tion of CS curricula in light of the current economic and social environment) is necessary to rejuvenate CS enrollment throughout North American universities.

figure 1: Probable cs and ce majors among incoming freshmen at the university of california, Los angeles (from Vegso⁷).

CS and CE listed as probable majors among incoming freshmen

Computer Science Computer Engineering

5

enrollment status

While we focus on data from Canadian universities, enrollment data from the Computing Research Association’s Taulbee reports suggest common CS enrollment trends in both Canada and the U.S. ^{1, 6, 7} We studied enrollment figures available from Statistics Canada⁴ that were normalized to report full-time equivalent students; part-time students were counted as a fraction of an enrollment of a full-time student. We augmented the data sets with ( non-normalized) enrollment figures from 32 major Canadian universities (1999– 2007) provided by the 32 affiliated CS departments (see Figure 2).

We were surprised by the range of enrollment declines across the various regions of Canada. The largest was in Atlantic Canada, with a drop to 37% of its 2001–2002 peak. British Columbia was the exception, at just over 97% of its 2001–2002 peak in 2006–2007. The remaining regions were in between: Ontario and Quebec were between 50% and 60% of their peaks, and the three prairie provinces—Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan—were near 65% of their peak. These declines are resulting in much smaller graduating classes through at least 2011, thereby adding pressure on hiring in the ICT sector.

Universities in British Columbia attribute part of their success maintaining CS enrollment levels to several actions: First, the University of British Columbia introduced a new multidisciplinary program within its Faculty of Science that added almost 100 students to CS. Previously, in the 1990s, the same university also began to emphasize recruitment of women students through the Supporting Women in Information Technology program ( www.cs.ubc.ca/labs/swift/) and Alternate Routes to Computing program (www. arc.cs.ubc.ca/) that attracted individuals with prior learning to CS. These programs have given the university the highest percentage of women pursuing IT degrees in Canada, ranging from 23% to 26% of 850– 1,000 students from 2000 to 2006. Second, the province of British Columbia restructured its

4. 5

4

Percent

3. 5

3

2. 5

2

1. 5

1

0.5

0

1971

2000

1980

2006

2005

2004

2003

1994

1990

1983

1984

1985

1986

2002

1999

1998

1996

1995

1993

1989

1988

1973

1974

1975

1976

1978

1979

1982

1987

2001

1997

1992

1991

1972

1977

1981

Fall of

Source: HERI at UCLA

figure 2: cs bachelor’s enrollment in canadian universities; source: statistics canada via ict-sitt industry canada presentation (blue) and department data (red).

Undergraduate Enrollment

StatCan

Dept

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

 

university landscape, producing a one-time influx of 200 students from a previously uncounted source in the Statistics Canada data.

Many institutions have compensated for declining undergraduate enrollment by reducing admission standards and/or increasing the size of their master’s and Ph.D. programs (see Figure 3). However, the master’s programs are also now beginning to see decreased enrollment as graduating undergraduate classes shrink. Canadian undergraduate graduates declined from 4,900 in

2003–2004 to 3,300 in 2006–2007 and have continued to decline.

The reported explanations for this decrease are not new. The CRA has had a group of CS chairs and deans examining the issue since 2000. The people we interviewed echoed the reasons cited in reports from Australia² and Western Europe. ⁵ The interviews identified common themes across Canada, along with the occasional distinguishing reason specific to a region. We categorize the commonly cited reasons as perception, preparation, and curriculum design