The pie charts below illustrated the percentage of students who graduated from universities with different degree levels in arts and science from 1980 to 2008.
Overall, the figure for science learners was higher than arts students in a particular nation, accounting for more than a half of the chart for the 28-year period . Besides, there was an increasing trend of pupils towards pursuing PhD in both arts and science disciplines between 1980 and 2008.
As is shown, regarding arts qualifications, the Bachelor’s degree made up exactly one- fourth in 1980 and then it decreased dramatically to 11% in the next 28 years. Conversely, there was a slight growth of both Masters and PhD, rising from 12% and 2% to 13% and 7% over the 28-year period respectively, although PhD programs still remained the lowest ranking.
On the other hand, according to science degrees, there was no change of both masters and first degree candidates, at more than one-quarter at 29% and 19% respectively over the period. Moreover, the proportion of PhD programs experienced a significant rise from 13% to 30% throughout the period, making it the dominant category in 2008.