Title    : Graduate Enrollment in Science and Engineering Decreased by 1 Percent in 1994 
Type     : 1996 Data Briefs
NSF Org  : SBE / SRS  
Date     : July 24, 1996
File     :  sdb96312

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Graduate Enrollment in Science and Engineering Decreased by 1 Percent in 1994

Graduate student enrollment in science and engineering (S&E) in U.S. institutions 
declined slightly in 1994 to 433,152 students, a 1-percent decrease from 1993.  
This followed 18 years of steady increases.  There were underlying changes affecting 
the total:  non-U.S. citizen student enrollment in S&E fields declined for the second 
year in a row; part-time student enrollment decreased for the first time since 1986; 
women's enrollment increased, while men's decreased slightly; mathematics enrollment 
decreased for the second time since 1979; and engineering enrollment declined 3 
percent for a second year.  In 1994, graduate enrollment in all fields made up a 
higher proportion of total college enrollments, (12 percent), than it has in any 
year since 1988.

Since 1983, women's enrollment has been in-creasing rapidly.  Enrollment of female 
graduate students in S&E was 159,659 in 1994, up from 106,550 in 1983.  In 1983, 
only 31 percent of S&E graduate students were women, whereas in 1994, 37 percent of 
S&E graduate students were women.  Psychology was the only S&E field in which women 
were the majority (70 percent).  Women's increases from 1993 to 1994 in biological 
and social sciences were 4 percent and 2 percent respectively.  The number of women 
in civil and chemical engineering increased by 3 percent in each field from 1993.

Minority graduate student participation increased only slightly, with the greatest 
increase reflected among Asian and Pacific Islander enrollment.  Enrollment of blacks 
comprised 5 percent of all U.S. citizens and permanent residents enrolled in graduate 
studies, up from 4 percent in 1983.  Enrollment of Asians and Pacific Islanders 
rose 8 percent in 1994, up from 3 percent in 1983.  The proportion of white, non-
Hispanic students, (at 78 percent of the total in 1994), was down from 81 percent 
in 1983.  Non-U.S. citizen enrollment (at 102,640 in 1994) declined from 105,657 
in 1993.  A 12 year increase in non-U.S. citizen enrollment in S&E ended in 1992.

Shifts in Enrollment by Field
Graduate enrollment in most science fields increased steadily each year since 1983, 
but the pattern of uniform increases has changed for some fields during the last 
two years.  Physical and computer sciences enrollment each decreased both in 1993 
and 1994, as did mathematics. Although the decreases in physical science and 
mathematics enrollment (as observed since 1992) have been slight, (1 and 2 percent, 
respectively), they were the first decreases in 14 years.  Computer science enrollment 
declined for the first time ever in 1993 and continued to decline in 1994.

Biological and social sciences graduate student enrollment has continued to increase 
steadily since 1984.  Agricultural and biological sciences show the highest growth 
rates of the science fields in 1994, at 3 percent each.  Earth, atmospheric, and 
ocean sciences showed increases for the first time after remaining virtually level 
over the previous decade.

(Chart 1., Science and engineering graduate students by race/ethnicity: 1993 and 
1994, appears in the printed and .pdf versions only.)

Engineering graduate student enrollment decreased in both 1993 and 1994 (by 1 percent 
and 3 percent, respectively), following increases since 1988.  Aerospace, electrical, 
industrial, mechanical, materials, and other engineering enrollment all decreased 
slightly in 1994.  Civil engineering enrollment was up less than 1 percent in 1993 
and 2 percent in 1994 after much larger increases earlier in the decade.  Chemical 
engineering enrollment also increased in 1994, by 3 percent.  Other engineering 
enrollment increased 1 percent in 1993 but did not equal the peak reached in 1991.  
After a modest increase in 1993, other engineering enrollment decreased 6 percent 
in 1994.

(Table 1., Graduate students in science and engineering fields in all institutions, 
by field, enrollment status, sex, and citizenship status:  1983, 1993 and 1994, 
appears in the printed and .pdf versions only.)

The data presented in this Data Brief were obtained from the 1994 Survey of Graduate 
Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, conducted for NSF by Quantum 
Research Corporation.  More detailed data are available in the SRS forthcoming report 
Selected Data on Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering:  
Fall 1994.

This Data Brief was prepared by Dottie Jacobs, Division of Science Resources Studies, 
National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 965, Arlington, VA 22230.  
For free printed copies of SRS Data Briefs, write to the above address, call 
703-306-1773, or send e-mail to pubs@nsf.gov.