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Digest of Education Statistics
2018 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 323.10. Master's degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2016-17
Field of study 1970-71 1975-76 1980-81 1985-86 1990-91 1995-96 2000-01 2005-06 2006-07 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Total 235,564 317,477 302,637 295,850 342,863 412,180 473,502 599,862 610,703 662,082 693,313 730,922 755,967 751,718 754,582 758,804 785,757 804,684
Agriculture and natural resources 2,457 3,340 4,003 3,801 3,295 4,551 4,272 4,653 4,632 4,878 5,215 5,766 6,390 6,336 6,544 6,426 6,702 6,844
Architecture and related services 1,705 3,215 3,153 3,260 3,490 3,993 4,302 5,743 5,951 6,587 7,280 7,788 8,448 8,095 8,048 8,006 7,991 7,911
Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies 1,032 993 802 915 1,233 1,652 1,555 2,080 1,699 1,779 1,775 1,913 1,947 1,897 1,844 1,847 1,767 1,717
Biological and biomedical sciences 5,625 6,457 5,766 5,064 4,834 6,593 7,017 8,783 8,898 10,018 10,730 11,324 12,419 13,300 13,964 14,655 15,717 16,284
Business 26,490 42,592 57,888 66,676 78,255 93,554 115,602 146,396 150,213 168,404 177,748 187,178 191,606 188,617 189,364 185,236 186,835 187,404
                                     
Communication, journalism, and related programs 1,770 2,961 2,896 3,500 4,123 5,080 5,218 7,106 6,773 7,042 7,630 8,302 9,005 8,760 9,353 9,581 9,676 10,128
Communications technologies 86 165 209 308 204 481 427 521 499 475 463 502 497 577 577 554 491 539
Computer and information sciences 1,588 2,603 4,218 8,070 9,324 10,579 16,911 17,195 16,232 17,907 17,955 19,516 20,925 22,782 24,514 31,475 40,130 46,555
Education 87,666 126,061 96,713 74,816 87,352 104,936 127,829 174,622 176,583 178,538 182,165 185,127 179,047 164,652 154,655 146,581 145,792 145,680
Engineering 16,813 16,472 16,893 21,529 24,454 26,789 25,174 30,845 29,299 34,546 35,133 38,664 40,323 40,420 42,376 46,117 51,646 52,841
                                     
Engineering technologies 134 328 323 617 996 2,054 2,013 2,541 2,691 3,462 4,258 4,515 4,793 4,908 4,967 5,324 6,067 7,403
English language and literature/letters 10,441 8,599 5,742 5,335 6,784 7,657 6,763 8,845 8,745 9,262 9,202 9,475 9,938 9,755 9,294 8,928 8,581 8,247
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences 1,452 2,179 2,570 2,011 1,541 1,712 1,838 1,983 2,081 2,453 2,592 2,918 3,155 3,255 3,082 3,148 3,228 3,295
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics 5,480 4,432 2,934 2,690 3,049 3,443 3,035 3,539 3,443 3,592 3,756 3,727 3,827 3,708 3,482 3,566 3,407 3,274
Health professions and related programs 5,330 12,164 16,176 18,603 21,354 33,920 43,623 51,492 54,541 62,642 69,112 75,571 84,355 90,933 97,416 103,052 110,350 119,273
                                     
Homeland security, law enforcement, and
    firefighting
194 1,197 1,538 1,074 1,108 1,812 2,514 4,277 4,906 6,125 6,717 7,433 8,420 8,868 9,310 9,643 9,775 10,210
Legal professions and studies 955 1,442 1,832 1,924 2,057 2,751 3,829 4,453 4,486 5,150 5,767 6,475 6,614 7,013 7,654 7,924 8,181 8,674
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies,
    and humanities
885 2,633 2,375 1,586 2,213 2,778 3,193 3,702 3,634 3,729 3,822 3,997 3,792 3,264 3,002 2,794 2,598 2,485
Library science 7,001 8,037 4,859 3,564 4,763 5,099 4,727 6,448 6,767 7,091 7,448 7,729 7,443 6,983 5,840 5,259 4,926 4,843
Mathematics and statistics 5,191 3,857 2,567 3,131 3,549 3,651 3,209 4,729 4,884 5,211 5,639 5,866 6,246 6,957 7,273 7,589 8,451 9,086
                                     
Military technologies and applied sciences 2 0 43 83 0 136 0 0 202 3 0 0 29 32 29 71 152 274
Multi/interdisciplinary studies 924 1,283 2,356 2,869 2,079 2,713 3,413 4,396 4,613 5,225 5,947 6,762 7,746 7,953 8,120 8,100 8,554 9,234
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies 218 571 643 570 483 1,684 2,354 3,994 4,112 4,825 5,617 6,546 7,047 7,139 7,609 7,654 8,268 8,655
Philosophy and religious studies 1,326 1,358 1,231 1,193 1,471 1,363 1,386 1,739 1,716 1,859 2,045 1,839 2,003 1,934 2,095 1,912 1,756 1,705
Physical sciences and science technologies 6,336 5,428 5,246 5,860 5,281 5,910 5,134 6,063 6,015 5,862 6,066 6,386 6,911 7,014 6,984 7,100 7,131 7,143
                                     
Precision production 0 0 0 0 0 8 2 9 5 10 10 5 11 9 15 4 10 14
Psychology 5,717 10,167 10,223 9,845 11,349 15,152 16,539 19,775 21,096 23,415 23,763 25,062 27,052 27,787 27,926 26,772 27,645 27,542
Public administration and social services 7,785 15,209 17,803 15,692 17,905 24,229 25,268 30,492 31,132 33,934 35,740 38,614 41,737 43,591 44,508 45,948 46,754 45,393
Social sciences and history 16,539 15,953 11,945 10,564 12,233 15,012 13,791 17,368 17,666 19,241 20,234 21,085 21,891 21,591 21,497 20,533 19,861 20,015
Theology and religious vocations 7,747 8,964 11,061 11,826 10,498 10,909 9,876 11,758 12,436 12,851 12,848 13,170 13,341 14,275 14,128 14,278 14,352 13,654
                                     
Transportation and materials moving 0 0 0 454 406 919 756 784 985 1,048 1,074 1,390 1,702 1,444 1,243 971 911 839
Visual and performing arts 6,675 8,817 8,629 8,420 8,657 10,280 11,404 13,531 13,768 14,918 15,562 16,277 17,307 17,869 17,869 17,756 18,052 17,523
Not classified by field of study 0 0 0 0 8,523 780 528 0 0 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 postsecondary institutions that participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. 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 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS): "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. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.
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 2017, Completions component. (This table was prepared August 2018.)

2018 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest