
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990                   TAG: 9005030632
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

AWARDING OF DEGREES UP 20/ FEW ARE IN DOCTORATE FIELDS WHERE COLLEGE FACULTY

There was a 20 percent increase in degrees awarded by Virginia's public colleges and universities in the 1980s, but few were in doctorate fields where faculty shortages are expected, state officials say.

A report released Wednesday by the State Council of Higher Education said graduation numbers were small in fields where demand should increase in the coming decade because of faculty retirements. Those fields include social sciences, the traditional humanities, business and management and foreign languages.

Foreign languages and the traditional humanities are particularly troubling examples, said Gordon K. Davies, the council's director. In 1989, just three students at public schools in Virginia earned doctorates in foreign languages and just 26 earned doctorates in humanities, he said.

Increasing demand for education with an international perspective should push the need for foreign language teachers up in the 1990s, Davies said. At the same time, the humanities are expected to see large-scale retirements, he said.

The report said doctorates awarded by public institutions increased nearly 50 percent over the 1980s.

In terms of overall degrees, the report said the biggest increases were posted by Mary Washington College, where the number of graduates increased by two-thirds, and George Mason University, which doubled the number of graduates it produced during the decade. Christopher Newport College also saw an increase of nearly 33 percent, the report said.

Three private institutions also saw substantial growth in degrees awarded: Liberty University, up 361 percent; Marymount University, up 133 percent, and the University of Richmond, up 33 percent.

Business and management continued throughout the decade as the most popular undergraduate degree programs, with 23 percent of bachelor's degrees at public schools and 27 percent at private ones.

The state's 24 private colleges and universities awarded nearly one-fourth of the bachelor's degrees granted. Half of those degrees were awarded by five schools: Liberty, Richmond, Hampton University, Washington and Lee University and Lynchburg College.

by CNB