Chapter 2 | Higher Education in Science and Engineering

Graduate Education, Enrollment, and Degrees in the United States

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• Institutions Providing S&E Education
• International S&E Higher Education
• National Trends in K–12 Student Achievement
• S&E First University Degrees by Sex
• Student Learning in Mathematics and Science
• Transition to Higher Education
• Undergraduate Education, Enrollment, and Degrees in the United States

S&E graduate enrollment in the United States reached nearly 668,000 in 2015, an increase of about 35% since 2000 (Appendix Table 2-23).^​ Most of the growth in this period occurred in the 2000s, with stable enrollment between 2008 and 2013 and resumed growth in 2014 and 2015. The highest enrollment growth was recorded in computer sciences, mathematics and statistics, medical sciences, and engineering. Most other S&E fields also had substantial growth. Enrollment in the social sciences grew from 83,000 in 2000 to 111,000 in 2011, then declined to 103,000 by 2015.

Enrollment in computer sciences had increased gradually or remained stable through 2012, then accelerated from 52,000 to more than 86,000 in only 3 years. Temporary visa students accounted for most of this growth (Appendix Table 2-23). Along the same lines, the number of first-time, full-time graduate students in computer sciences, an indicator of developing trends, nearly doubled in the last 3 years (Appendix Table 2-24).

In 2015, first-time, full-time graduate enrollees accounted for 24% of total S&E graduate enrollment. These students are typically pursuing a master’s or a doctoral degree right after or within about a year after earning their undergraduate degree. This indicator can be sensitive to economic conditions; for example, high unemployment tends to lead to an increase in first-time, full-time graduate enrollment. Between 2000 and 2015, first-time, full-time graduate S&E enrollment has increased fairly steadily in most broad S&E fields while peaking in engineering, computer sciences, mathematics and statistics, agricultural, and biological sciences. In psychology and in the social sciences, the number of first-time, full-time graduate students had declined slightly in recent years but the numbers in these two broad fields increased in 2015 (Appendix Table 2-24).^​

Since 2008, S&E graduate students with temporary visas have kept U.S. graduate enrollment in these fields from shrinking. Since that year, these students’ share has risen from 26% to 36% of the total, making them an ever more vital part of this critical enterprise. Although enrollment of international students in S&E fields has been on the rise, graduate enrollment of U.S. citizens and permanent residents declined between 2008 and 2013 but slowly started growing again in 2014 (Appendix Table 2-25). In 2015, about 240,000 international students on temporary visas were enrolled in S&E graduate programs, representing 36% of total U.S. graduate enrollment. The proportion of international enrollment was highest—47% or higher—in computer sciences, engineering (particularly high in electrical engineering), mathematics and statistics, and economics.^​

After a post-9/11 decline, the numbers of first-time, full-time international graduate students enrolled increased steadily in most broad fields through 2015 (Appendix Table 2-24). Declines and subsequent increases in number were concentrated in engineering and computer sciences, the fields heavily favored by international students. Between 2000 and 2015, the proportion of first-time, full-time S&E international students increased, particularly in computer sciences and mathematics and statistics.

Most recently, data from SEVIS show an overall 6% decline in international graduate students from fall 2016 to fall 2017 (Table 2-10; Appendix Table 2-26).^​ As stated previously, this decline may reflect a smaller influx of international students in the United States, and given the way these data are collected, it may also reflect a smaller portion of international students staying in the United States to pursue another degree.^​ In 2017, 62% of all international students in graduate programs at U.S. institutions were enrolled in S&E fields. Between fall 2016 and fall 2017, the number of international graduate students enrolled in S&E fields decreased most in computer sciences (from 70,600 to 61,500) and engineering (from 96,300 to 89,000). The number of international students enrolled in mathematics increased (from 15,800 to 18,100) and remained at fairly similar levels in other S&E fields.

