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Digest of Education Statistics
1997 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 250.Bachelor's degrees conferred by institutions of higher education, by discipline division: 1970-71 to 1994-95 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________    
            Discipline division                 |1970-71 |1975-76 |1980-81 |1982-83 |1983-84 |1984-85 |1985-86 |1986-87 |1987-88 | 1988-89  | 1989-90  | 1990-91  | 1991-92  | 1992-93  | 1993-94  | 1994-95
________________________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________
                   1                            |   2    |   3    |   4    |   5    |   6    |   7    |   8    |   9    |   10   |    11    |    12    |    13    |    14    |    15    |    16    |    17
________________________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________
     Total .....................................|839,730 |925,746 |935,140 |969,510 |974,309 |979,477 |987,823 |991,264 |994,829 |1,018,755 |1,051,344 |1,094,538 |1,136,553 |1,165,178 |1,169,275 |1,160,134
                                                |________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________
Agriculture and natural resources ..............| 12,672 | 19,402 | 21,886 | 20,909 | 19,317 | 18,107 | 16,823 | 14,991 | 14,222 |   13,492 |   12,900 |   13,124 |   15,124 |   16,778 |   18,070 |   19,841
Architecture and related programs ..............|  5,570 |  9,146 |  9,455 |  9,823 |  9,186 |  9,325 |  9,119 |  8,950 |  8,603 |    9,150 |    9,364 |    9,781 |    8,753 |    9,167 |    8,975 |    8,756
Area, ethnic and cultural studies ..............|  2,582 |  3,577 |  2,887 |  3,068 |  3,005 |  2,985 |  3,178 |  3,427 |  3,601 |    4,102 |    4,613 |    4,884 |    5,342 |    5,481 |    5,573 |    5,706
Biological sciences/life sciences ..............| 35,743 | 54,275 | 43,216 | 39,982 | 38,640 | 38,445 | 38,524 | 38,121 | 36,755 |   36,059 |   37,204 |   39,530 |   42,941 |   47,038 |   51,383 |   55,984
Business .......................................|114,729 |142,034 |198,983 |226,627 |229,478 |232,636 |237,319 |240,546 |243,021 |  246,399 |  248,698 |  249,311 |  256,603 |  256,842 |  246,654 |  234,323
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Communications .................................| 10,324 | 20,045 | 29,428 | 36,954 | 38,586 | 40,358 | 41,666 | 43,953 | 45,410 |   47,405 |   50,114 |   51,650 |   54,257 |   53,874 |   51,164 |   48,104
Communications technologies ....................|    478 |  1,237 |  1,854 |  1,613 |  1,527 |  1,644 |  1,410 |  1,384 |  1,239 |    1,204 |    1,194 |    1,123 |      720 |      832 |      663 |      699
Computer and information sciences ..............|  2,388 |  5,652 | 15,121 | 24,510 | 32,172 | 38,878 | 41,889 | 39,589 | 34,523 |   30,454 |   27,257 |   25,083 |   24,557 |   24,200 |   24,200 |   24,404
Education ......................................|176,307 |154,437 |108,074 | 97,895 | 92,299 | 88,072 | 87,114 | 86,936 | 91,112 |   96,913 |  105,112 |  110,807 |  108,006 |  107,781 |  107,600 |  106,079
Engineering ....................................| 44,898 | 38,388 | 63,287 | 72,163 | 75,638 | 77,066 | 76,225 | 73,747 | 69,380 |   66,099 |   63,609 |   61,531 |   61,206 |   61,973 |   62,220 |   62,342
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Engineering-related technologies ...............|  5,148 |  7,943 | 11,713 | 16,855 | 18,547 | 18,762 | 19,435 | 19,069 | 19,126 |   18,903 |   17,713 |   17,119 |   16,335 |   16,078 |   16,005 |   15,812
English language and literature/letters ........| 64,342 | 42,006 | 32,254 | 31,829 | 32,834 | 33,218 | 34,552 | 36,284 | 38,661 |   42,470 |   47,519 |   51,841 |   54,951 |   56,133 |   53,924 |   51,901
Foreign languages and literatures...............| 20,536 | 16,484 | 11,273 | 10,599 | 10,384 | 10,827 | 10,984 | 11,034 | 10,926 |   11,693 |   12,386 |   13,133 |   13,903 |   14,387 |   14,378 |   13,775
Health professions and related sciences ........| 25,226 | 53,958 | 63,649 | 64,685 | 64,288 | 64,422 | 64,396 | 63,103 | 60,644 |   59,005 |   58,302 |   59,070 |   61,720 |   67,089 |   74,421 |   79,855
Home economics and vocational home economics ...| 11,167 | 17,409 | 18,370 | 16,296 | 15,948 | 15,157 | 14,889 | 14,417 | 14,320 |   14,160 |   14,491 |   14,892 |   14,898 |   15,100 |   15,522 |   15,345
