582 |  5,978 |  5,013 |  4,952 |  4,784 |  4,961 |  4,869 |  4,765 |  4,785 |  4,756 |  5,196 |  5,393 |  6,157 |  6,466 |   6,261
Business .......................................| 25,977 | 42,054 | 57,391 | 66,689 | 67,093 | 69,230 | 73,065 | 76,676 | 78,255 | 84,642 | 89,615 | 93,437 | 93,809 | 93,982 | 97,619 | 102,171
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Communications .................................|  1,770 |  2,961 |  2,896 |  3,500 |  3,622 |  3,678 |  3,940 |  4,063 |  4,123 |  4,180 |  4,754 |  5,005 |  5,142 |  5,080 |  5,227 |   5,611
Communications technologies ....................|     86 |    165 |    209 |    323 |    271 |    247 |    317 |    299 |    213 |    284 |    455 |    414 |    467 |    524 |    374 |     564
Computer and information sciences ..............|  1,588 |  2,603 |  4,218 |  8,070 |  8,481 |  9,197 |  9,414 |  9,677 |  9,324 |  9,530 | 10,163 | 10,416 | 10,326 | 10,151 | 10,098 |  11,246
Education ......................................| 87,666 |126,061 | 96,713 | 74,801 | 74,045 | 76,566 | 81,174 | 84,881 | 87,343 | 92,668 | 96,028 | 98,938 |101,242 |106,253 |110,087 | 114,691
Engineering ....................................| 16,309 | 16,014 | 16,386 | 21,040 | 22,015 | 22,627 | 23,740 | 23,863 | 23,962 | 24,983 | 27,626 | 28,621 | 28,553 | 27,441 | 25,787 |  25,936
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Engineering-related technologies ...............|    134 |    328 |    323 |    617 |    639 |    758 |    828 |    909 |    996 |    994 |  1,100 |  1,133 |  1,117 |  1,125 |  1,040 |   1,152
English language and literature/letters ........| 10,686 |  8,809 |  5,929 |  5,518 |  5,483 |  5,562 |  5,950 |  6,567 |  7,026 |  7,450 |  7,790 |  7,885 |  7,845 |  7,893 |  7,722 |   7,795
Foreign languages and literatures...............|  5,217 |  4,190 |  2,690 |  2,494 |  2,379 |  2,469 |  2,595 |  2,760 |  2,800 |  2,926 |  3,198 |  3,288 |  3,136 |  3,124 |  3,077 |   2,927
Health professions and related sciences ........|  5,749 | 12,556 | 16,515 | 18,573 | 18,394 | 18,657 | 19,268 | 20,321 | 21,200 | 23,065 | 25,718 | 28,025 | 31,243 | 33,398 | 35,958 |  39,260
Home economics and vocational home economics ...|  1,452 |  2,179 |  2,570 |  2,294 |  2,064 |  2,047 |  2,164 |  2,100 |  2,019 |  2,412 |  2,479 |  2,421 |  2,864 |  2,917 |  2,888 |   2,914
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Law and legal studies ..........................|    955 |  1,442 |  1,832 |  1,924 |  1,943 |  1,880 |  2,013 |  1,888 |  2,057 |  2,369 |  2,197 |  2,432 |  2,511 |  2,751 |  2,886 |   3,228
Liberal arts and sciences,                      |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
  general studies, and humanities ..............|    885 |  2,633 |  2,375 |  1,586 |  1,581 |  1,814 |  1,850 |  1,999 |  2,213 |  2,394 |  2,416 |  2,496 |  2,565 |  2,778 |  2,661 |   2,801
Library science ................................|  7,001 |  8,037 |  4,859 |  3,564 |  3,783 |  3,674 |  3,906 |  4,341 |  4,763 |  4,893 |  4,871 |  5,116 |  5,057 |  5,099 |  4,982 |   4,871
Mathematics ....................................|  5,695 |  4,315 |  3,074 |  3,607 |  3,730 |  3,867 |  3,903 |  4,146 |  4,041 |  4,011 |  4,067 |  4,100 |  4,181 |  4,031 |  3,783 |   3,643
Multi/interdisciplinary studies ................|    821 |  1,158 |  2,144 |  2,625 |  2,482 |  2,575 |  2,762 |  2,834 |  1,796 |  2,126 |  2,498 |  2,464 |  2,457 |  2,347 |  2,819 |   2,677
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Parks, recreation, leisure and fitness studies .|    218 |    571 |    643 |    570 |    560 |    544 |    535 |    529 |    483 |  1,358 |  1,434 |  1,625 |  1,755 |  1,751 |  1,966 |   2,024
