The Council of Graduate Schools has reported that from 1996 to 2005, the typical seven-year Ph.D completion rates in STEM fields for minority candidates has risen by five percent.
Though it is not clear exactly what is causing this to happening, the report, "The Doctoral Initiative on Minority Attrition and Completion," makes recommendations on ways to improve rates, including "providing interventions throughout the doctoral process, not just at the beginning, and building a culture of diversity and inclusion on campuses and within programs."
Schools have been implementing programs like the ones recommended in the study.