Table 288.

Doctor'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	64,998	91,007	98,016	100,280	105,547	115,507	116,700	118,736	119,585	119,663	121,579	126,087	134,387	138,056	144,690	149,378	154,425	158,558
Agriculture and natural resources	1,086	928	1,067	1,158	1,185	1,259	1,249	1,168	1,127	1,148	1,229	1,185	1,173	1,194	1,272	1,257	1,328	1,147
Architecture and related services	36	82	93	73	135	141	119	129	153	183	152	173	179	201	178	199	212	210
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies	143	186	161	156	159	183	187	205	216	212	186	209	189	226	233	270	239	253
Biological and biomedical sciences	3,603	3,347	3,640	3,405	4,152	5,250	5,250	5,463	5,225	5,104	5,268	5,538	5,935	6,162	6,764	7,400	7,499	7,666
Business	774	906	808	923	1,185	1,366	1,216	1,194	1,180	1,156	1,252	1,481	1,498	1,711	2,029	2,084	2,123	2,245
Communication, journalism, and related programs	145	196	171	212	259	338	343	347	368	374	394	418	465	461	479	489	533	570
Communications technologies	0	8	11	6	13	7	5	10	2	9	4	8	3	3	1	7	2	3
Computer and information sciences	128	244	252	344	676	869	806	779	768	752	816	909	1,119	1,416	1,595	1,698	1,580	1,599
Education	6,041	7,202	7,279	6,610	6,189	6,246	6,471	6,409	6,284	6,549	6,832	7,088	7,681	7,584	8,261	8,491	9,028	9,233
Engineering	3,687	2,872	2,598	3,444	5,316	6,304	5,384	5,336	5,485	5,123	5,195	5,801	6,413	7,243	7,867	7,922	7,742	7,704
Engineering technologies	1	2	10	12	14	50	29	31	62	58	57	58	54	75	61	55	59	67
English language and literature/letters	1,554	1,514	1,040	895	1,056	1,395	1,412	1,470	1,330	1,291	1,246	1,207	1,212	1,254	1,178	1,262	1,271	1,332
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	123	178	247	307	229	375	322	327	354	311	376	329	331	340	337	323	333	296
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	1,084	1,245	931	768	889	1,020	1,049	1,086	1,078	1,003	1,042	1,031	1,027	1,074	1,059	1,078	1,111	1,091
Health professions and related programs	15,988	25,267	29,595	31,922	29,842	32,678	35,939	37,829	39,019	39,435	39,799	41,861	44,201	45,677	48,943	51,675	54,709	57,746
Homeland security, law enforcement, and firefighting	1	9	21	21	28	38	47	52	44	49	72	54	94	80	85	88	97	106
Legal professions and studies	17,441	32,369	36,391	35,898	38,035	39,919	38,355	38,226	38,190	39,060	39,172	40,328	43,521	43,569	43,629	43,880	44,304	44,626
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,    and humanities	32	162	121	90	70	75	81	83	102	113	78	95	109	84	77	76	67	96
Library science	39	71	71	62	56	53	58	68	58	45	62	47	42	44	52	64	35	64
Mathematics and statistics	1,199	856	728	742	978	1,158	1,107	1,075	997	923	1,007	1,060	1,176	1,293	1,351	1,360	1,535	1,592
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	101	156	236	352	306	549	504	509	512	484	634	580	626	600	683	660	731	631
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	2	15	42	39	28	104	139	134	177	151	199	222	207	194	218	228	285	266
Philosophy and religious studies	555	556	411	480	464	550	578	598	600	610	662	595	586	578	637	635	686	667
Physical sciences and science technologies	4,324	3,388	3,105	3,521	4,248	4,589	4,229	4,017	3,968	3,824	3,939	3,937	4,248	4,642	5,041	4,994	5,237	5,063
Psychology	2,144	3,157	3,576	3,593	3,932	4,141	4,678	4,731	5,091	4,759	4,835	4,827	5,106	4,921	5,153	5,296	5,477	5,540
Public administration and social services	174	292	362	382	430	499	534	537	574	571	599	649	673	704	726	760	812	838
Social sciences and history	3,660	4,157	3,122	2,955	3,012	3,760	3,873	4,095	3,930	3,902	3,850	3,811	3,819	3,914	3,844	4,059	4,234	4,238
Theology and religious vocations	312	1,022	1,273	1,185	1,076	1,517	1,433	1,630	1,461	1,350	1,329	1,304	1,422	1,429	1,573	1,615	1,587	2,070
Transportation and materials moving	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Visual and performing arts	621	620	654	722	838	1,067	1,117	1,127	1,167	1,114	1,293	1,282	1,278	1,383	1,364	1,453	1,569	1,599
Not classified by field of study	0	0	0	0	747	7	186	71	63	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	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. Includes Ph.D., Ed.D., and comparable degrees at the doctoral level, as well as such degrees as M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees that were formerly classified as first-professional degrees. 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.)