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Thursday, January 3, 2008
Number of Doctorate Recipients Up 5.1 Percent in 2006
The data of 2007 has not been released yet. But data from previous years tells us that the number of advanced degree holders is steadily increased each year. Maybe everyone soon will realize that an advanced degree, particularly a Ph.D. degree, is important for future career development.
- The 45,596 research doctorates awarded during the 2005-2006 academic year represent an increase of 5.1 percent from the 43,385 doctorates awarded in 2005, and is the highest number in the history.
- The number of research doctorates awarded by broad field in 2006 was greatest in life sciences, which conferred 9,683 research doctorates.
- Women received 20,539 doctorates, or 45 percent of all research doctorates granted in 2006. Women earned 65 percent of the doctorates granted in education, 57 percent in social sciences and psychology, 52 percent in life sciences, 51 percent in humanities, and 48 percent in other fields. In physical sciences and engineering, women constituted 28 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
- In 2006, 51 percent of all research doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens went to women, the same percentage as 2005, marking the fifth consecutive year U.S. women were awarded more doctorates than their male counterparts.
- Twenty percent of all research doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens in 2006 were earned by U.S. racial/ethnic minority group members. This is the highest percentage recorded in the history.
- U.S. citizens received 63 percent of all research doctorates and 56 percent of science and engineering.
- China was the country of origin for the largest number of non-U.S. doctorates in 2006, with 4,774, followed by India with 1,742, Korea with 1,648, Taiwan with 718, and Canada with 561. The percentage of doctorates earned by U.S. citizens ranged from lows of 32 percent in engineering and 47 percent in physical sciences, to highs of 87 percent in education and 78 percent in humanities.
- Median time to degree since receipt of the baccalaureate was 9.5 years in 2006, and has shown little change over the past 25 years.
- Median time to degree since first enrollment in any graduate program has also shown little change in this time period and was 7.9 years in 2006.
- Most of the 2006 doctorate recipients (74 percent) received their primary financial support for graduate education from such program- or institution-administered sources as university fellowships or teaching and research assistantships. Just over half (52 percent) of the 2006 doctorate recipients reported no educational indebtedness at completion of the doctorate; 13 percent reported cumulative education-related debt levels of $50,001 or more.
- Seventy-two percent of the new doctorate recipients had definite postgraduation plans for employment or continued study. Of those, 66 percent planned to work and 34 percent planned to continue their studies as postdoctoral scholars. For the graduates with firm commitments for employment in the U.S., 54 percent planned to work at educational institutions, while 26 percent planned to work in industry or be self-employed, and 6 percent had definite plans for government work.
Source: NSF-The National Science Foundation
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