The top sending locations in 2017 continued to be India and China, accounting for 69% of the international S&E graduate students in the United States, followed by Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan (Appendix Table 2-26). Compared to 2016, the number of graduate S&E students from India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and South Korea declined in 2017 (by 19%, 11%, 1%, and 1% respectively) while the number from China and Taiwan increased (by 4% and 5% respectively).

About 8 in 10 graduate students from India, Iran, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka and more than 6 in 10 of graduate students from China, Pakistan, and Nepal were enrolled in an S&E field. In the case of Iran, more than half of them were enrolled in engineering; in the case of Bangladesh, 42%. In contrast, more than 60% of the international students from Canada, South Korea, Brazil and Japan were enrolled in non-S&E fields.

In some fields, such as engineering and geosciences, a master’s degree can fully prepare students for an established career track. In other fields, master’s degrees primarily mark a step toward doctoral degrees. Master’s degrees awarded in S&E fields nearly doubled from about 96,000 in 2000 to about 181,000 in 2015 (Appendix Table 2-27).^​ Increases occurred in all major science fields and were strongest in mathematics and statistics, biological sciences, computer sciences, and engineering (Appendix Table 2-27). In computer sciences and engineering, the number of master’s degrees awarded declined between 2004 and 2007, similar to bachelor’s degrees, but it has since increased and in 2015 was the highest in the last 16 years (Figure 2-13).

Professional Science Master’s (PSM) programs, which stress interdisciplinary training, are a relatively new direction in graduate education. PSM degrees provide advanced training in an S&E field beyond the bachelor’s degree level while also developing administrative and business skills that are valued by employers, such as leadership, project management, teamwork, and communication (for details on PSM degrees, see NSB 2014:2–30). As of January 2017, there were 355 PSM programs within 165 institutions; the most popular PSM programs were in the fields of biotechnology, biomedical, and pharmaceuticals; environmental science, ocean science, sustainability, and geographic information systems; and computer sciences, analytics, and big data or statistics (PSM 2017).

The number of S&E master’s degrees earned by men and women rose between 2000 and 2015 (Figure 2-14). In 2000, women earned 43% of all S&E master’s degrees; by 2015, they earned 45% (Appendix Table 2-27). Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, women earned half of all S&E master’s degrees (NSF/NCSES 2017a).

Women’s share of S&E master’s degrees varies widely by field. As with bachelor’s degrees, in 2015, women earned a majority of master’s degrees in psychology, biological sciences, agricultural sciences, and most social sciences except economics, but lower proportions of master’s degrees in engineering, computer sciences, and physics. Between 2000 and 2015, the proportion of master’s degrees earned by women increased in engineering (21% to 24%), economics (38% to 41%), and physics (20% to 23%), but declined in computer sciences (33% to 31%) (Appendix Table 2-27).

The number of S&E master’s degrees awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents increased for all racial and ethnic groups between 2000 and 2015 (Figure 2-15; Appendix Table 2-28).^​ The number of S&E master’s degrees earned by underrepresented minorities (25,200) is less than half the number earned by temporary visa holders (59,000).

The proportion of U.S. S&E master’s degrees earned by underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities increased from 14% to 21% between 2000 and 2015; the proportion earned by whites fell from 70% to 60%. The trends are similar to those found in the data on bachelor’s degree awards among racial and ethnic groups. Blacks accounted for 11% of S&E master’s degree recipients in 2015, up from 8% in 2000; Hispanics accounted for 9%, up from 5%; and American Indians and Alaska Natives accounted for 0.4%, similar to the proportion in 2000. The proportion of Asian and Pacific Islander S&E recipients declined from 10% to 9% in this period.

Some of the changes by race and ethnicity over time may reflect changes in the way NCES and other federal statistical agencies collect information on this topic. Beginning in 2011, some students may be classified as multiracial who in the past may have been reported as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian and Pacific Islander, black, Hispanic, or white. The number of students with a multiracial identity accounted for about 13,000 master’s degree awards in 2015. However, because the trends by race and ethnicity discussed here had also been observed before 2011, it is unlikely that the changes in the racial or ethnic categories contributed to the declines or increases to a very large extent.

