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Digest of Education Statistics
2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 250. Master's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by discipline division: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2003-04
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                                                  |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |   1998-|   1999-|        |        |        |
Discipline division                               | 1970-71| 1975-76| 1980-81| 1985-86| 1990-91| 1993-94| 1994-95| 1995-96| 1996-97| 1997-98|   99\1\|    2000| 2000-01| 2001-02| 2002-03| 2003-04
__________________________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________
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| 337,168| 387,070| 397,629| 406,301| 419,401| 430,164| 439,986| 457,056| 468,476| 482,118| 512,645| 558,940
                                                  |________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________
Agriculture and natural resources ................|   2,457|   3,340|   4,003|   3,801|   3,295|   4,110|   4,234|   4,551|   4,505|   4,464|   4,404|   4,360|   4,272|   4,503|   4,492|   4,783
Architecture and related services ................|   1,705|   3,215|   3,153|   3,260|   3,490|   3,943|   3,923|   3,993|   4,034|   4,347|   4,172|   4,268|   4,302|   4,566|   4,925|   5,424
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies .......|   1,032|     993|     802|     915|   1,233|   1,573|   1,585|   1,652|   1,547|   1,528|   1,438|   1,544|   1,555|   1,541|   1,509|   1,683
Biological and biomedical sciences ...............|   5,623|   6,453|   5,759|   5,043|   4,796|   5,390|   5,824|   6,544|   6,925|   6,788|   6,913|   6,781|   6,955|   6,937|   6,990|   7,657
Business .........................................|  26,490|  42,592|  57,888|  66,676|  78,255|  93,285|  93,540|  93,554|  97,204| 101,652| 107,477| 111,532| 115,602| 119,725| 127,545| 139,347
                                                  |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Communication, journalism, and related programs ..|   1,770|   2,961|   2,896|   3,500|   4,123|   5,005|   5,142|   5,080|   5,227|   5,611|   5,293|   5,169|   5,218|   5,510|   6,053|   6,535
Communications technologies ......................|      86|     165|     209|     308|     204|     383|     417|     481|     325|     486|     263|     356|     427|     470|     442|     365
Computer and information sciences ................|   1,588|   2,603|   4,218|   8,070|   9,324|  10,568|  10,595|  10,579|  10,513|  11,765|  12,858|  14,990|  16,911|  17,173|  19,503|  20,143
Education ........................................|  87,666| 126,061|  96,713|  74,816|  87,352|  97,427|  99,835| 104,936| 108,720| 113,374| 118,048| 123,045| 127,829| 135,189| 147,448| 162,345
Engineering ......................................|  16,813|  16,472|  16,893|  21,529|  24,454|  28,293|  28,137|  26,892|  25,168|  25,146|  24,734|  24,850|  25,259|  24,908|  28,337|  32,698
                                                  |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Engineering technologies .........................|     134|     328|     323|     617|     996|   1,879|   1,894|   2,054|   1,938|   2,181|   2,004|   1,876|   2,013|   2,149|   2,332|   2,499
English language and literature/letters ..........|  10,441|   8,599|   5,742|   5,335|   6,784|   7,611|   7,612|   7,657|   7,487|   7,587|   7,288|   7,022|   6,763|   7,097|   7,413|   7,956
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences ......|   1,452|   2,179|   2,570|   2,011|   1,541|   1,559|   1,702|   1,712|   1,846|   1,838|   1,736|   1,882|   1,838|   1,683|   1,610|   1,794
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics ..|   5,480|   4,432|   2,934|   2,690|   3,049|   3,612|   3,439|   3,443|   3,361|   3,181|   3,106|   3,037|   3,035|   3,075|   3,049|   3,124
Health professions and related clinical sciences .|   5,330|  12,164|  16,176|  18,603|  21,354|  28,442|  31,770|  33,920|  36,162|  39,567|  40,707|  42,593|  43,623|  43,560|  42,715|  44,939
                                                  |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Legal professions and studies ....................|     955|   1,442|   1,832|   1,924|   2,057|   2,432|   2,511|   2,751|   2,886|   3,228|   3,308|   3,750|   3,829|   4,053|   4,126|   4,243
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,       |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
