Science and Engineering Degrees: 1966-94


CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
General Notes
Section A: Technical Notes
Section B: Statistical Charts
Section C: Detailed Statistical Tables



Suggested Citation

National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Degrees: 1966-94, NSF 96-321 (Arlington, VA, 1996).

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Contributors

Data collection, preparation, and tabulations were performed by Quantum Research Corp. for the National Science Foundation. The Project Officer for this report was Susan T. Hill.


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Acknowledgments

The development of Science and Engineering Degrees: 1966-94, was managed by Susan T. Hill, Analyst, National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Science Resources Studies (SRS), Science and Engineering Education and Human Resources Program (EDU), under the overall direction of Mary J. Golladay, Program Director, NSF, SRS, EDU. Additional support was provided by Alan R. Tupek, Deputy Division Director, SRS. Anne Houghton and Julia Harriston, SRS, provided editorial services. Quantum Research Corp. (QRC) of Bethesda, MD, under NSF contract number SRS-9423167, prepared the tables, charts, and report copy. QRC staff members who worked on this project were Heidi L. Clark, Barbara K. DePaul, Teresa L. Grimes, George J. Nozicka, Elizabeth H. Peto, and Jennifer D. Ranwez.


General Notes

This publication is based on data obtained from several Federal agencies that had acquired them as part of their general statistics programs. The bachelor's and master's degree data were obtained from universe institution surveys of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education. Data on doctorates are from the Survey of Earned Doctorates, a universe survey of individual doctorate recipients that is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and four other Federal agencies, and were collected by the National Research Council. Estimates of population in the various age categories are based on data that were collected and published by the Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce.

The data in this report cover earned degrees conferred in the aggregate United States, which comprises the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Territories and Outlying Areas (American Samoa, the former Canal Zone, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands). Degree data are compiled for a 12-month period, July through June of the following year. For convenience, degrees in a given July-through-June period are referred to by the year in which the period ended; e.g., 1994 means the 12-month period ending June 1994.

It is difficult to establish a completely consistent series of degree data over a long period of time because of changes in definitions, instructions, and field classifications, including the introduction of new specialties. The data for earlier years are presented as consistently as possible with the classifications used in the current Classification of Instructional Programs (Washington, DC, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office). See the Technical Notes for further information on the field classifications used.

This publication focuses on degrees in science and engineering fields, and, where appropriate, the data have been reclassified according to NSF field categories. This report supersedes previous editions, not only because it includes later data, but because fields classified as science and engineering differ slightly, especially in the social sciences at the doctorate level, from those of past editions. It should be noted that data on engineering technology degrees and degrees in the health/medical sciences are not included in the science and engineering totals here. The time series for this report begins in 1966.

For more information, please contact the NSF principal author-

Susan T. Hill
Division of Science Resources Studies
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965
Arlington, VA 22230

Telephone: (703) 306-1774, ext. 6915
Internet: sthill@nsf.gov