When the dot-com bubble burst several years ago, information technology professionals in Silicon Valley and investors everywhere suffered. The shocks were felt around the world - even at Brown's Center for Information Technology.
The number of undergraduates majoring in computer science is declining nationwide, according to the results of a recent survey by the Computing Research Association, a non-profit organization that collected the information from all U.S. universities granting doctorates in computer science.
The Computing Research Association released the findings of its annual Taulbee Survey that pertain to undergraduates on March 1. According to a press release from the CRA, the number of new students concentrating in computer science in Fall 2007 was half of the number in Fall 2000. Enrollment has also been falling, with an 18-percent decrease seen between 2005-06 and 2006-07. Still, there has been some moderate stabilization in these numbers in the last couple of years.
Brown seems to be following the national trend. According to data from the Office of Institutional Research, the number of students completing computer science concentrations has decreased over the past few years - from 76 students in 2003 to 27 students in 2007. Enrollment in CS courses, however, hasn't steadily increased or decreased over the past decade. Brown has also had relatively stable numbers of advanced degrees awarded in computer science, according to the OIR.
Universities are working hard to lure more computer science students, said Stuart Zweben, chair of surveys committee at the CRA and associate dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University. The National Science Foundation is funding a program at Ohio State that combines entrepreneurial and computing skills for a small number of students. As undergraduates, these students will work in the information technology industry to gain real-life experience, he said.
At Brown, the Department of Computer Science teams up with the Office of Admission to host an all-day program for high school seniors interested in computer science. Prospective students can hear from faculty and students about what they might do as computer science concentrators, said Thomas Doeppner, associate professor of research in the department and director of undergraduate studies.
While the number of concentrators might be decreasing, enthusiasm for the field is not, Doeppner said. In general, those who were less enthusiastic about computer science decide to pursue another field. Those with a more profound interest stuck with it, he said. Currently, about three-quarters of CS concentrators have chosen to pursue the bachelor of science degree, which has more requirements than the bachelor of arts degree, Doeppner said.
"At peak times, it was sometimes the other way around," he said. The higher percentage of Sc.B. concentrators shows that extremely committed students are still pursuing computer science, he said.
Despite the downturn in job opportunities for computer science graduates after the dot-com boom went bust, Doeppner said he doesn't hear much from computer science concentrators worried about getting jobs. Instead, he said, he talks more with parents - especially those of high school seniors - worried that their children won't be able to find jobs.
"We can guess" about the causes of the decline, said Jay Vegso, manager of membership and information services at CRA. The students graduating in 2007 began college in 2003, during the fallout of the dot-com crisis. They may have been scared off because they felt there wouldn't be any jobs, he said. Vegso also said the media's highlighting of the threat of offshore outsourcing probably contributed to students' worries about job prospects. Both Vegso and Doeppner also cited the increasing utility of computer science skills in other fields as a reason students would take CS classes but concentrate in other subjects.
The job situation for current concentrators is no longer so dire, Vegso said, adding that the drop-off in computer science concentrators has created a shortage of qualified workers. He cited numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that state that the IT workforce is expected to grow at twice the rate of the workforce in general between 2006 and 2016.
Brown computer science graduates aren't having trouble finding jobs, Doeppner said. Companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Oracle are popular choices, he said. Certain industries within IT, such as computer game design, are growing and creating new job opportunities for concentrators, he said. At Ohio State, students also get to experience the fun of sorting through their job offers, Zweben said.
Aurojit Panda '08, a computer science concentrator who will be working for Microsoft as a programmer after graduation, said the job search "turned out to be not very bad." He added that the department has alumni contacts that can make the process easier.
Jonathan Rhone '08, another concentrator, said he already has a job with Oracle, though he's not sure exactly what he'll be doing for them. Both students said they might go to graduate school later in life, but not right away.
The signs of stabilization in the statistics both nationally and at Brown may signal that the IT field is turning around. "I think we have hit bottom and are on the way up," Doeppner said. Zweben said he expects to see "more controlled growth" in the future.
CRA released undergraduate data early because of the high-interest level from the press, and it will release data on graduate students in May, Vegso said. The numbers of advanced degrees awarded actually shows a trend opposite to that of bachelor's degrees: The numbers of computer science Ph.Ds awarded per year have shown large increases for the last several years, Vegso said, partly because those who couldn't find jobs in the early 2000s entered graduate school instead.
