ERIC Number: EJ1452627
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1043-4046
EISSN: EISSN-1522-1229
Available Date: N/A
Exercise Physiology Degrees in the United States: An Update on Secular Trends
Advances in Physiology Education, v48 n4 p923-929 2024
The number of degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions in an academic field reflects institutional priorities, public interest in a domain of human knowledge, and overall societal and economic demand for certain skills and abilities. Public postsecondary institutions, which are obligated to serve the public interest, and professional organizations, which are meant to reflect the values and interests of their members, should monitor degrees conferred, in part, to understand the career pathways of their graduates or members. The current report describes secular trends in degrees conferred in exercise physiology in the United States since 2002-2003. Data were obtained from spreadsheets published by the National Center for Education Statistics. The number of bachelor's degrees conferred in exercise physiology plateaued starting in 2017-2018 before increasing again in 2020-2021. In 2021-2022, 31,066 bachelor's degrees were conferred in exercise physiology, representing the highest yearly total on record (1.5% of all U.S. bachelor's degrees). The increase has been driven by female graduates (2021-2022: 58.9% women). The number of male graduates started plateauing in 2016-2017. The number of master's degrees conferred has continued to increase (2021-2022: 51.6% women), and doctorate degrees have numbered between 245 and 300 per year since 2013-2014 (2021-2022: 52.2% women). Moving forward, exercise physiology organizations are encouraged to monitor secular trends in degrees conferred and include these data in large-scale graduate destination reports. The plateauing of male exercise physiology graduates over the past 6 years and the significantly lower proportion of male than female graduates averaged across all academic fields warrant continued discussion.
Descriptors: Exercise Physiology, Academic Degrees, Trend Analysis, College Graduates, Majors (Students), Bachelors Degrees, Gender Differences, Masters Degrees, Doctoral Degrees, Spreadsheets
American Physiological Society. 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3991. Tel: 301-634-7164; Fax: 301-634-7241; e-mail: webmaster@the-aps.org; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2487/journal/advances
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A