institutions and employers informing them. In 2009, transcripts began including a statement about the policy. In October 2013, Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber created a faculty committee to review the deflation policy. In August 2014, the committee released a report recommending the removal of the policy and instead develop consistent standards for grading across individual departments. In October 2014, following a faculty vote, the numerical targets were removed in response to the report. In a 2020 analysis of undergraduate grades following the removal of a policy, there were no long-lasting effects, with the percent of students receiving A's higher than in 1998. Graduate For the 2019–2020 academic year, the Graduate School enrolled 2,971 students. Approximately 40% of the students were female, 42% were international, and 35% of domestic students were a member of a U.S. minority group. The average time to complete a doctoral degree was 5.7 years. The university awarded 318 Ph.D. degrees and 174 final master's degrees for the 2019–2020 academic year. The Graduate School offers degrees in 42 academic departments and programs, which span the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. Doctoral education is available for all departments while master's degrees are only available in the architecture, engineering, finance, and public policy departments. Doctoral education focuses on original, independent scholarship whereas master's degrees focus more on career preparation in both public life and professional practice. Graduate students can also concentrate in an interdisciplinary program and be granted a certificate. Joint degrees are available for several disciplines, as are dual M.D./Ph.D. or M.P.A./J.D. programs. Students in the graduate school can participate in regional cross-registration agreements, domestic exchanges with other Ivy League schools and similar institutions, and in international partnerships and exchanges. Rankings Princeton ranked first in the 2021 U.S. News rankings for the tenth consecutive year. Princeton ranked fourth for undergrad teaching for 2021, falling from first place in the 2020 rankings. In the 2022 Times Higher Education assessment of the world's best universities, Princeton was ranked 7th. In the 2022 QS World University Rankings, it was ranked 20th overall in the world. In the 2021 U.S. News & World Report "Graduate School Rankings," 13 of Princeton's 14 graduate programs were ranked in their respective top 10 (with Engineering 22nd), 7 of them in the top 5, and two in the top spot (Economics and Mathematics). Research Princeton is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research