In 2015, women earned more than half of the master’s degrees awarded to their respective racial or ethnic group in the social and behavioral sciences and in non-S&E fields but less than half of those in the natural sciences and engineering. Between 2000 and 2015, the proportion of natural sciences and engineering master’s degrees awarded to women rose among American Indians or Alaska Natives, declined among blacks, and remained relatively stable among Hispanics (Appendix Table 2-20). (For additional details by field, see NSF/NCSES 2017a.)

In 2015, 59,000 international students earned an S&E master’s degree in the United States, up from nearly 25,000 in 2000. International students make up a much higher proportion of S&E master’s degree recipients than of bachelor’s or associate’s degree recipients, but they make up a smaller proportion of S&E doctoral degrees. In 2015, international students earned 35% of S&E master’s degrees, up from 26% in 2000. Their degrees were heavily concentrated in computer sciences, economics, mathematics and statistics, and engineering, where they received about half or more of all master’s degrees awarded in 2015 (Appendix Table 2-28). Within engineering, students on temporary visas earned 70% of the master’s degrees awarded in electrical engineering and more than half of the master’s degrees in chemical and materials engineering.

In 2015, the number of S&E master’s degrees awarded to students on temporary visas reached its highest point in recent years (59,000), after a sharp decline between 2004 and 2007. Most of the drop during this period was accounted for by decreasing numbers of temporary visa holders in the computer sciences and engineering fields, but in both fields, numbers rebounded by more than 50% in the following years.

Doctoral education in the United States generates new knowledge by closely linking specialized education and hands-on research experience. The results are important for the society as a whole and for U.S. competitiveness in a global knowledge-based economy, as they prepare a new generation of researchers and a highly skilled workforce for various sectors of the economy including academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. Decades-long participation of large and growing numbers of temporary visa holders attests to the attractiveness of U.S. doctoral education.

The number of S&E doctorates conferred annually by U.S. universities increased from nearly 28,000 in 2000 to 45,000 in 2015 (Appendix Table 2-29). U.S. citizens and permanent residents as well as temporary visa holders contributed to this growth (for a discussion on international doctoral recipients who stay in the United States after obtaining their degree, see Chapter 3).^​ The largest increases in S&E doctorates between 2000 and 2015 were in engineering and computer sciences (Figure 2-16).^​

The time required to earn a doctoral degree and the success rates of those entering doctoral programs are important for those pursuing a degree, the universities awarding the degree, and the agencies and organizations funding doctoral study. Longer times to degree mean lost earnings and a higher risk of attrition. Median time to degree (as measured by time from graduate school entry to doctorate receipt) increased through the mid-1990s but has since decreased in all S&E fields from 7.7 to 6.8 years (Appendix Table 2-30). The physical sciences and mathematics had the shortest time to degree, whereas the social sciences and medical and other health sciences had the longest.

Time to degree varied among institution types (see sidebar Carnegie Classification of Academic Institutions) and was typically longer at universities that were less strongly oriented toward research (Table 2-13). Consequently, time to degree was shortest at research universities with very high research activity (6.7 years in 2015, down from 7.2 years in 2000). Doctorate recipients at medical schools also finished relatively quickly (6.7 years in 2015).

The median time to degree varies by demographic groups, but these variations reflect differences among broad fields of study. In 2015, across all doctorate recipients, women had a longer time to degree than men (7.7 versus 7.2 years, respectively) (Appendix Table 2-31). However, with few exceptions, these differences were very small when comparing men and women within broad S&E fields. In engineering, women took slightly less time than men (6.3 versus 6.7 years, respectively), and in medical and other health sciences, the difference reversed and was considerably larger (9.7 for women versus 7.7 years for men).

In most natural sciences and engineering fields, time to degree was longer for temporary visa holders than for U.S. students, particularly in the physical sciences (6.7 versus 5.7 years, respectively). However, in the medical and other health sciences, as in computer sciences, temporary visa holders finished faster. Among U.S. citizen and permanent resident students, in most broad S&E fields, median time to degree was shorter for whites than for other groups.

Women have reached parity among S&E doctoral degree recipients: among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, women’s proportion of S&E doctoral degrees was 51% in 2015, up from 45% in 2000 (Appendix Table 2-29). During this period, women made gains in most major fields, among continuing disparities in other fields. In 2015, women earned half or more of doctorates in non-S&E fields, in most social and behavioral sciences except for economics, in the biological sciences, and in the medical and other health sciences. They earned less than one-third of the doctorates awarded in mathematics and statistics, computer sciences, and engineering (Appendix Table 2-29). Although low, the proportions of degrees earned by women in these fields and the physical sciences (particularly in physics) were higher than they were in 2000.

Between 2000 and 2015, the number of S&E doctorates earned by women grew faster (from nearly 11,000 to nearly 20,000) than the number earned by men (from almost 17,000 to 24,000), increasing women’s proportion of S&E doctoral degrees during this period (Appendix Table 2-29). The increase among women occurred in most major S&E fields. For example, the number of engineering doctorates earned by U.S. women more than doubled from approximately 500 in 2000 to nearly 1,200 in 2015. Similar growth patterns occurred in women’s biological sciences doctorates from 1,700 to 3,000, and in physical sciences doctorates from 600 to nearly 1,000.

In 2014, 7% of S&E doctorate recipients reported having a disability; they were fairly similar to those who did not report a disability in terms of broad field of study. Nearly half of the S&E doctorate recipients who reported one or more disabilities of any type indicated that they had visual disabilities, 40% reported cognitive disabilities, 18% reported hearing disabilities, 10% reported lifting disabilities, and 6% reported walking disabilities (NSF/NCSES 2017a).

The number and the proportion of doctoral degrees in S&E fields earned by underrepresented minorities increased between 2000 and 2015. In 2015, blacks earned 1,855 S&E doctorates, Hispanics earned 2,019, and American Indians and Alaska Natives earned 137—altogether accounting for 9% of all S&E doctoral degrees awarded that year, up from 6% in 2000 (Appendix Table 2-32).^​ The share of the S&E doctorates earned by U.S. citizen and permanent resident underrepresented minority doctorate recipients rose from 9% to 14% in the same period. Gains by all groups contributed to this rise, although blacks and Hispanics saw larger gains than American Indians or Alaska Natives (Figure 2-17). Asians and Pacific Islanders (citizens and permanent residents) earned 6% of all S&E doctorates in 2015, similar to 2000. Although whites (including U.S. citizens and permanent residents) saw a rise in the number of S&E doctorates (Figure 2-18), their share of all U.S. S&E doctorates fell from 54% in 2000 to 44% in 2015 (Appendix Table 2-32).

Some of the changes by race and ethnicity over time may reflect changes in the way NCES and other federal statistical agencies collect information on this topic. Beginning in 2011, some students may be classified as multiracial who in the past may have been reported as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian and Pacific Islander, black, Hispanic, or white. The number of students with a multiracial identity accounted for about 500 doctoral degree awards in 2015. However, because the trends by race and ethnicity discussed here had also been observed before 2011, it is unlikely that the changes in the racial or ethnic categories contributed to the declines or increases to a very large extent.

In 2015, women earned half or more of the doctoral degrees awarded to their respective racial or ethnic groups in the natural sciences, the social and behavioral sciences, and in non-S&E fields. Since 2000, the proportion of women earning doctorates increased in the natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and engineering in all racial and ethnic groups except for American Indians or Alaska Natives (Appendix Table 2-20). (For additional data by field of study, see NSF/NCSES 2017a.)

