Stem phd attrition rate Graduate student quality One of the more troubling and pervasive explanations ofered for the high and persistent doctoral student attrition rate is that programs are admitting low quality students. Jul 31, 2025 · Doctoral Attrition (DA) is the phenomenon of graduate students discontinuing Ph. edu Available attrition statistics for graduate engineering students do not adequately inform current attrition research because they focus on degree completion rather than attrition or early departure; aggregate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students; and reflect out-of-date data. According to the Council of Graduate Schools, it's not just students and universities that lose out when students fail to finish-it's the work force and the country as a whole. Factors That Contribute to URM Persistence in STEM Multiple factors contribute to the high attrition of under­represented students in STEM majors. ABSTRACT This article explores the complex dynamics of STEM education in the U. What does this mean? Well, first it means that after years graduate study, and thousands of The first section focuses on the first two questions, presenting nationally representative statistics on STEM entrance and attrition rates, comparing attrition rates between STEM and non-STEM fields, and examining the characteristics of students who leave STEM fields and the fields into which they move. Negative. S. Despite the undesirable common occurrence of attrition, it remains fundamentally understudied in STEM, and specifically in engineering disciplines. Since the mid-2000s, China has consistently graduated more STEM PhDs than the United States, a key indicator of a country’s future competitiveness in STEM fields. Their report on undergraduate attrition finds that 48% of the students who enter college with STEM majors leave those majors before graduation (Chen and Soldier, 2013). International STEM graduate students also reported the highest degrees of improvement between pre- and post-participation surveys. Overall, seven participants had been enrolled in dual-degree MD-PhD programs but subsequently discontinued MD-PhD training, six of whom continued their training for the MD. I rst consider individuals whose undergraduate degrees are in STEM but whose rst graduate degrees are Mar 4, 2024 · Background Research and policy often focus on reducing attrition from educational trajectories leading to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but many students change career plans within STEM. Small differences in the numeric and spatial abilities required by STEM disciplines favoring males and majority ethnic groups at the earliest stage of education (see, e. This Research Work-in-Progress paper presents a systematic literature review of existing May 16, 2025 · In general, what college students choose to major in has significant implications for job prospects and future earnings potential. Higher attrition rates and longer times-to-degree go hand in hand [2], and lead to increased costs for PhD can-didates and institutions [3] as well as a range of negative consequences for PhD candidates and their supervisors [4]. , 2015). Inadequate information at the time a student makes the decision regarding enrollment in a PhD program can result in higher early attrition rates. To improve retention rates in engineering programs, the reasons why students leave engineering must be determined. Sloan Mar 4, 2024 · Background Research and policy often focus on reducing attrition from educational trajectories leading to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but many students change career plans within STEM. Engineering is a lucrative and relatively fast- Oct 16, 2024 · The return rate of foreign-educated Chinese doctoral recipients in STEM fields used to be notoriously low. And of STEM university graduates, we found that from 2011 onwards women were more likely than men to continue their studies and obtain a STEM PhD degree. This paper presents some key findings from a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation that examined patterns of education and employment among STEM graduates in the UK. What are the long-term gendered patterns of participation and achievement in school science As our analyses have shown, female STEM graduates were generally less likely than their male peers to work in STEM jobs, and educational participation among women was highest in the very subject areas that had the lowest levels of graduate employment in the STEM workforce. However, there is no centralized publication source for graduate STEM Apr 20, 2022 · Accessing data from National Science Foundation’s Survey of Doctorate Recipients, the authors identified several major findings in their The Long-Term Stay Rates of International STEM PhD Graduates study, made possible through Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. That means one out of every two students who start a Ph. Aug 19, 2023 · The percentage of students who don't complete their PhD varies hugely; some institutions report as high as 71% and some as low as 9%. Engineering graduate programs warrant specific attention due to the ary characteristics and the relatively high att among certain student demographics. Sep 1, 2024 · This article explores the complex dynamics of STEM education in the U. It then focuses on STEM attrition, providing descriptive statistics on the rates at which students enter and leave STEM fields, comparing attrition rates in STEM and non-STEM fields, and identifying the fields to which STEM leavers moved and the characteristics of STEM leavers. This study explores the impact of STEM on achieving gender equality and eliminating gender disparity in male and female enrollment and graduation from STEM-related fields in UAE universities. Chair agency and the chair-candidate relationship The high attrition rate in doctoral programs has driven university officials to in- tensify efforts to identify why students are exiting the program prior to completion and osely 2011). Descriptively, students declaring an Engineering STEM major initially outperformed the other two categories by having the lowest STEM-wide dropout rate. This Research Work-in-Progress paper presents a systematic literature review of existing work within graduate STEM education. " In my senior essay, I explore attrition rates at two key junctures in this pipeline: before one's rst graduate degree and during one's career. A recent study utilizing data from UCLA’s 2004 CIRP Freshman Survey and the National Student Clearinghouse indicated that only Jul 2, 2018 · Problems with the supply of highly skilled science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers have been reported by employers and governments for many decades, in the UK, the USA, and elsewhere. Additionally, we show these efforts progressively decreased the attrition rates of URM students over time while eliminating attrition in the latest cohort. Sep 16, 2019 · Low rates of female and URM student participation in STEM fields like engineering and computer science combine with high levels of attrition from STEM fields among female and URM students to produce significant equity gaps with regard to the completion of STEM degrees. The findings corroborated the previous studies and suggested that effects of prior graduate degree statuses also hold fo Oct 20, 2023 · Using a census of 245,270 tenure-track and tenured professors at United States–based PhD-granting departments, we show that women leave academia overall at higher rates than men at every career age, in large part because of strongly gendered attrition at lower-prestige institutions, in non-STEM fields, and among tenured faculty. This Statistical Analysis Report presents the most recent national statistics on beginning bachelor's and associate's degree students' entrance into, and attrition from, STEM fields. This paper explores the data on STEM PhD graduation rates and projects their growth over the next five years, during which the gap between China and the United States is expected to increase significantly. Additionally, gender and racial/ethnic differences in STEM persistence and STEM degree completion rates depended on STEM major category and type of institution. n addresses three important overlapping conversat n STEM graduate education. To address issues like this in graduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, the National Academies (2018) published a call to May 5, 2025 · Abstract As explicitly stated in SDG 5, STEM Education seeks gender equality. Completion and Attrition: Policies and Practices to Promote Student Success (2010) This is the fourth in a series of monographs from the CGS Ph. These statistics offer middle and high school stud tion rate of 42% and a seven-year attrition rate of 39%. This report provides an overview of the STEM labor force and details its size, growth, educational pathways, salary, and diversity. For example, 48 percent of bachelor’s degree students who declared a STEM major left their initially chosen STEM major within 6 years of entering postsecondary education (Chen In 2004, the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) launched the Ph. In this chapter, we will analyze sex differences in science and engineering education and career trajectories and rates of departure from the academic science track in favor of careers in other sectors. Some studies estimate that attrition rates are between 40% and 60% depending on the discipline (Bair & Haworth, 1999). Based on the NCES, 48 percent of bachelor’s degree students who began STEM programs between 2003 and 2009 had left them by spring 2009, 28 percent switch to a non-STEM major, and 20 E-mail: cgb9@psu. And in some programs it’s even worse – studies suggest only one out of every three humanities Introduction To remain competitive in today’s global economy, businesses and societies rely on contributions from the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. This comprehensive literature review synthesizes recent empirical research to better understand the underlying factors contributing to this ongoing challenge and This finding suggests that women who earn undergraduate degrees in STEM complete doctoral education at rates more comparable to rates among men than their counterparts in non-STEM fields. The freshman-to-sophomore retention For example, the National Center for Education Statistics conducts aggregate tracking of persistence in STEM across all colleges and universities in the United States. Industrial engineers can easily go into manufacturing or quality engineering and then branch out more traditional mechanical roles after that. Two most frequently cited statistics in connection with student success are the freshman-to-sophomore retention rate, or first-year annual return rate, and the cohort graduation rate. Students are considered persisted if they remain enrolled at any institution and retained if they remain at their starting institution — either in the spring term following initial enrollment Jun 16, 2025 · Deciding to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) can feel daunting—especially for girls who often lack visible role models. , Anderson & Kim, After you graduate your major is more of a jumping off point than locking you into a role. Her research interests include graduate student access, equity, and retention in STEM fields as well as undergraduate experiences affecting transitions to graduate school and beyond, particularly among women Results show graduate education as a relatively understudied area, but those seeking to do work in this area can now more clearly understand the conversations that have occurred and give future researchers in graduate education a stepping off point for exploration understudies areas in graduate Education. It addresses the following research questions. We conducted a large online survey of Abstract Low student enrollment and high attrition rates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education are major challenges in higher education. There are a couple reasons for this. Recently, engineering education researchers have begun to join the conversation of STEM education through studies exploring student attitudes and minority student experiences, among others. candidates who are African-American, Latino, Native American, or STEM researchers constitute an understudied population [8] that might differ substantially from non-STEM populations, as natural and laboratory sciences appear to have (much) lower attrition rates Nov 20, 2008 · Introduction Doctoral student attrition rates in the US have been measured at 57% across disciplines (Council of Graduate Schools 2008). In fact, the In nearly all STEM fields, the proportion of graduates who are international remained constant or decreased slightly between 2010 and 2017. Introduction PhD candidates’ attrition rates and time-to-degree-completion are, according to [1], important measurements of the efficiency and effectiveness of doctoral education. The PhD non-completion rate depends on many factors, such as the subject or department you are studying in, your age and whether you have a good mentor. program leaves prior to completion. -trained doctoral recipients. Completion Project. Master’s education is the fastest growing and largest component of the graduate enterprise in the United States, yet little is known about completion and attrition rates in master’s programs and factors contributing to student success. Attrition in K-12, Undergraduate, and Graduate STEM Education. Many STEM entrants end-up switching their majors to non-STEM fields, perform poorly relative to their peers in other programs, and/or drop out of college without earning any academic qualification. , focusing on the attrition rates of students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. S&E enterprise, which continues to experience significant workforce needs. Literature frequently cites financial burden, among other Oct 1, 2018 · Download Citation | On Oct 1, 2018, Derrick J. Abstract This Research Work-in-Progress paper presents a systematic literature review of existing work within graduate STEM education. In contrast, those majoring in Biological Sciences have the highest STEM-wide dropout rate. , 2000 Program Completion and Attrition Data CGS published “ Ph. Publications Ph. These policies and practices are categorized UNAVOIDABLE ATTRITION? The premise behind these and other programs is that the more graduate students who complete their degrees, and complete them on time, the better off students and universities will be. The findings corroborated the previous studies and suggested that effects of prior graduate degree statuses also hold fo Oct 5, 2022 · 1. Jan 31, 2018 · China’s strikingly rapid expansion of its STEM workforce has continued, according to the National Science Board’s latest Science and Engineering Indicators report. This study examined how changing career plans within STEM fields was associated with psychological indicators of career readiness. 4%)&nbsp May 6, 2023 · 1 INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE Attrition rates at the graduate level are high yet underexplored. completion rates and reduce attrition in doctoral programs. These numbers represent numbers by students graduating PhD programs across different programs around the nation in STEM. Researchers, educators, and students come together to learn, connect, and share research-based innovations. Tenured Mathematics professor. 1 below), our data provides an important starting point to examine correlations between factors that predict doctoral attrition among STEM PhD students. Five large-scale still estimate STEM graduate attrition to be above 30% across the United States. students in STEM fields drop out, but that’s drawing on research from 2011. seems to put you at a greater risk of being anxious or depressed than other occupations, some students may also face the question: will I ever finish my thesis at all? This post digs into research about doctoral attrition and completion, and what factors seem to make dropping out more likely. The decision to pursue a particular career Aug 28, 2025 · Table 1. The analysis delves into the reasons behind high attrition This conversation is critical, as the literature indicates that nearly 24% of STEM PhD students seriously consider leaving their PhD programs (Ruud et al. The findings corroborated the previous studies and suggested that effects of prior graduate degree statuses also hold fo Jul 6, 2016 · Universities themselves may be contributing to burnout. These policies and practices are categorized Nov 29, 2016 · One of the ten recommendations given in the National Academies report (2012) was the need to reform graduate education and address issues such as high attrition rates, long time-to degree lengths, and career placement. While we acknowledge limitations to generalizability (discussed in Section 5. Therefore, it is important to Master’s education is the fastest growing and largest component of the graduate enterprise in the United States, yet little is known about completion and attrition rates in master’s programs and factors contributing to student success. Mar 25, 2021 · Notably, a few STEM disciplines stand out as having particularly high rates of attrition (or low rates of degree completion for students who declared those majors), e. These students represent an undergraduate program from a school that does not offer PhD degrees. studies due to individual or combined factors, such as lack of academic integration, insufficient supervisor Jun 24, 2021 · While this “in-school” attrition rate is high comparatively, it only bolsters the magnitude of the “after-graduation” attrition rate. Do not give up!… unless you really want to. Intention-to-stay rates among international Ph. Apr 14, 2015 · While universities have had some success in diversifying their STEM graduate ranks in recent years, completion rates for Ph. We used critical event analysis as a methodological approach to understand the experiences of a subset of 13 participants, who, at some point in their graduate career, experienced a singular event that caused them to question whether to persist in their PhD program. , 1996; Choy et al. As graduate students represent a large financial investment to universities, they have sought to address the is-sue of doctoral attrition from this “student quality” perspective. Sep 11, 2023 · It’s difficult to find clear data on graduate school attrition. 11 Employment in STEM occupations, 2024 and projected 2034 (Employment in thousands) Occupation category Employment, 2024 Employment, 2034 Employment change, numeric, 2024 Oct 5, 2022 · 1. Apr 18, 2025 · These data show the nation’s success in retaining foreign STEM graduates – an important source of talent for the U. I’m not sure about the statistics but I believe it’s approx. The Astin and Astin (1993) Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) studies documented higher loss rates for stu-dents in STEM majors among Hispanic, African American, or Native American students, using data PhD in Education Doctoral Student at the University of Arizona Global Campus intending to research Calculus I and Calculus II attrition rates at community colleges. Abstract: Despite burgeoning federal funding, expanding educational research, and mitigating efforts, undergraduate STEM programs in the United States and globally continue to grapple with persistently high rates of student attrition. 6%. Over the past two decades a change in this trend has gradually evolved. " In my senior essay, I explore attrition rates at two key junctures in this pipeline: Attrition rates for Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programs in the United States across the fields of engineering, life sciences, social sciences, mathematics and physical sciences, and humanities range from 36 – 51%. Attrition: How Much is Too Much?” published by The Chronicle of Higher Education, the current PhD attrition rate is approximately 50%. Data were collected from student records at a federal university for all graduate and undergraduate students who enrolled and Aug 7, 2019 · High dropout rates, delay, and dissatisfaction among PhD students are common problems in doctoral education. , 2016), which is less than the 36%43% attrition for graduate – students more generally (Council of Graduate Schools, 2008), but still significant. This is silly, because the attrition rate at Yale is zero, which means it's actually impossible to compute how much higher the top rated Engineering (MIT) PhD programs's attrition rate actually is. graduates are 70 percent or higher in all STEM fields. These findings were observed for each of the STEM major categories, though college success rates differed somewhat among STEM major categories. With a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF grant #1138814, "Completion and Attrition in AGEP and non-AGEP institutions"), the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) examined patterns of completion and attrition among URMs in STEM doctoral programs across twenty-one institutions in the United States, including those institutions affiliated with NSF’s Alliances for Graduate Education Master’s education, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, is critical to preparing the workforce of the future, yet we lack key information regarding master’s completion and attrition rates and factors that contribute to student success. Astonishingly, the completion rate ten years after students begin their doctoral program remains low at 56. That's way too high, but it hasn't exactly inspired picketing on the graduate quad. That’s because students come out of high school excited about wanting to design and build things, only to find themselves disappointed at having to take up to two years of Institutional and Personal Factors (2017), by Monsterrat Castello, published in the journal Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research Did Not Finish: Doctoral Attrition in Higher Education and Student Affairs (2017), by Sarah Maddox, PhD, doctoral dissertation from the University of Northern Colorado A 2012 report to the White House stated that decreasing the na-tional yearly STEM attrition rate by just 10 percentage points from 2012 onwards will help reduce the impending shortage of STEM professionals in 2022 by 75% [12, 25]. Wofford is a PhD student in the Higher Education and Organizational Change program and a research analyst for BRAID Research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Higher attrition rates and longer times-to-degree go hand in hand [2], and lead to increased costs for PhD candidates and institutions [3] as well as a range of negative consequences for PhD candidates and their tion rate of 42% and a seven-year attrition rate of 39%. Due to the high attrition rates in STEM fields and the shortage of STEM workers in the United States, research on STEM attrition has focused on identifying factors that cause STEM attrition and ways to increase STEM persistence. Or, as we said in grade school but not grad school, "infinity higher". With half of all doctoral students leaving graduate school without finishing, something significant and overwhelming must be happening for at attrition from STEM graduate programs (Sowell et al. The article says that close to 50 percent of Ph. Satterfield and others published WIP: Factors Affecting Graduate STEM Student Attrition Rates | Find, read and cite all the research you need on This Research Work-in-Progress paper presents a systematic literature review of existing work within graduate STEM education. , 2005; Museus and Quaye, 2009), in part because they are more likely to be first-generation college students (Terenzini et al. , Penner & Paret, 2008) may be exacerbated by later unequal access to STEM-related educational opportunities (e Minority Attrition and Completion in STEM Doctoral Programs There is a general underrepresentation of minority students—particularly African American, American Indian, and Hispanic students—in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at the graduate level. 