Graduate Enrollment and Postdoctoral Appointments in Science, Engineering, and Health Rise, Driven Largely by Increases in the Number of Women and Temporary Visa Holders

Much of the increases in the overall SEH graduate student enrollment noted above were driven by students with temporary visas. The enrollment of temporary visa holders in SEH full-time master’s and doctoral programs increased between 2022 and 2023 (figure 1 and table 1). Among temporary visa holders enrolled full time, there was a 14,994 (9.9%) increase in master’s students and a 6,473 (5.9%) increase in doctoral students during this period. First-time, full-time enrollment of students with temporary visas increased 3,396 (4.5%) for master’s students and 2,546 (12.3%) for doctoral students between 2022 and 2023.

Among temporary visa holders in SEH, female graduate enrollment at both the master’s and doctoral levels grew slightly faster than male graduate enrollment. Specifically, part-time master’s enrollment for temporary visa holders between 2022 and 2023 increased by 1,681 (9.6%) for men, compared with 1,276 (11.8%) for women (table 1). Similarly, full-time enrollment in master’s programs for temporary visa holders increased by 8,705 (9.4%) for men, compared with 6,289 (10.8%) for women. For doctoral enrollments of temporary visa holders between 2022 and 2023, part-time enrollment decreased by 43 (1.2%) for women and by 329 (5.5%) for men; however, full-time enrollment increased by 3,055 (7.4%) for women and 3,418 (5.0%) for men.

Year-over-year enrollment patterns varied by sex, race, and ethnicity (table 1). Among female full-time graduate students who were U.S. citizens and permanent residents, master’s-level enrollment decreased by 3,394 (3.3%); doctoral-level enrollment increased by 2,539 (3.3%). Meanwhile, among a comparable group of men, enrollment of full-time master’s students decreased by 1,247 (1.9%), and full-time doctoral enrollment saw a very modest decline of 78 (0.1%). However, first-time, full-time doctoral enrollment for U.S. citizens and permanent residents increased by 162 (1.3%) for males and increased by 129 (0.9%) for females.

Enrollment trends by race and ethnicity for U.S. citizens and permanent residents also varied (table 1). Among Hispanic and Latino students enrolled full time, master’s enrollment dipped slightly by 78 (0.3%) between 2022 and 2023 and doctoral enrollment increased by 925 (5.0%). Among Asian students enrolled full time, master’s enrollment increased by 229 (1.1%), and doctoral enrollment increased by 938 (5.2%). 

Five-year enrollment trends also show consistent growth for several racial and ethnic groups. Between 2019 and 2023, full-time enrollment in master’s programs increased by 5,430 (26.4%) for Hispanic and Latino students, by 4,680 (27.7%) for Asian students, by 1,842 (13.2%) for Black and African American students, and by 1,360 (24.5%) for those of more than one race. For all other racial and ethnic groups, full-time master’s enrollment either declined or remained stable.

Full-time doctoral enrollment for each of these groups followed similar patterns of increase over the past 5 years, with Black or African American enrollment increasing by 2,783 (34.9%). Full-time doctoral enrollment increased for all racial and ethnic groups except for American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White; these three groups saw slight decreases. Among part-time SEH graduate enrollment, almost every racial and ethnic group saw increases over the past 5 years, although the growth tended to be larger among master’s students than among doctoral students (table 1).

Master’s enrollment in SEH fields reached a record high of 510,866 in 2023, an increase of 1.9% over 2022 and of 25.1% over 2019 (table 2). As noted above, these gains were primarily the result of increases in science enrollment, although numbers of both engineering and health graduate students decreased during this period. However, all three fields have grown over the past 5 years. Since 2019, master’s enrollment in science fields increased by 34.2%, and the gains in engineering (9.4%) and health (9.4%) were notable though more modest.

For master’s students, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary sciences had the largest percentage increases in enrollment between 2022 and 2023 (29.5%, or 4,997 students), based on the increase in students in data science and analytics (table 2 and full set of data tables: table 1-11a). However, the computer and information sciences field had the largest numeric increase (rising by 13,558 to a total of 143,530 students, an increase of 10.4% from 2022). At the master’s level, this is the largest broad field in the GSS, enrolling over a quarter of master’s students.^{​For more information, see the full set of data tables: table 4-3.} Among engineering broad fields, only two areas of study saw increased enrollment between 2022 and 2023: other engineering^{​Other engineering includes agricultural engineering; engineering mechanics; physics; and science, nuclear engineering, and engineering not elsewhere classified.} increased by 1,001 (7.4%), and aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering increased by 117 (2.2%). All of the remaining engineering and health subfields either decreased or remained stable.

These declines in engineering and health fields diverge from a pattern of year-to-year increases in most of these areas of study over the previous 5 years. Over a 5-year time span, the 2 health subfields and all but 1 of the 9 engineering subfields had either stable or increasing master’s enrollment (chemical, petroleum, and chemical-related engineering enrollment declined 18.8%, down from 3,274 students in 2019 to 2,658 students in 2023; table 2). Master’s enrollment in 3 of the 10 science subfields have also declined over the past 5 years: geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences (10.0%), physical sciences (5.7%), and social sciences (4.6%).

As with master’s enrollment, doctoral enrollment also rose to a record high in 2023 of 307,229 (table 2). From 2022 to 2023, health fields (6.7%) grew the most percentagewise, followed by science (3.3%) and engineering (2.8%). Similarly, over the past 5 years, health fields (21.0%) had the largest growth, followed by science (9.8%) and engineering (4.1%).

Growth from 2022 to 2023 shows psychology (15.3%), multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary sciences (12.1%), computer and information sciences (9.2%), and other health (8.3%) were the top four fastest-growing doctoral fields percentagewise.^{​For more information, see the full set of data tables: table 1-11b.}

The rise in postdoctoral appointments resulted mainly from an increase in postdocs with temporary visas (table 3). Between 2022 and 2023, there was an increase of 2,688 (7.6%) in temporary visa–holding postdocs, and between 2019 and 2023, there was an increase of 1,354 (3.7%). There were also notable sex differences in these trends. Although male postdocs holding temporary visas increased by 1,342 (6.2%) between 2022 and 2023, there were 466 (2%) fewer male temporary visa–holding postdocs in 2023 than there were in 2019. In contrast, the number of female postdocs with temporary visas increased by 1,346 (9.8%) since 2022 and by 1,820 (13.8%) since 2019. In 2023, there were more female postdocs on temporary visas than male U.S. citizens and permanent residents or female U.S. citizens and permanent residents (figure 2).