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State of the Humanities 2022: From Graduate Education to the Workforce

Master’s Degrees Conferred in the Humanities, by Discipline, 1988–2020

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Humanities Indicators

Master’s Degrees Conferred in the Humanities, by Discipline, 1988–2020


From 1988 to 2020, six humanities disciplines (area studies, communication, English language and literature, history, languages and literatures other than English, and study of the arts) conferred approximately three-fourths of the master’s and professional degrees awarded annually in the field. In all but two of those disciplines, the number of degrees conferred fell 21%–25% from 2012 to 2020. Collectively, the smaller disciplines experienced a somewhat larger decline (28%). Communication and study of the arts were the exception to the larger pattern of decline, as the number of master’s degrees earned in these disciplines increased by 3% and 7% respectively.3

Endnotes

  • 3Ibid.