The number of doctorate degrees awarded by UW-Madison has declined to levels not seen since before the late 1980s. The university's falling degree numbers follow a nationwide trend recorded in a new study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
The number of doctorate degrees earned at UW-Madison has fallen from 730 in 1999-'00, to 658 in 2000-'01, a drop of nearly 10 percent, according to statistics from the UW-Madison Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis.
Tom Hoffer, a senior research scientist with the NORC, said the falling numbers of doctorate degrees awarded today are due to a strong economy several years ago. In such times, students are more likely to enter the workforce, leading to less graduate students.
\This reflects a trend that goes back to the beginning in graduate enrollments,"" he said. ""It's not that we had high numbers coming through the pipeline and all of the sudden they fell. They fell some years back.""
Though the number of doctorate degrees awarded has fallen to the lowest level in over a decade, Judith Kornblatt, interim associate dean for graduate education at UW-Madison, said she is unconcerned.
""I wouldn't characterize it as a significant drop,"" she said.
Nationally, the number of earned doctorate degrees fell from 41,340 in 2000 to 40,744 last year, which represents a 4.5 percent drop from a peak of 42,654 in 1998.
Declining enrollment in high technology fields played a part in the findings, said Hoffer. A strong economy in the science and engineering fields several years ago drew prospective graduate students into the labor market and away from the university, he said.
""There were a lot of high'paying jobs in the high'tech areas,"" he said. ""Back in the good ol' days of high-flying dot coms.""
Pat Farrell, associate dean of engineering at UW-Madison, said he agrees the economy played a role in the decline of doctoral degrees awarded.
""Engineers could get almost any job they wanted with their bachelor degrees,"" he said. ""[Five to seven] years ago was kind of the beginning of the big boom phase. For a lot of students the immediate benefit of a nice salary and what looks like an interesting job outweighs the more long'term benefit of getting a graduate degree.\
