Table 283.

Master's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2008-09

Field of study	1970-71	1975-76	1980-81	1985-86	1990-91	1995-96	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Total	230,509	311,771	295,739	288,567	337,168	406,301	439,986	457,056	468,476	482,118	513,339	558,940	574,618	594,065	604,607	625,023	656,784
Agriculture and natural resources	2,457	3,340	4,003	3,801	3,295	4,551	4,404	4,360	4,272	4,503	4,492	4,783	4,746	4,640	4,623	4,684	4,877
Architecture and related services	1,705	3,215	3,153	3,260	3,490	3,993	4,172	4,268	4,302	4,566	4,925	5,424	5,674	5,743	5,951	6,065	6,587
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies	1,032	993	802	915	1,233	1,652	1,438	1,544	1,555	1,541	1,509	1,683	1,755	2,080	1,699	1,778	1,779
Biological and biomedical sciences	5,623	6,453	5,759	5,043	4,796	6,544	6,913	6,781	6,955	6,937	6,990	7,657	8,199	8,681	8,747	9,565	9,898
Business	26,490	42,592	57,888	66,676	78,255	93,554	107,477	111,532	115,602	119,725	127,685	139,347	142,617	146,406	150,211	155,637	168,375
Communication, journalism, and related programs	1,770	2,961	2,896	3,500	4,123	5,080	5,293	5,169	5,218	5,510	6,053	6,535	6,762	7,244	6,773	6,915	7,092
Communications technologies	86	165	209	308	204	481	263	356	427	470	442	365	433	501	499	631	475
Computer and information sciences	1,588	2,603	4,218	8,070	9,324	10,579	12,858	14,990	16,911	17,173	19,509	20,143	18,416	17,055	16,232	17,087	17,907
Education	87,666	126,061	96,713	74,816	87,352	104,936	118,048	123,045	127,829	135,189	147,883	162,345	167,490	174,620	176,572	175,880	178,564
Engineering	16,813	16,472	16,893	21,529	24,454	26,892	24,734	24,850	25,259	24,908	28,338	32,698	32,633	30,989	29,472	31,719	34,750
Engineering technologies	134	328	323	617	996	2,054	2,004	1,876	2,013	2,149	2,332	2,499	2,500	2,541	2,690	2,873	3,455
English language and literature/letters	10,441	8,599	5,742	5,335	6,784	7,657	7,288	7,022	6,763	7,097	7,428	7,956	8,468	8,845	8,742	9,161	9,261
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	1,452	2,179	2,570	2,011	1,541	1,712	1,736	1,882	1,838	1,683	1,607	1,794	1,827	1,983	2,080	2,199	2,453
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	5,480	4,432	2,934	2,690	3,049	3,443	3,106	3,037	3,035	3,075	3,049	3,124	3,407	3,539	3,443	3,565	3,592
Health professions and related clinical sciences	5,330	12,164	16,176	18,603	21,354	33,920	40,707	42,593	43,623	43,560	42,748	44,939	46,703	51,380	54,531	58,120	62,620
Legal professions and studies	955	1,442	1,832	1,924	2,057	2,751	3,308	3,750	3,829	4,053	4,141	4,243	4,170	4,453	4,486	4,754	5,150
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,    and humanities	885	2,633	2,375	1,586	2,213	2,778	3,101	3,256	3,193	2,754	3,314	3,697	3,680	3,702	3,634	3,797	3,728
Library science	7,001	8,037	4,859	3,564	4,763	5,099	4,752	4,577	4,727	5,113	5,295	6,015	6,213	6,448	6,767	7,162	7,091
Mathematics and statistics	5,191	3,857	2,567	3,131	3,549	3,651	3,286	3,208	3,209	3,350	3,620	4,191	4,477	4,730	4,884	4,980	5,211
Military technologies	2	0	43	83	0	136	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	202	0	3
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	926	1,287	2,363	2,890	2,117	2,762	3,073	3,487	3,475	3,708	3,781	4,047	4,252	4,491	4,762	5,289	5,344
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	218	571	643	570	483	1,684	2,011	2,322	2,354	2,580	2,978	3,199	3,740	3,992	4,110	4,440	4,822
Philosophy and religious studies	1,326	1,358	1,231	1,193	1,471	1,363	1,357	1,376	1,386	1,371	1,578	1,578	1,647	1,739	1,716	1,879	1,859
Physical sciences and science technologies	6,336	5,428	5,246	5,860	5,281	5,807	5,124	4,810	5,049	5,012	5,109	5,570	5,678	5,922	5,839	5,899	5,658
Precision production	0	0	0	0	0	8	7	5	2	2	3	13	6	9	5	3	10
Psychology	5,717	10,167	10,223	9,845	11,349	15,152	15,688	15,740	16,539	16,357	17,161	17,898	18,830	19,770	21,037	21,431	23,415
Public administration and social services	7,785	15,209	17,803	15,692	17,905	24,229	24,925	25,594	25,268	25,448	25,903	28,250	29,552	30,510	31,131	33,029	33,933
Security and protective services	194	1,197	1,538	1,074	1,108	1,812	2,249	2,609	2,514	2,935	2,956	3,717	3,991	4,277	4,906	5,760	6,128
Social sciences and history	16,539	15,953	11,945	10,564	12,233	15,012	14,431	14,066	13,791	14,112	14,630	16,110	16,952	17,369	17,665	18,495	19,240
Theology and religious vocations	2,692	3,258	4,163	4,543	4,803	5,030	4,679	5,534	4,850	4,909	5,133	5,486	5,815	6,092	6,446	6,996	7,541
Transportation and materials moving	0	0	0	454	406	919	713	697	756	709	765	728	802	784	985	982	1,048
Visual and performing arts	6,675	8,817	8,629	8,420	8,657	10,280	10,753	10,918	11,404	11,595	11,982	12,906	13,183	13,530	13,767	14,164	14,918
Not classified by field of study	0	0	0	0	8,523	780	88	1,802	528	24	0	0	0	0	0	84	0

NOTE: Data through 1990-91 are for institutions of higher education, while later data are for degree-granting institutions. Degree-granting institutions grant associate’s or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. The degree-granting classification is very similar to the earlier higher education classification, but it includes more 2-year colleges and excludes a few higher education institutions that did not grant degrees. (See Appendix A: Guide to Sources for details.) 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 2008-09 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C:91-99), and Fall 2000 through Fall 2009. (This table was prepared August 2010.)