According to the recently released Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Survey of Graduate Enrollment and Degrees, conducted in partnership with the GRE, first time enrolment by temporary residents in the U.S. grew by 11.5%, representing one in five graduate students at U.S. programs in the fall of 2013.

Despite the 2.3% decline in first time enrolments between fall 2012 and fall 2013, first time graduate enrolment saw a 1.0% increase during this time period.

More than 459,000 students enrolled for the first time in graduate certificate, education specialist, masters or doctoral programs for fall 2013. Total graduate enrolment was about 1.7 million students.

“People with graduate degrees are driving growth and innovation in our economy, and graduate-level skills are in higher demand every year,”said CGS President Suzanne T. Ortega, “However, enrolments are not keeping pace with the projected growth in jobs requiring advanced degrees.”

Ortega said that it is hard to get qualified American workers out into the high-level workforce until more opportunities are created for them to earn graduate degrees. She also said that there is a need for greater investment in graduate education and support for students with more grants and fellowships.

By Subject

Between fall 2012 and fall 2013, applications to graduate programs in business fell 0.9%. First time enrolment in education programs decreased 2.2%.
However, the largest fields by total enrolment were education (19%), and business (16%).

The largest one-year changes in graduate applications occurred in mathematics and computer sciences (11.2%), health sciences (11%) and physical and earth sciences (-6.3%).

In fall 2013, 54% of all temporary graduate students were enrolled in biological and agricultural sciences, engineering, mathematics and computer sciences, physical and earth sciences.

About the report

Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 2003 to 2013 presents the findings of an annual survey of U.S. graduate schools, co-sponsored by CGS and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Board. It is the only annual national survey that covers enrollment in all fields of graduate study and is the only source of national data on graduate applications. The report includes responses from 655 institutions, which collectively confer about 74% of the master’s degrees and 93% of the doctorates awarded each year. The survey report presents statistics on graduate applications and enrollment for fall 2013, degrees conferred in 2012-13, and trend data for one-, five- and ten-year periods.
 

Tags: Council of Graduate Schools, Suzanne Ortega, GRE, Graduate Program