State of the Arts

• Twitter
• Email
• Show more sharing options

Share Close extra sharing options

• Twitter
• Email
• Copy Link URLCopied!
• Print

Fewer but Happier: Humanities Master’s and Ph.D. Graduates in 2020 By Audrey Williams June April 29, 2022

The share of master’s and doctoral degrees awarded in the humanities in 2020 hit a record low, according to a new report released today by the Humanities Indicators Project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The report uses federal data to provide a data-driven look at the state of graduate education in the humanities, including graduate-degree trends, career outcomes, the state of the professoriate, and the lack of diversity in the field.

“To see the share of our degrees falling to levels I’ve never seen before,” said Robert B. Townsend, co-director of the Humanities Indicator Project, “that was really surprising.”

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in or create an account if you don't already have one.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or [email protected]

The share of master’s and doctoral degrees awarded in the humanities in 2020 hit a record low, according to a new report released on Friday by the Humanities Indicators project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The report, “State of the Humanities 2022: From Graduate Education to the Workforce,” relies heavily on federal data to examine graduate education in the humanities, including graduate-degree trends, career outcomes, the state of the professoriate, and the lack of diversity in the field.

“To see the share of our degrees falling to levels I’ve never seen before,” said Robert B. Townsend, program director for humanities, arts, and culture at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, “that was really surprising.”

The study’s wide-ranging findings amplify some familiar trends in disciplines like English language and literature, history, foreign languages and literature, and philosophy, among others, that have long been framed as being “in crisis.” The report also highlights the declines in humanities-faculty positions and in academic job ads for humanities Ph.D.s, long-running trends that have fueled the dismal academic job market that graduate-degree holders in the humanities face.

But a bright spot emerged in the data: Despite their median earnings being less than their counterparts in most other fields, about 90 percent of recipients of graduate degrees in the humanities were satisfied with their jobs (whether employed in academe or not) in 2019 — in line with master’s and Ph.D. holders in other fields, the report said.

The data, although helpful in identifying trends, still leaves “many questions unanswered” about the future of graduate education in the humanities, the report said. Ph.D. programs in the humanities could suffer if “the path into traditional academic occupations remains narrow.” And master’s-only graduate programs in the humanities may have to navigate a continued decline in people seeking that credential, according to the report.

“Our hope is that departments and colleges and schools will look at this data and think about how they’re preparing students for the future and what they’re preparing them for,” Townsend said.

Here’s a closer look at some of the study’s findings:

ADVERTISEMENT

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication. DataGraduate EducationFaculty Life Audrey Williams June Audrey Williams June is the news-data manager at The Chronicle. She explores and analyzes data sets, databases, and records to uncover higher-education trends, insights, and stories. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter @audreywjune.