News Release

Part-time graduate enrollment in science and engineering growing at a higher rate

From 2010 to 2011, growth in part-time graduate enrollment outpaced that of full-time enrollment

Business Announcement

U.S. National Science Foundation

Doctoral Student Looks into a Left Ventricular Simulator Tank

image: From 2010 to 2011, growth in part-time graduate enrollment (1.6 percent) outpaced that of full-time enrollment (0.5 percent) for the first time since 2005. The image shows Kelley Stewart, a doctoral student working in the Advanced Experimental Thermofluid Engineering Research Lab at Virginia Tech, looking into a left ventricular simulator tank. view more 

Credit: John McCormick, courtesy Virginia Tech

From 2010 to 2011, enrollment of part-time graduate students in science and engineering (S&E) fields grew at a higher rate than that of full-time S&E graduate students for the first time since 2005.

The new finding comes from a report released today by the National Science Foundation that reveals that enrollment of part-time S&E graduate students increased 1.6 percent versus 0.5 percent for full-time S&E graduate students from 2010 to 2011.

During the past decade, enrollment of full-time graduate students in S&E grew almost 25 percent, from approximately 325,000 students in 2002 to approximately 411,200 students in 2011. Enrollment of part-time students increased nearly 15 percent, from approximately 129,300 students in 2002 to approximately 149,700 students in 2011.

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For more information on this report, please contact Kelly Kang.

Please visit the NSF's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics for more reports and other products.


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