As fewer doctoral degrees are granted nationally, Princeton holds steady

According to a report recently released by the University of Chicago, the number of doctorate degrees awarded nationally in 1999 dropped from the previous year for the first time in 14 years. Princeton, however, is not following the same course, but is taking a path of its own.

The report, which was released last week, recorded the largest decline in doctorates received since 1977, when the decrease was 3.7 percent.

"Princeton is such a little, tiny piece of the whole big picture," University Vice President and Secretary Tom Wright '62 said. He added that what happens at the University does not have much effect on national trends.

Dean of the Graduate School John Wilson did not think that the one-time decline would lead to a trend.

"It's hard to gauge whether a trend is developing on the basis of one year," he said. The 41,140 doctorates given in 1999 — 3.6 percent lower than the 1998 statistic — may just be the beginning of a stabilizing effect, to balance out the rather high numbers of the past few years, according to Wilson.

"That would be a good thing nationally in my view," he added.

If the University's own experience is any indication, Wilson may be right.

Since 1970, the number of doctorate degrees granted at Princeton each year has fluctuated constantly, according to records in the Office of the Registrar, keeping neither upward nor downward trends for more than three years at a time.

In fact, there were more doctorates given by the University in 1971 than there were in 2000.

"Princeton's graduate school has always been committed to being small scale," Wilson explained. "We deliberately have tried to keep our humanities programs, for example, small scale."

Among the factors influencing the decision of how many doctoral students to admit are the quality of research being done in the field and the availability of positions in job and research markets.

Because of these factors, Wilson said, the University has tried to keep the number of doctorates awarded each year fairly steady.

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Rather than award high numbers of less meaningful doctorates, he said, the University strives to give "a few at the cutting-edge of the fields we do work in."

"Doctoral programs exist in the full range of disciplines at Princeton," Wilson noted. The doctorates are awarded individually by the different departments, even though the graduate school is partially responsible for who is admitted to doctorate programs.

One trend that has developed since 1970 is an increase in the number of doctorates taken by women.

In 1970, there were only five doctoral degrees awarded to women, while men received more than 46 times as many. The number of women doctorates increased steadily, and rapidly, for about 10 years, and continues to make slow progress.

Last year, women received 103 of the University's doctorates, as opposed to 178 received by men. That is the closest the numbers have been to date, with women accounting for 37 percent.

In 1999, women received 43 percent of doctorates nationally, but only 28 percent at the University.