Table 287.

Master's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2009-10

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	2009-10
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Total	235,564	317,477	302,637	295,850	342,863	412,180	446,038	463,185	473,502	487,313	518,699	564,272	580,151	599,731	610,597	630,666	662,079	693,025
Agriculture and natural resources	2,457	3,340	4,003	3,801	3,295	4,551	4,376	4,360	4,272	4,503	4,492	4,783	4,746	4,640	4,623	4,684	4,877	5,211
Architecture and related services	1,705	3,215	3,153	3,260	3,490	3,993	4,235	4,268	4,302	4,566	4,925	5,424	5,674	5,743	5,951	6,065	6,587	7,280
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies	1,032	993	802	915	1,233	1,652	1,439	1,544	1,555	1,541	1,509	1,683	1,755	2,080	1,699	1,778	1,779	1,775
Biological and biomedical sciences	5,625	6,457	5,766	5,064	4,834	6,593	6,966	6,850	7,017	7,011	7,050	7,732	8,284	8,781	8,898	9,689	10,017	10,725
Business	26,490	42,592	57,888	66,676	78,255	93,554	106,830	111,532	115,602	119,725	127,685	139,347	142,617	146,406	150,211	155,637	168,375	177,684
Communication, journalism, and related programs	1,770	2,961	2,896	3,500	4,123	5,080	5,319	5,169	5,218	5,510	6,053	6,535	6,762	7,244	6,773	6,915	7,092	7,636
Communications technologies	86	165	209	308	204	481	263	356	427	470	442	365	433	501	499	631	475	463
Computer and information sciences	1,588	2,603	4,218	8,070	9,324	10,579	12,843	14,990	16,911	17,173	19,509	20,143	18,416	17,055	16,232	17,087	17,907	17,953
Education	87,666	126,061	96,713	74,816	87,352	104,936	118,226	123,045	127,829	135,189	147,883	162,345	167,490	174,620	176,572	175,880	178,564	182,139
Engineering	16,813	16,472	16,893	21,529	24,454	26,789	24,682	24,772	25,174	24,838	28,251	32,554	32,488	30,848	29,299	31,557	34,546	35,088
Engineering technologies	134	328	323	617	996	2,054	2,007	1,876	2,013	2,149	2,332	2,499	2,500	2,541	2,690	2,873	3,455	4,258
English language and literature/letters	10,441	8,599	5,742	5,335	6,784	7,657	7,326	7,022	6,763	7,097	7,428	7,956	8,468	8,845	8,742	9,161	9,261	9,201
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	1,452	2,179	2,570	2,011	1,541	1,712	1,764	1,882	1,838	1,683	1,607	1,794	1,827	1,983	2,080	2,199	2,453	2,580
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	5,480	4,432	2,934	2,690	3,049	3,443	3,109	3,037	3,035	3,075	3,049	3,124	3,407	3,539	3,443	3,565	3,592	3,755
Health professions and related programs	5,330	12,164	16,176	18,603	21,354	33,920	40,628	42,593	43,623	43,560	42,748	44,939	46,703	51,380	54,531	58,120	62,620	69,084
Homeland security, law enforcement, and    firefighting	194	1,197	1,538	1,074	1,108	1,812	2,248	2,609	2,514	2,935	2,956	3,717	3,991	4,277	4,906	5,760	6,128	6,714
Legal professions and studies	955	1,442	1,832	1,924	2,057	2,751	3,291	3,750	3,829	4,053	4,141	4,243	4,170	4,453	4,486	4,815	5,150	5,734
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,    and humanities	885	2,633	2,375	1,586	2,213	2,778	3,094	3,256	3,193	2,754	3,314	3,697	3,680	3,702	3,634	3,797	3,728	3,804
Library science	7,001	8,037	4,859	3,564	4,763	5,099	4,764	4,577	4,727	5,113	5,295	6,015	6,213	6,448	6,767	7,162	7,091	7,448
Mathematics and statistics	5,191	3,857	2,567	3,131	3,549	3,651	3,304	3,208	3,209	3,350	3,620	4,191	4,477	4,730	4,884	4,980	5,211	5,634
Military technologies and applied sciences	2	0	43	83	0	136	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	202	0	3	0
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	924	1,283	2,356	2,869	2,079	2,713	3,035	3,418	3,413	3,634	3,721	3,972	4,167	4,391	4,611	5,165	5,225	5,973
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	218	571	643	570	483	1,684	2,001	2,322	2,354	2,580	2,978	3,199	3,740	3,992	4,110	4,440	4,822	5,617
Philosophy and religious studies	1,326	1,358	1,231	1,193	1,471	1,363	1,351	1,376	1,386	1,371	1,578	1,578	1,647	1,739	1,716	1,879	1,859	2,043
Physical sciences and science technologies	6,336	5,428	5,246	5,860	5,281	5,910	5,241	4,888	5,134	5,082	5,196	5,714	5,823	6,063	6,012	6,061	5,862	6,063
Precision production	0	0	0	0	0	8	7	5	2	2	3	13	6	9	5	3	10	10
Psychology	5,717	10,167	10,223	9,845	11,349	15,152	15,560	15,740	16,539	16,357	17,161	17,898	18,830	19,770	21,037	21,431	23,415	23,752
Public administration and social services	7,785	15,209	17,803	15,692	17,905	24,229	25,038	25,594	25,268	25,448	25,903	28,250	29,552	30,510	31,131	33,029	33,933	35,729
Social sciences and history	16,539	15,953	11,945	10,564	12,233	15,012	14,396	14,066	13,791	14,112	14,630	16,110	16,952	17,369	17,665	18,495	19,240	20,222
Theology and religious vocations	7,747	8,964	11,061	11,826	10,498	10,909	10,203	11,663	9,876	10,104	10,493	10,818	11,348	11,758	12,436	12,578	12,836	12,824
Transportation and materials moving	0	0	0	454	406	919	713	697	756	709	765	728	802	784	985	982	1,048	1,074
Visual and performing arts	6,675	8,817	8,629	8,420	8,657	10,280	10,762	10,918	11,404	11,595	11,982	12,906	13,183	13,530	13,767	14,164	14,918	15,552
Not classified by field of study	0	0	0	0	8,523	780	1,017	1,802	528	24	0	0	0	0	0	84	0	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 2009-10. 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 and engineering-related fields, 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; Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C:91-99); and IPEDS Fall 2000 through Fall 2010, Completions component. (This table was prepared July 2011.)