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Law and legal studies ..........................|    545 |    531 |    776 |  1,099 |  1,272 |  1,157 |  1,197 |  1,178 |  1,303 |    1,976 |    1,592 |    1,758 |    2,144 |    2,056 |    2,171 |    2,032
Liberal arts and sciences,                      |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |          |          |          |          |          |          |
  general studies, and humanities ..............|  7,481 | 18,855 | 21,643 | 21,603 | 21,479 | 21,818 | 21,336 | 23,717 | 24,274 |   26,388 |   27,985 |   30,526 |   32,174 |   33,456 |   33,397 |   33,356
Library science ................................|  1,013 |    843 |    375 |    254 |    252 |    197 |    155 |    136 |    119 |      121 |       77 |       90 |       97 |       83 |       62 |       50
Mathematics ....................................| 24,937 | 16,329 | 11,433 | 12,719 | 13,764 | 15,861 | 17,147 | 16,999 | 16,608 |   15,994 |   15,176 |   15,310 |   14,783 |   14,812 |   14,396 |   13,723
Multi/interdisciplinary studies ................|  6,286 | 13,588 | 12,848 | 14,107 | 13,940 | 12,978 | 13,489 | 13,933 | 14,723 |   15,168 |   16,267 |   17,561 |   20,647 |   23,955 |   25,167 |   26,033
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Parks, recreation, leisure and fitness studies .|  1,621 |  5,182 |  5,729 |  5,214 |  4,850 |  4,725 |  4,620 |  4,264 |  4,235 |    4,376 |    4,582 |    4,315 |    8,446 |    9,859 |   11,470 |   12,889
Philosophy and religion ........................|  8,146 |  8,447 |  6,776 |  6,483 |  6,435 |  6,400 |  6,239 |  5,984 |  5,963 |    6,425 |    6,868 |    7,315 |    7,526 |    7,781 |    7,546 |    7,276
Physical sciences and science technologies......| 21,412 | 21,465 | 23,952 | 23,381 | 23,651 | 23,704 | 21,717 | 20,070 | 17,806 |   17,186 |   16,066 |   16,344 |   16,960 |   17,545 |   18,400 |   19,177
Precision production trades.....................|     ---|     ---|     ---|    384 |    371 |    553 |    400 |    455 |    481 |      482 |      528 |      460 |      378 |      388 |      420 |      353
Protective services ............................|  2,045 | 12,507 | 13,707 | 12,579 | 12,654 | 12,510 | 12,704 | 12,930 | 13,367 |   14,698 |   15,354 |   16,806 |   18,855 |   20,902 |   23,009 |   24,157
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Psychology .....................................| 38,187 | 50,278 | 41,068 | 40,460 | 39,955 | 39,900 | 40,628 | 42,994 | 45,187 |   48,910 |   53,952 |   58,655 |   63,513 |   66,728 |   69,259 |   72,083
Public administration and services .............|  5,466 | 15,440 | 16,707 | 14,414 | 12,570 | 11,754 | 11,887 | 12,328 | 12,385 |   13,162 |   13,908 |   14,350 |   15,987 |   16,775 |   17,815 |   18,586
R.O.T.C. and military technologies .............|    357 |    952 |     42 |    267 |    195 |    299 |    256 |    384 |     82 |      198 |      196 |      183 |      184 |       11 |       19 |       27
Social sciences and history.....................|155,324 |126,396 |100,513 | 95,228 | 93,323 | 91,570 | 93,840 | 96,342 |100,460 |  108,151 |  118,083 |  125,107 |  133,974 |  135,703 |  133,680 |  128,154
Theological studies/religious vocations ........|  3,744 |  5,520 |  5,841 |  6,054 |  5,920 |  6,047 |  5,607 |  5,730 |  5,565 |    5,318 |    5,200 |    4,813 |    4,729 |    5,433 |    5,434 |    5,578
                                                |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Transportation and material moving workers .....|    662 |  1,282 |  1,801 |  1,662 |  1,698 |  1,962 |  1,837 |  1,654 |  1,983 |    2,062 |    2,387 |    2,622 |    3,598 |    3,930 |    3,923 |    3,698
Visual and performing arts .....................| 30,394 | 42,138 | 40,479 | 39,794 | 40,131 | 38,140 | 37,241 | 36,615 | 36,944 |   38,227 |   39,934 |   42,186 |   46,522 |   47,761 |   49,053 |   48,690
Not classified by field of study ...............|      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |      0 |  1,801 |    2,405 |    2,713 |   13,258 |    6,720 |    5,247 |    3,302 |    1,346
________________________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________

---Data not available or not applicable.

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 March 1997.)



1997 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest
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