ERIC Number: ED416763
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1998-Jan
Pages: 14
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Enrollments and Degrees Report.
Mulvey, Patrick J.; Nicholson, Starr
AIP Report, Jan 1998
This report presents the results of a 1995-96 survey of U.S. colleges and universities offering doctoral, master's, and bachelor's degrees in physics and astronomy, focusing on degree production and current student enrollment. The survey found that first-year graduate student enrollments for 1996-97 declined by 2.5 percent from the previous year. Ph.D. production for 1995-96 (1,438) was down 3 percent from the high 2 years prior. Physics bachelor degree production continued to decline, with the class of 1995-96 totaling 4,156 degrees. Recently, attention has focused on master's programs in physics as a means of making physics students more marketable in the industrial work force. However, few master's programs offer such curriculum options as co-ops, internships, or interdisciplinary degrees. The 72 degree-granting astronomy departments conferred 126 doctorates and 181 bachelor's degrees on the class of 1995-96; these programs attract fewer foreign students and a larger proportion of women than their physics counterparts. The representation of minorities among physics degree recipients has not changed in recent years. At all degree levels, Hispanic and African-American students continue to be underrepresented, and Asian-Americans overrepresented. An appendix provides data on degree and enrollment trends over the last 10 years. (SW)
Descriptors: Asian Americans, Astronomy, Bachelors Degrees, Black Students, Cooperative Education, Doctoral Degrees, Enrollment Trends, Graduate Study, Higher Education, Hispanic Americans, Interdisciplinary Approach, Masters Degrees, Minority Groups, National Surveys, Physics, Racial Differences, Sex Differences, Trend Analysis, Undergraduate Study
American Institute of Physics, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3843.
Publication Type: Collected Works - Serials; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: American Inst. of Physics, New York, NY. Education and Employment Statistics Div.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A