  and humanities ................................ |     885|   2,633|   2,375|   1,586|   2,213|   2,496|   2,565|   2,778|   2,661|   2,801|   3,101|   3,256|   3,193|   2,754|   3,312|   3,697
Library science ..................................|   7,001|   8,037|   4,859|   3,564|   4,763|   5,116|   5,057|   5,099|   4,982|   4,871|   4,752|   4,577|   4,727|   5,113|   5,314|   6,015
Mathematics and statistics .......................|   5,191|   3,857|   2,567|   3,131|   3,549|   3,682|   3,820|   3,651|   3,504|   3,409|   3,286|   3,208|   3,209|   3,350|   3,626|   4,191
Military technologies ............................|       2|       0|      43|      83|       0|     124|     124|     136|     136|       0|       0|       0|       0|       0|       0|       0
                                                  |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Multi/interdisciplinary studies ..................|     926|   1,287|   2,363|   2,890|   2,117|   2,821|   2,787|   2,762|   3,333|   3,067|   3,073|   3,487|   3,475|   3,708|   3,780|   4,047
Parks, recreation, leisure and fitness studies ...|     218|     571|     643|     570|     483|   1,559|   1,684|   1,684|   1,873|   1,917|   2,011|   2,322|   2,354|   2,580|   2,978|   3,199
Philosophy and religious studies .................|   1,326|   1,358|   1,231|   1,193|   1,471|   1,410|   1,434|   1,363|   1,356|   1,396|   1,357|   1,376|   1,386|   1,371|   1,578|   1,578
Physical sciences and science technologies .......|   6,336|   5,428|   5,246|   5,860|   5,281|   5,648|   5,716|   5,807|   5,526|   5,328|   5,124|   4,810|   5,049|   5,012|   5,109|   5,570
Precision production .............................|       0|       0|       0|       0|       0|       2|       5|       8|       3|      10|       7|       5|       2|       2|       3|      13
                                                  |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Psychology .......................................|   5,717|  10,167|  10,223|   9,845|  11,349|  13,723|  15,378|  15,152|  15,769|  15,142|  15,688|  15,740|  16,539|  16,357|  17,123|  17,898
Public administration and social services ........|   7,785|  15,209|  17,803|  15,692|  17,905|  21,833|  23,501|  24,229|  24,781|  25,144|  24,925|  25,594|  25,268|  25,448|  25,894|  28,250
Security and protective services .................|     194|   1,197|   1,538|   1,074|   1,108|   1,437|   1,706|   1,812|   1,845|   2,000|   2,249|   2,609|   2,514|   2,935|   2,955|   3,717
Social sciences and history ......................|  16,539|  15,953|  11,945|  10,564|  12,233|  14,561|  14,845|  15,012|  14,787|  14,938|  14,431|  14,066|  13,791|  14,112|  14,634|  16,110
Theology and religious vocations .................|   2,692|   3,258|   4,163|   4,543|   4,803|   4,906|   5,170|   5,030|   4,932|   4,649|   4,679|   5,534|   4,850|   4,909|   5,099|   5,486
                                                  |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |
Transportation and materials moving ..............|       0|       0|       0|     454|     406|     664|     823|     919|     919|     736|     713|     697|     756|     709|     765|     728
Visual and performing arts .......................|   6,675|   8,817|   8,629|   8,420|   8,657|   9,925|  10,277|  10,280|  10,627|  11,145|  10,753|  10,918|  11,404|  11,595|  11,986|  12,906
Not classified by field of study .................|       0|       0|       0|       0|   8,523|   1,651|     577|     780|   4,519|     868|      88|   1,802|     528|      24|       0|       0
__________________________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________
\1\Data were imputed using alternative procedures. (See Guide to Sources for details.)
NOTE: The new Classification of Instructional Programs was initiated in 2002-03. 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 Agriculture, agriculture operations and related sciences and Natural resources and conservation; "Business" includes Business, management, marketing, and related support services and Personal and culinary services; and "Engineering technologies" includes Engineering technologies/technicians, Construction trades, and Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred" surveys, 1970-71 through 1985-86; and 1990-91 through 2003-04 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C91-99), and Fall 2000 through Fall 2004. (This table was prepared July 2005.)


2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest