The number of research doctorate degrees awarded by U.S. institutions in 2013 grew by 3.5 percent over the previous year, a single-year increase that has only been exceeded twice in the past two decades, according to a new report from the National Science Foundation's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES).
The report, "Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2013," presents data on degree recipients — broken down by categories including citizenship, sex, race and ethnicity, and field of study. NCSES provides detailed data tables and interactive charts for readers to explore online.
The report addresses six key questions: Who earns a U.S doctorate? Which fields attract students? What influences the path to the doctorate? What are the postgraduation trends? What draws students to an institution? And how do expenses and employment outcomes differ? Understanding those characteristics is necessary to make informed improvements in the country's doctoral education system.
The report's findings include the following:
In every broad science and engineering field, the proportion of 2013 doctorate recipients who reported definite commitments for employment or postdoctorate study was at or near a 25-year-low; for non-S&E fields, that proportion reached a 20-year low.
Computer and information sciences Ph.D.s accounted for 1,897 or 3.6 percent of all doctorates awarded in 2013, up from 1,787 degrees (3.7 percent of the total) in 2008, according to the report. The physical sciences (Chemistry, Computer and information sciences, Geosciences, Mathematics, Physics and astronomy) accounted for 17.6 percent of all Ph.D.s in 2013, up from 16.7 percent of the total in 2008. Engineering Ph.D.s accounted for 8,963 degrees, or 17.0 percent, of the 2013 total, up from 7,864, or 16.1 percent, of the 2008 total.
The report is the latest presentation of an annual census of individuals who in 2013 received research doctorate degrees. The survey is sponsored by NSF, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Education.
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