Table 255.

Master's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by discipline division: Selected years, 1970–71 through 2004–05

Discipline division	1970–71	1975–76	1980–81	1985–86	1990–91	1993–94	1994–95	1995–96	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	2004–05
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	430,164	439,986	457,056	468,476	482,118	512,645	558,940	574,618
Agriculture and natural resources	2,457	3,340	4,003	3,801	3,295	4,110	4,234	4,551	4,464	4,404	4,360	4,272	4,503	4,492	4,783	4,746
Architecture and related services	1,705	3,215	3,153	3,260	3,490	3,943	3,923	3,993	4,347	4,172	4,268	4,302	4,566	4,925	5,424	5,674
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies	1,032	993	802	915	1,233	1,573	1,585	1,652	1,528	1,438	1,544	1,555	1,541	1,509	1,683	1,755
Biological and biomedical sciences	5,623	6,453	5,759	5,043	4,796	5,390	5,824	6,544	6,788	6,913	6,781	6,955	6,937	6,990	7,657	8,199
Business	26,490	42,592	57,888	66,676	78,255	93,285	93,540	93,554	101,652	107,477	111,532	115,602	119,725	127,545	139,347	142,617
Communication, journalism, and related programs	1,770	2,961	2,896	3,500	4,123	5,005	5,142	5,080	5,611	5,293	5,169	5,218	5,510	6,053	6,535	6,762
Communications technologies	86	165	209	308	204	383	417	481	486	263	356	427	470	442	365	433
Computer and information sciences	1,588	2,603	4,218	8,070	9,324	10,568	10,595	10,579	11,765	12,858	14,990	16,911	17,173	19,503	20,143	18,416
Education	87,666	126,061	96,713	74,816	87,352	97,427	99,835	104,936	113,374	118,048	123,045	127,829	135,189	147,448	162,345	167,490
Engineering	16,813	16,472	16,893	21,529	24,454	28,293	28,137	26,892	25,146	24,734	24,850	25,259	24,908	28,337	32,698	32,633
Engineering technologies	134	328	323	617	996	1,879	1,894	2,054	2,181	2,004	1,876	2,013	2,149	2,332	2,499	2,500
English language and literature/letters	10,441	8,599	5,742	5,335	6,784	7,611	7,612	7,657	7,587	7,288	7,022	6,763	7,097	7,413	7,956	8,468
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	1,452	2,179	2,570	2,011	1,541	1,559	1,702	1,712	1,838	1,736	1,882	1,838	1,683	1,610	1,794	1,827
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	5,480	4,432	2,934	2,690	3,049	3,612	3,439	3,443	3,181	3,106	3,037	3,035	3,075	3,049	3,124	3,407
Health professions and related clinical sciences	5,330	12,164	16,176	18,603	21,354	28,442	31,770	33,920	39,567	40,707	42,593	43,623	43,560	42,715	44,939	46,703
Legal professions and studies	955	1,442	1,832	1,924	2,057	2,432	2,511	2,751	3,228	3,308	3,750	3,829	4,053	4,126	4,243	4,170
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities	885	2,633	2,375	1,586	2,213	2,496	2,565	2,778	2,801	3,101	3,256	3,193	2,754	3,312	3,697	3,680
Library science	7,001	8,037	4,859	3,564	4,763	5,116	5,057	5,099	4,871	4,752	4,577	4,727	5,113	5,314	6,015	6,213
Mathematics and statistics	5,191	3,857	2,567	3,131	3,549	3,682	3,820	3,651	3,409	3,286	3,208	3,209	3,350	3,626	4,191	4,477
Military technologies	2	0	43	83	0	124	124	136	0	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	3,067	3,073	3,487	3,475	3,708	3,780	4,047	4,252
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	218	571	643	570	483	1,559	1,684	1,684	1,917	2,011	2,322	2,354	2,580	2,978	3,199	3,740
Philosophy and religious studies	1,326	1,358	1,231	1,193	1,471	1,410	1,434	1,363	1,396	1,357	1,376	1,386	1,371	1,578	1,578	1,647
Physical sciences and science technologies	6,336	5,428	5,246	5,860	5,281	5,648	5,716	5,807	5,328	5,124	4,810	5,049	5,012	5,109	5,570	5,678
Precision production	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	8	10	7	5	2	2	3	13	6
Psychology	5,717	10,167	10,223	9,845	11,349	13,723	15,378	15,152	15,142	15,688	15,740	16,539	16,357	17,123	17,898	18,830
Public administration and social services	7,785	15,209	17,803	15,692	17,905	21,833	23,501	24,229	25,144	24,925	25,594	25,268	25,448	25,894	28,250	29,552
Security and protective services	194	1,197	1,538	1,074	1,108	1,437	1,706	1,812	2,000	2,249	2,609	2,514	2,935	2,955	3,717	3,991
Social sciences and history	16,539	15,953	11,945	10,564	12,233	14,561	14,845	15,012	14,938	14,431	14,066	13,791	14,112	14,634	16,110	16,952
Theology and religious vocations	2,692	3,258	4,163	4,543	4,803	4,906	5,170	5,030	4,649	4,679	5,534	4,850	4,909	5,099	5,486	5,815
Transportation and materials moving	0	0	0	454	406	664	823	919	736	713	697	756	709	765	728	802
Visual and performing arts	6,675	8,817	8,629	8,420	8,657	9,925	10,277	10,280	11,145	10,753	10,918	11,404	11,595	11,986	12,906	13,183
Not classified by field of study	0	0	0	0	8,523	1,651	577	780	868	88	1,802	528	24	0	0	0

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 2004–05 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C:91–99), and Fall 2000 through Fall 2005. (This table was prepared July 2006.)