Table 284.

Doctor'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	32,107	34,064	32,958	33,653	39,294	44,652	44,077	44,808	44,904	44,160	46,042	48,378	52,631	56,067	60,616	63,712	67,716
Agriculture and natural resources	1,086	928	1,067	1,158	1,185	1,259	1,231	1,168	1,127	1,148	1,229	1,185	1,173	1,194	1,272	1,257	1,328
Architecture and related services	36	82	93	73	135	141	123	129	153	183	152	173	179	201	178	199	212
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies	143	186	161	156	159	183	187	205	216	212	186	209	189	226	233	270	239
Biological and biomedical sciences	3,595	3,313	3,591	3,352	4,034	5,035	5,024	5,180	4,953	4,823	5,003	5,242	5,578	5,775	6,354	6,918	6,957
Business	774	906	808	923	1,185	1,366	1,201	1,194	1,180	1,156	1,252	1,481	1,498	1,711	2,029	2,084	2,123
Communication, journalism, and related programs	145	196	171	212	259	338	347	347	368	374	394	418	465	461	479	489	533
Communications technologies	0	8	11	6	13	7	5	10	2	9	4	8	3	3	1	7	2
Computer and information sciences	128	244	252	344	676	869	801	779	768	752	816	909	1,119	1,416	1,595	1,698	1,580
Education	6,041	7,202	7,279	6,610	6,189	6,246	6,394	6,409	6,284	6,549	6,832	7,088	7,681	7,584	8,261	8,491	9,028
Engineering	3,687	2,872	2,598	3,444	5,316	6,381	5,432	5,390	5,542	5,187	5,276	5,923	6,547	7,396	8,062	8,112	7,931
Engineering technologies	1	2	10	12	14	50	29	31	62	58	57	58	54	75	61	55	59
English language and literature/letters	1,554	1,514	1,040	895	1,056	1,395	1,407	1,470	1,330	1,291	1,246	1,207	1,212	1,254	1,178	1,262	1,271
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	123	178	247	307	229	375	323	327	354	311	376	329	331	340	337	323	333
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
Health professions and related clinical sciences	518	617	868	1,139	1,534	1,651	1,920	2,053	2,242	2,913	3,329	4,361	5,868	7,128	8,355	9,886	12,112
Legal professions and studies	20	76	60	54	90	91	58	74	286	79	105	119	98	129	143	172	259
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,    and humanities	32	162	121	90	70	75	78	83	102	113	78	95	109	84	77	76	67
Library science	39	71	71	62	56	53	55	68	58	45	62	47	42	44	52	64	35
Mathematics and statistics	1,199	856	728	742	978	1,158	1,090	1,075	997	923	1,007	1,060	1,176	1,293	1,351	1,360	1,535
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	109	190	285	405	424	764	754	792	784	765	899	876	983	987	1,093	1,142	1,273
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	2	15	42	39	28	104	137	134	177	151	199	222	207	194	218	228	285
Philosophy and religious studies	555	556	411	480	464	550	584	598	600	610	662	595	586	578	637	635	686
Physical sciences and science technologies	4,324	3,388	3,105	3,521	4,248	4,512	4,142	3,963	3,911	3,760	3,858	3,815	4,114	4,489	4,846	4,804	5,048
Psychology	2,144	3,157	3,576	3,593	3,932	4,141	4,695	4,731	5,091	4,759	4,835	4,827	5,106	4,921	5,153	5,296	5,477
Public administration and social services	174	292	362	382	430	499	532	537	574	571	599	649	673	704	726	760	812
Security and protective services	1	9	21	21	28	38	48	52	44	49	72	54	94	80	85	88	97
Social sciences and history	3,660	4,157	3,122	2,955	3,012	3,760	3,855	4,095	3,930	3,902	3,850	3,811	3,819	3,914	3,844	4,059	4,234
Theology and religious vocations	312	1,022	1,273	1,185	1,076	1,517	1,440	1,630	1,461	1,350	1,329	1,304	1,422	1,429	1,573	1,446	1,520
Transportation and materials moving	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Visual and performing arts	621	620	654	722	838	1,067	1,130	1,127	1,167	1,114	1,293	1,282	1,278	1,383	1,364	1,453	1,569
Not classified by field of study	0	0	0	0	747	7	6	71	63	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.) Includes Ph.D., E.D., and comparable degrees at the doctoral level. Excludes first-professional degrees such as M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees. 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.)