Harvard Takes Nationwide Lead In '64-'66 Production of Ph.D.'s

Harvard has taken over the national lead in Ph.D. production from the University of California at Berkeley, according to a recent study by the National Academy of Sciences.

The 262-page report made no qualitative judgments from its morass of statistics, but Harvard did emerge as the leader in more fields than any other college or university.

In 1966, the American Council on Education concluded that Berkeley was the nation's "best balanced distinguished university," in a study which stressed quality as evaluated by faculty members and former students. In that study Harvard was ranked number one in the greatest number of fields, but its low showing in engineering eased it out of the top spot overall.

The NAS survey placed Harvard first in six fields--anthropology and archaeology, economics and econometrics, modern foreign languages and literature, classical languages and literature, history, and business administration--in Ph.D. production from 1964 to 1966. Berkeley led in four fields. The University of Wisconsin and New York University led in three.

Harvard was the only private institution among the top five universities in the NAS poll. Last year, six of the top ten schools in the ACE overall ratings were private.

The NAS report placed heavy emphasis on the private-public issue and revealed that the percentage of college students in public institutions was now almost 70 per cent as opposed to just 40 per cent before World War II.

In total number of doctorates awarded between 1960 and 1966, Harvard placed fourth, behind Berkeley, Wisconsin, and the University of Illinois, in that order. Massachusetts placed fourth in the rankings by state, behind New York, California, and Illinois.

Other conclusions made by the study included:

* the Middle Atlantic region had the highest number of baccalaureate and doctorate degrees awarded in the nineyear span. New England was fourth, the Pacific area third, and the East North Central region second.

* two-thirds of all Ph.D.'s take their first jobs at academic institutions. Twelve per cent join industry, and seven per cent enter the government.