For years academics have been reading about declining enrollment in computer science courses. But Ed Lazowska, a computer science professor at the University of Washington, reports on the Computing Community Consortium blog that interest in the field is now growing, even though the number of bachelor’s degrees granted in computer science this year was less than last year.
“It’s not surprising that things are turning around,” he writes. “Google is hot. Tech in general is hot. There are startups everywhere. It’s clear to anyone that there are plenty of jobs.”
At Washington, the number of students who enrolled in the university’s introductory computer-science course increased by 27 percent between the 2003-4 and 2007-8 academic years, he writes. Enrollment by women was up by 45 percent during the same period.—Andrea L. Foster
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