4/28/2009
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The number of computer science majors enrolled at U.S. universities increased for the first time in six years, according to a Computing Research Association study being released Tuesday.
The Taulbee Study found that the number of undergraduates signed up as computer science majors rose 8.1% in 2008. Total enrollment in computer science classes -- including majors and pre-majors -- was up 6.2%. Applications to the Illinois department of computer science have increased 15% in the past two years.
CRA said the popularity of computer science majors among college freshmen and sophomores is because IT has better job prospects than other specialties, especially in light of the global economic downturn.
"We're seeing more jobs in the field, especially at the undergraduate level. Computer science is becoming a more interesting place to be," Peter Harsha, director of government affairs with the Computing Research Association told Network World magazine. "When you compare the demand for jobs with the production of computer science undergrads, we're way short. It's clear there's an opportunity here."
In an article in Network World, interim department head and Fulton Watson Copp chair in computer science Michael Heath comments on the impact of the "coolness factor" of IT:
"There's definitely a coolness factor," says Prof. Michael Heath, interim head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which has seen its enrollment rise 15% in each of the last two years. "People are involved in computers in an unprecedented way... There's a more human dimension to computing than there has ever been before, so I think that's causing computing and IT as a career to appeal to a wider variety of people."
To view the complete article, visit: www.networkworld.com/news/2009/031409-computer-science-majors.html?page=1.