Women Lead in Doctoral Degrees

Council of Graduate Schools

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Stuart Heiser
September 14, 2010 (202) 223-3791 / sheiser@cgs.nche.edu

Graduate Enrollment Continues Strong Growth in 2009
Increases higher for men, reversing long-term trend

The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) is reporting today that enrollment of new students at U.S. graduate schools grew 5.5% from 2008 to 2009, compared to 4.5% the previous year. Total enrollment grew 4.7% in 2009 after gaining 3.0% in 2008.CGS’s annual comprehensive report on trends in graduate education shows that growth in both first-time and total graduate enrollment in 2009 was higher for men than for women, reversing a long-term trend. First-time enrollment of men increased 6.7%, compared to 4.7% for women. In contrast, over the past 10 years first-time enrollment of women grew by an annual average of 5.2%, compared to 4.2% for men.For the first time since 2004, the enrollment of new international graduate students declined in 2009, by 1.7%, compared to 6.0% growth for U.S. students. From 1999 to 2009, the average annual growth in first-time enrollment was 4.9% for U.S. students and 3.3% for international students.“The strong growth in first-time graduate enrollment is an indication of the continued high value of graduate education,” said CGS President Debra W. Stewart. “In particular, the 6.0% gain in first-time U.S. enrollment reflects the increasing necessity of a graduate degree to successfully compete in a 21st-century knowledge-based economy,” she added.

Another reversal of a long-term trend occurred among doctoral degrees. While women have long earned the majority of master’s degrees awarded in the U.S., the 2008-09 academic year was the first year ever that women earned the majority (50.4%) of doctorates as well. The one-year increase in doctorates was substantially stronger for women than for men, 6.3% vs. 1.0%.The report also shows that enrollment trends differed by ethnicity as well as by gender and citizenship. First-time enrollment growth for U.S. minority groups ranged from 6.2% for American Indian/Alaskan Natives to 9.3% for Asian/Pacific Islanders, compared to 5.3% for White, non-Hispanic students.The report presents statistics on graduate applications and enrollment for fall 2009, degrees conferred in 2008-09, and trend data for one-, five- and ten-year periods. Data are disaggregated for a number of student demographic and institutional characteristics.

Full News Release: http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/N_pr_ED2009.pdf