1 Underrepresented students (women and minorities) in STEM majors Maintaining a diverse enrollment to include women and minorities in STEM majors is also a concern (Tan, 2002). Further, the majority of URM students who graduate from the GSBS are likely to remain in the STEM pipeline beyond the postdoctoral training period. The Council of Graduate Schools (2010) has made an effort to impart the message that if the United States wants to be competitive among the world’s innovators and leaders, it It examines the proportion of foreign-born workers in STEM occupations (by degree level) and estimates rates of intentions to stay as well as actual stay rates among U. Socially, many of these students face challenges transitioning to college (Cooper et al. Women who start on the path toward a career in academic science leave that path in favor of other fields at a higher rate than their male colleagues. View all projects, as well as affiliated scientific societies, recordings of virtual IDEA Labs, and news and events within STEM graduate Jan 16, 2017 · Abstract Low student enrollment and high attrition rates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education are major challenges in higher education. g. As in the previous Science and Engineering Indicators report “The STEM Download Citation | STEM attrition: College students' paths into and out of STEM fields | Producing sufficient numbers of graduates who are prepared for science, technology, engineering, and The study begins with descriptve analyses that present natonal statstcs on STEM entrance and atriton rates among high-performing students; compare students’ atriton rates in STEM and non-STEM felds; examine the characteristcs of those who lef STEM felds and the felds into which they moved; and identfy diferences between STEM leavers and For the current study about MD-PhD program attrition, anyone who had once enrolled in an MD-PhD program but did not complete it was eligible to participate. Attrition rate is pretty high for my department (CS also) and its top 50 in the US. The research draws on data from four national data sources: the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Destination of Leavers from Higher Education survey (DLHE), the Annual Population Survey (APS), the 1958 Mar 25, 2021 · Notably, a few STEM disciplines stand out as having particularly high rates of attrition (or low rates of degree completion for students who declared those majors), e. The analysis delves into the reasons behind high attrition Dec 8, 2024 · This paper contributes to the empirical evidence on gendered inequalities in STEM by exploring long-term patterns of participation and attainment in key STEM subjects, from school science through to graduate entry into the highly skilled STEM labour market. As a re-sult How many phd students drop out? According to the article “Ph. I compared the deviation of law school faculty demographics to establish a profile of university subgroups and determine their impact on student attrition, attrition rates, the percentage of J. In 2016, women also represented 49% of the university qualified labour force with science (excluding mathematics) qualifications. Introduction: Student Success and Retention Students persisting to completion of their educational goals is a key gauge of student success, and therefore institutional success. mathematics and physics. About half of the attrition happens during freshman year. Jun 27, 2019 · The lack of student persistence in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields has been widely researched in recent years. Therefore, it is important to Apr 13, 2019 · Aside from the fact that doing a Ph. Despite a significant increase in the number of STEM degrees awarded, challenges in student retention and global competitiveness remain. Research shows that many different factors are associated with doctoral success, but the 1. Jul 31, 2023 · Download Citation | Persistence and Attrition in STEM Majors for a Career Choice | STEM fields are viewed as being important for global economic development, as well as for the well-being of summary of research on student attrition in online education programs, Yukselturk & Inan delineated several program-related reasons for discontinuing which included course schedule and pacing, This finding suggests that women who earn undergraduate degrees in STEM complete doctoral education at rates more comparable to rates among men than their counterparts in non-STEM fields. , access to high- At the same time, we find that gendered attrition rates vary in magnitude across faculty ranks, academic fields, and institutions, and that the gendered attrition observed for academia as a whole is driven substantially by attrition of tenured faculty, faculty in non-STEM domains, and faculty at lower-prestige institutions. Sloan Apr 21, 2021 · Abstract The phenomenon of female attrition from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is often referred to as a \leaky pipeline. E-mail: cgb9@psu. Disciplinary attrition rates, however, range greatly with a low of 24% in the biomedical and behavioral sciences (Pion 2001) to a high of nearly 67% in the humanities and social sciences (Bowen and Rudenstine . The first two chapters concentrate on en graduate students. The study looked at 49,000 students attending 30 institutions in 54 disciplines comprising 330 programs. However, there is no centralized publication source for graduate STEM education The Council of Graduate Schools produced a study on the PhD completion and attrition. Oct 31, 2017 · Annie M. Nov 27, 2023 · Discover how the global landscape of STEM graduates is shifting, potentially reshaping the future of innovation and education worldwide. STEM attrition is one of the leading causes of this worker shortfall, as relatively few undergraduates who begin their college careers as STEM majors actually graduate with baccalaureate degrees in STEM disciplines. Completion Project, a national initiative to examine and document doctoral completion and attrition rates and to study institutional factors and interventions designed to improve completion and reduce attrition. In this paper, we review the literature on attrition from engineering programs to identify the breadth of factors that contribute to students’ decisions to leave While ideally stay-rate data would also cover bachelor’s and master’s students, PhD students are the most highly educated subset and they make up a significant portion of US-trained Chinese talent; estimates in Table 1 suggest that there are around 36,000 Chinese STEM PhD students at US universities, accounting for a little under half of We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Apr 10, 2024 · The most common statistic cited around the attrition rate for engineering students is that roughly 50 percent change majors or drop out before graduation. Behind it are contemporary China’s prospering economy, strategic talent policies and the large sum of funding it has poured into scientific research. A positive and non-heirarchical relationship between the doctoral committee chair Higher education institutions experience a paramount problem of enrollment, retention, and attrition, which is particularly acute within the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. A large number of students leave engineering majors prior to graduation despite efforts to increase retention rates. s awarded, and bar success rates, all of which reflect students’ sense of belonging and persistence in law school. Potential explanations for these differences in attrition rates at the university level and beyond include both academic (e. The project, funded by the Alfred P. This monograph reports on policies and practices at participating institutions that aim to improve Ph. To begin to address this gap, CGS conducted a pilot study, Completion and Attrition in STEM Master’s Programs. Because of the anticipated demand for STEM occupations, researchers and policymakers have been studying and trying to address attrition from STEM fields as students move through the education pipeline (Metcalf 2010). Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Program Data from the Ph. They are highest—between 85 and 90 percent—in computer science, biology, and engineering. Low student enrollment and high attrition rates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education are major challenges in higher education. During this ongoing project, we developed a solid empirical understanding of doctoral completion and attrition, and Jun 26, 2025 · The Persistence and Retention report series examines early college enrollment outcomes for beginning postsecondary students, tracking both first spring and second-year persistence and retention rates. Using recent transcript data, it provides a first look at STEM coursetaking and examines how participation and performance in undergraduate STEM coursework, along with other factors, are associated with STEM We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. During this ongoing project, we developed a solid empirical understanding of doctoral completion and attrition, and Because of the anticipated demand for STEM occupations, researchers and policymakers have been studying and trying to address attrition from STEM fields as students move through the education pipeline (Metcalf 2010). This blog post analyzes recent education data from the countries with the most graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. By 2025, several key data points will shape our understanding of women’s roles in STEM. While these studies About 100 times higher. Completion Project ” in December 2007. 1/2. D. characteristics are associated with higher STEM attrition rates, such as female, traditionally underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities, and first-generation status (e. Mar 26, 2018 · What is the relationship between field of study, gender, race/ethnicity, and prior graduate education of URM students and their ten-year completion and attrition rates in STEM doctoral programs? Aug 1, 2018 · Introduction The aim of this study is to contribute to the ‘STEM skills deficit’ debate by providing much needed evidence on STEM career trajectories in the graduate labour market. Jul 31, 2023 · Download Citation | Persistence and Attrition in STEM Majors for a Career Choice | STEM fields are viewed as being important for global economic development, as well as for the well-being of summary of research on student attrition in online education programs, Yukselturk & Inan delineated several program-related reasons for discontinuing which included course schedule and pacing, Jul 3, 2013 · Today's attrition rate compares well to Chace's halcyon graduate-school days, but it still stands at about half of all doctoral students. For each of the top eleven countries by number of STEM graduates, we present the total number of STEM The IGE Hub The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Hub brings together NSF-funded projects shaping the next generation of STEM graduate education. However, there is no centralized publication source for graduate STEM education Sep 21, 2022 · An analysis of the academic employment and doctoral education of faculty members at all PhD-granting US universities from 2011 to 2020 shows that a small minority of universities (20. Scores were low for international students, lower for STEM students, and lowest among international STEM students. Apr 21, 2021 · Abstract atics (STEM) is often referred to as a \leaky pipeline.