Insights from Twenty Years of Biotechnology Credential Data

The article discusses the number of students completing biotechnology credentials, from two-year colleges, over the past twenty years and their student demographics. It describes how data were obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics and discusses the quality of that data. Some challenges were uncovered in obtaining completion data since colleges use different CIP codes to define their degrees. The work makes a case for better standardization in reporting completions.

Some conclusions from the article are:

• The number of students completing two-year degrees has been dropping during the past ten years, while the number of students completing certificates has gone up.
• Over 60% the students completing biotech credentials are women.
• The number of Hispanic students completing biotechnology credentials has increased over the past ten years.
• The number of biotechnology college programs dropped between 2018 and 2023. This is probably due to low enrollment.

Citation

Porter, S., Smith, T., & Fletcher, L. (2025). Insights from Twenty Years of Biotechnology Credential Data. Journal of Advanced Technological Education (J ATE), 4(1), 62–73. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17344641