Reversing the landslide in computer-related degree programs
Authors: Becerra-Fernandez Irma , Elam Joyce , Clemmons Susan 
Published: January 2010

Introduction

There is growing concern that a technologically educated workforce will not be available to meet the needs of the job market in information technology in the coming years, primarily because students are turning away from academic programs in computer-related disciplines, including computer science (CS), information technology (IT), and management information systems (MIS). We will collectively refer to these academic units as Computer and Information Science/Systems (CIS). Numerous surveys have documented the steep decline: as much as 50% over the last four years of both the number of graduates in these programs as well as the enrollment in courses associated with these degree programs. The popularity of computer science as an intended major among incoming freshmen continues the decline that started in 2000. By 2004, it had further declined by over 60%. This lack of interest in computer science by incoming students translates to a downward trend in the number of enrolled students and graduates for the foreseeable future.

The most comprehensive source of information on the production of bachelor, masters, and Ph.D. degrees in computer science and computer engineering is the Taulbee Survey, conducted annually by the Computing Research Association.

The major findings from the 2006 Taulbee Survey are:

1. Bachelor degree production was down more than 15% in 2006, following a 13% decrease in 2005. Over the last three years, there has been a drop of over 40%.

2. Master's degree production was down 13% in 2006, this is reasonably consistent with the 17% drop in new Master's students reported two years ago.

3. The proportion of women receiving bachelor's degrees decreased from 17% in 2003--04 to 14.76% in 2004--05. The percentage was unchanged in 2006. This trend is not likely to change in the near future, as only .3% of incoming freshmen women in 2004 expressed an interest in majoring in computer science.

It has been suggested that the same trends reported in this survey are occurring in CIS programs in business schools. In order to validate this assumption, we conducted a survey of large business schools, those with at least 100 faculty members, that offer bachelor and masters degree programs in computer/management information systems. Out of 61 such AACSB-accredited business schools, 23 responded to our survey for a response rate of 38%. As shown in Figure 1, our findings show similar declines in degree production as those in the Taulbee Survey. The number of undergraduate CIS degrees awarded declined from 2,699 in 03--04 to 1,163 in 06--07 -- a drop of 57%. The percentage of women graduates is higher than that reported in the Taulbee survey, although the percentage declined from 31% to 21%. The decline was not as steep for masters degrees awarded. The number of CIS masters degrees awarded declined from 463 in 03--04 to 318 in 06--07, a drop of 32%. The percentage of female graduates held steady at 25%.

One of the best ways to gain insight into the declining interest in CIS is to look at this issue from the students' perspective. First, there are the students who, at one time, would have considered a major in CIS but who no longer perceive there are opportunities to build a career in this field. This lack of job market attractiveness is probably tied to the Internet bubble burst, which accompanied the technology stock market crash. The bubble burst caused a temporary glut of experienced IT professionals in the market, squeezing out the jobs from new graduates. However, there are more positions for new graduates today as compared to 2002.

Furthermore, students who may have an interest in CIS are very aware of the growing trend to offshore many low-end, production-oriented IT jobs, which may result in reluctance to commit to a career in an industry that they perceive in decline. In addition, like many technology-oriented fields, enterprise IT is currently undergoing dramatic changes, and IT organizations are reducing their staff and becoming more specialized. Rather than reflecting the new realities of what a CIS career will be, students perceive that the CIS curriculum may be preparing them for jobs which no longer exist, rather than preparing them for emerging IT jobs. As IT becomes more pervasive and central to many disciplines -- from biology to art -- students are drawn to academic programs in these fields that increasingly provide their own CIS courses, specifically tailored for that profession.

Gender differences in the choice of college majors have been found to be a key contributor to the persistent low number of women CIS enrollments. Some reports attribute this difference to the fact that IT workplaces (and university classrooms) lack interpersonal orientation resulting in an inhospitable male dominated atmosphere. Other reports point out that the influence and attitude towards CIS may be best instilled by a girl's parents and early positive experiences with technology. Shaping their early interests may inspire a more diverse work pool in the future, but does not offer immediate relief in dealing with the impending CIS student decline.

It is clear that strong interventions are needed if CIS academic units are to maintain their current faculties, academic and research programs, and dominant position as the knowledge leader in computing-related disciplines within the university. The types of interventions needed are multi-dimensional. Clearly, students' perception about the lack of attractive high-paying careers in CIS needs to be addressed. Major changes in curriculum design need to be undertaken. And, we argue that another important necessary change is for CIS academic units to become providers of computer education for those academic disciplines where IT has become an integral part of their curriculum.

CIS academic units from around the country are looking for ways to respond to the current problem of declining enrollments in different ways. In order to understand how to respond to the declining enrollment phenomena, we turned to the work of Haeckel and its contrast between the "make-and-sell" versus the "sense-and-respond" organization, which we describe in the next section. We describe the interventions taken at Florida International University (FIU) to address the declining student MIS enrollments and degree production in the business school. We then explore the extent to which Haeckel's model of the sense-and-respond organization could be used to define a new way of operating for academic units. We also discuss the major differences between the two models applied to CIS academic units and conclude with a discussion of the implications of this new operating model as universities seek to respond to the markets of the future.