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Introduction
New records in full-time engineering graduate students have become
commonplace in recent years. Master's enrollments have set new records
annually beginning in Fall 2000; doctoral enrollments have set new
records annually beginning in Fall 2001. Full-time graduate enrollments
since Fall 1975 are shown in the graph below.
Enrollment of Women in Graduate Programs
The full-time graduate enrollments of women continue to increase as well
as shown in the graph above. The annual increases in doctoral
enrollments are substantial, just as those of engineering as a whole.
However, the master's enrollment increases in Fall 2003 were very small
as were those for overall engineering. Some of the restricted master's
enrollment may be due to a sharp decline in foreign national enrollments
in Fall 2003.
The relative enrollments (fractions of overall engineering) of women in
master's degree engineering programs provide reason for concern. As
shown in the graph below, the enrollment fractions reached a maximum in
Fall 2001 and decreased very slightly thereafter. The relative
enrollment of doctoral students continues to increase. However, it is
anticipated that the new master's enrollment trend will impact the
doctoral trend in a year or so.
The apparent termination of the growth of the relative master's
enrollment after a quarter century of essentially continuous growth is
certainly difficult to understand. For those who would be interested in
a broader perspective, the apparent new trend in master's enrollments
has followed similar undergraduate trends for women:
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First-year relative undergraduate enrollments of women reached a
maximum of 20% in Fall 1995 and declined to 16% through Fall 2003.
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Total full-time relative undergraduate enrollments of women reached
a maximum of 20% in Fall 1998 and declined to 18% through Fall 2003.
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Full-time relative enrollments of women in master's degree programs
reached a maximum of 21% in Fall 2001.
Arguably, the apparently new master's degree trend stems from events
that originated in the early 1990s.
Enrollments of Various Ethnic Groups in Master's Degree Programs
In recent years, full-time master's degree enrollments of students in
various ethnic groups have increased substantially as shown in the graph
below. The enrollment growth of Asian Americans since the minimum in
Fall 1999 has been most significant. Enrollment doubled from Fall 1999
through Fall 2003 and has set new records in each of the last three
years.
Full-time enrollments of African, Hispanic and Native Americans each
declined to minimum in Fall 1998 and grew 35%, 69% and 37%,
respectively, thereafter through Fall 2003.
Relative full-time enrollments (fractions of overall engineering) as
shown in the graph below are not as encouraging as the enrollment data.
The relative enrollment of only one ethnic group has increased in recent
years.
The relative full-time master's degree enrollments of Asian American
students declined to a minimum of 5.9% in Fall 1999. By Fall 2003, the
relative enrollment had increased to 8.8% (a new record).
The relative enrollments of the African, Hispanic and Native American
groups in master's degree programs have been declining. African American
enrollment fractions reached a maximum of 2.8% in Fall 1996 and declined
to 2.2% in Fall 2003. Hispanic and Native American enrollment fractions
reached maxima of 3.4% and 0.32%, respectively, in Fall 1997. The
declines through Fall 2003 were to 2.9% and 0.21%, respectively.
Enrollments of Various Ethnic Groups in Doctoral Degree Programs
The full-time doctoral enrollments of African, Hispanic and Asian
American groups have all increased significantly in recent years as
shown in the graph below. They each declined to a minimum in Fall 1999.
Since then, they have increased to new records. Although the growth from
Fall 1999 through Fall 2003 of Asian American enrollments is most
striking, it should be noted that most of this increase may be regarded
as a recovery from the significant decline from Fall 1995 through
Fall1999. Native American enrollments appear to have remained constant
since the mid-1990s, but data scatter is large.
Relative full-time enrollments (fractions of engineering as a whole)
provide a somewhat different view of enrollment trends for the various
ethnic groups as shown in the graph below. African, Hispanic and Native
American relative enrollments have remained essentially constant since
the mid-1990s. Thus, the enrollment increases have only kept pace with
the growth of engineering overall.
The relative enrollments of Asian American students declined from Fall
1995 through Fall 1999. A modest recovery is underway, but the
enrollment fraction of 5.8% in Fall 2003 is significantly less than the
7.2% in Fall 1995.
Summary
Full-time master's degree enrollments for women appear to have become
constant and relative enrollments are now undergoing slight annual
declines. Doctoral enrollments, including relative enrollments, continue
to increase according to the trends established previously.
Asian American full-time master's degree enrollments, including relative
enrollments, continue to follow past rapid growth trends. African and
Hispanic American enrollments also continue past growth trends as well.
However, their relative enrollments continued the long-term slightly
declining trend.
Doctoral full-time enrollments for Asian, African and Hispanic Americans
continue to increase, with Asian American enrollment growth being
substantial. However, in terms of relative enrollments, only data for
Asian American doctoral students continue to increase.
Acknowledgment
The degree and enrollment data for this study originated from the annual
surveys of the Engineering Workforce Commission of the American
Association of Engineering Societies. Engineering Trends acknowledges
their efforts in providing credible data and expresses its gratitude for
their services to the engineering profession
Footnotes
Engineering Trends data are compiled mainly from information submitted
by universities to the annual surveys of EWC and ASEE. On the very rare
occasions where errors in data appear, Engineering Trends corrects the
error, if possible, or deletes the data if the error is large enough to
alter significantly the trend of the university or the US total.
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