Philosophy and religion ........................|  1,326 |  1,356 |  1,229 |  1,163 |  1,109 |  1,099 |  1,280 |  1,306 |  1,441 |  1,146 |  1,425 |  1,350 |  1,380 |  1,302 |  1,252 |   1,307
Physical sciences and science technologies......|  6,367 |  5,466 |  5,284 |  5,902 |  5,629 |  5,733 |  5,723 |  5,449 |  5,309 |  5,374 |  5,366 |  5,679 |  5,753 |  5,847 |  5,563 |   5,361
Precision production trades.....................|    --- |    --- |    --- |      0 |      0 |      4 |      0 |      3 |      0 |      0 |      2 |      2 |      5 |      8 |      3 |      15
Protective services ............................|    194 |  1,197 |  1,538 |  1,074 |  1,019 |  1,024 |  1,047 |  1,151 |  1,108 |  1,249 |  1,357 |  1,437 |  1,706 |  1,812 |  1,845 |   2,000
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Psychology .....................................|  5,717 | 10,167 | 10,223 |  9,845 |  9,562 |  9,180 |  9,940 | 10,730 | 11,349 | 10,215 | 10,957 | 12,181 | 13,921 | 13,792 | 14,353 |  13,747
Public administration and services .............|  7,785 | 15,209 | 17,803 | 15,692 | 16,432 | 16,424 | 17,020 | 17,399 | 17,905 | 19,243 | 20,634 | 21,833 | 23,501 | 24,229 | 24,781 |  25,144
R.O.T.C. and military technologies .............|      2 |      0 |     43 |     83 |    119 |     49 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |    108 |    124 |    124 |    136 |    136 |       0
Social sciences and history.....................| 16,539 | 15,953 | 11,945 | 10,564 | 10,506 | 10,412 | 11,023 | 11,634 | 12,233 | 12,702 | 13,471 | 14,561 | 14,845 | 15,012 | 14,787 |  14,938
Theological studies/religious vocations ........|  2,710 |  3,290 |  4,220 |  4,556 |  4,966 |  4,905 |  4,749 |  4,959 |  4,810 |  5,185 |  4,985 |  4,956 |  5,240 |  5,107 |  4,975 |   4,692
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Transportation and material moving workers .....|     63 |    108 |    120 |    454 |    433 |    679 |    692 |    538 |    406 |    385 |    495 |    664 |    823 |    919 |    919 |     736
Visual and performing arts .....................|  6,675 |  8,817 |  8,629 |  8,420 |  8,508 |  7,939 |  8,267 |  8,481 |  8,657 |  9,353 |  9,440 |  9,925 | 10,277 | 10,280 | 10,627 |  11,145
Not classified by field of study ...............|      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |  4,144 |    851 |  1,836 |  8,523 |  4,156 |    884 |  1,651 |    577 |    780 |  4,519 |     868
________________________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|_________

---Not available.

NOTE: The new Classification of Instructional Programs was initiated in 1991-92. The figures for earlier years have been reclassified when necessary to make them conform to the new taxonomy. To facilitate trend comparisons, certain aggregations have been made of the degree fields as reported in the IPEDS "Completions" survey: "Agriculture and natural resources" includes Agricultural business and production, Agricultural sciences, and Conservation and renewable natural resources; "Business" includes Business management and administrative services, Marketing operations/marketing and distribution, and Consumer and personal services; and "Engineering-related technologies" includes Engineering-related technologies, Mechanics and repairers, and Construction trades.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred" surveys, and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Completions" surveys. (This table was prepared June 2000.)


2000 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest
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