Exercise physiology degrees in the United States: an update on secular trends.

Abstract

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.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The field of exercise physiology has experienced substantial growth at postsecondary institutions in the United States over the past 20 years. Growth has slowed in recent years, but the number of bachelor's degrees conferred in the field reached a record high in 2021-2022. The increase in bachelor's degrees conferred has been driven largely by increased numbers of female graduates (58.9% female). The number of male graduates plateaued starting in 2016-2017.