International students on temporary visas earned more than 15,000 S&E doctorates in 2015, up from about 8,000 in 2000, with a rising share from 30% to 34% over the period. In engineering, they earned more than half of the degrees in any subspecialty; the same for mathematics and computer sciences and for economics (Appendix Table 2-34). They earned relatively lower proportions of doctoral degrees in some S&E fields—for example, 28% in biological sciences, 20% in medical sciences, 6% in psychology, and between 12% and 22% in most social sciences except economics (Appendix Table 2-34).

Since 1995, U.S. universities have awarded a total of almost 221,000 S&E doctorates to temporary visa holders. Over that period, the top 10 countries and economies of origin accounted for 70% of all international recipients of these degrees (Table 2-14). Six out of those top 10 locations are in Asia.

From 1995 to 2015, students from four Asian locations (China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan, in descending order) earned more than half of all U.S. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to international students (127,000 of 221,000)—nearly five times the number of doctoral recipients from Europe (26,000). China accounted for more than one-quarter of all these international S&E doctorates (64,000), followed by India (30,000), South Korea (21,000), and Taiwan (13,000). Most of these degrees were awarded in engineering, biological sciences, and physical sciences (Table 2-15). A larger proportion of South Korean and Taiwanese students (exceeding 25%) than Chinese and Indian (approaching 10%) earned a doctorate in a non-S&E field.

The number of S&E doctorates earned by students from China has increased more than seven times in the last 20 years, from 675 to nearly 5,000, whereas the numbers from India nearly tripled between 2002 and 2009 but have since remained stable at 2,100. In the last 10 years, the numbers of S&E doctorates from South Korea and Taiwan have been broadly stable but remain low (about 900 and 500, respectively) (Figure 2-19).

European students earned far fewer U.S. S&E doctorates than Asian students between 1995 and 2015, and they tended to focus less on engineering than did their Asian counterparts (Table 2-15 and Table 2-16). European countries whose students earned the largest number of U.S. S&E doctorates from 1995 to 2015 were Turkey, Germany, Russia, Italy, Romania, Greece, and France, in that order. Trends in doctorate recipients from individual Western European countries vary widely (Figure 2-20). The number of Central and Eastern European students earning S&E doctorates at U.S. universities nearly doubled between 1995 and 2007, but it has declined since then; the number of doctorate recipients from Western Europe and Scandinavia has been more stable overall (Figure 2-21). A higher proportion of doctorate recipients from Russia, Romania, Greece, and Turkey than from France, Italy, and Germany earned their doctorates in S&E. Russian and Romanian doctorate recipients were more likely than those from Western European countries to earn their doctorates in mathematics and physical sciences, and Turkish, Greek, and French doctorate recipients were more likely to earn doctoral degrees in engineering (Table 2-16).

Despite the proximity of Canada and Mexico to the United States, the shares of U.S. S&E doctoral degrees awarded to residents of these countries were small compared with those awarded to students from Asia and Europe. The number of U.S. S&E doctoral degrees earned by students from Canada increased from about 219 in 1995 to 390 in 2009, but it has overall declined in the last 6 years. The overall numbers of doctoral degree recipients from Mexico and Brazil peaked earlier (2003 and 1996, respectively) and have been relatively stable in recent years (Figure 2-22).

A higher proportion of Mexican and Brazilian students earned U.S. doctorates in S&E fields than the comparable proportion for Canadians (Table 2-17); this pattern was particularly strong in engineering and agricultural sciences.

Between 1995 and 2015, Middle Eastern students earned fewer U.S. S&E doctorates (about 9,000) than did students from Asia, Europe, or the Americas (Table 2-15, Table 2-16, and Table 2-17). Students from Iran earned the largest number of U.S. S&E doctorates from this region, followed by those from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. A larger proportion of Iranian doctorate recipients (68%) than of Jordanian or Saudi Arabian doctorate recipients (37% and 27%, respectively) earned their degrees in engineering. A larger proportion of doctorate recipients from Saudi Arabia than from Jordan or Iran earned their doctorates in the social sciences or in non-S&E fields.