Introduction

Full-time engineering bachelor's and master's enrollments began to decline in Fall 2004 as shown in the graph below. The bachelor's decline was slight (0.9%); the master's decline was substantial (7.4%). Full-time doctoral enrollments increased only 3.9% in Fall 2004 after increases of 14.6% and 12.6% in Fall 2002 and Fall 2003. Doctoral enrollment declines may begin as soon as Fall 2005.

Overall Engineering Enrollment Trends of Ethnic Groups

Full-time engineering bachelor's, master's and doctoral enrollments were studied for African, Hispanic, Native and Asian Americans. The Hispanic American enrollments included two universities in Puerto Rico that contributed 6,828 (23%), 1653 (17%) and 71 (8%) to the totals for bachelor's, master's and doctoral enrollments, respectively. The Asian American enrollments included Pacific Islanders.

The graph below for bachelor's enrollments shows that African American enrollments declined (5.8%) since the maximum in Fall 2001. Asian American enrollments reached a maximum in Fall 2002 and declined (4.2%) thereafter. Hispanic American enrollments remain essentially at the maximum established in Fall 2003. The trend for Native Americans is difficult to discern from the graph. This group increased (6.7%) since the shallow minimum in Fall 2000.

The graph below indicates that master's enrollment trends differ (except for Asian Americans) from those of bachelor's enrollments. The decline (10.3%) in master's enrollments for Asian Americans since the maximum in Fall 2003 is similar to the bachelor's enrollment decline. African American master's enrollments increased (26.3%) from the Fall 2001 minimum and Hispanic American enrollments increased (70.0%) from the Fall 1998

minimum. Native American master's enrollments decreased (24.0%) since the Fall 2002 maximum, but scatter in the data due to the small number of enrolled students is large.

Doctoral enrollments shown in the graph below indicate trends not unlike those of master's enrollments, but having more intensity. Enrollments for Asian Americans reached a maximum in Fall 2003 and declined (6.4%) in Fall 200, essentially duplicating the master's enrollment trend. Substantial growth in doctoral enrollments for African and Hispanic Americans is underway. African American doctoral enrollments increased (72.3%) and Hispanic American enrollments increased (80.4%) since their minima in Fall 1999. Doctoral enrollments for Native Americans increased (62.2%) from the minimum in Fall 2001, but a definitive long-term trend is unclear due to the scatter in the data.

Engineering education has just come through a period of growth in both undergraduate and graduate enrollments. Thus, a complete view of enrollment trends must include evaluation of enrollment variations relative to the overall variations in enrollments. The graph below shows the fractions of total engineering enrollments for the four groups studied at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels.

Most of the optimism concerning enrollment growth in the numbers of students in the four ethnic groups studied (shown in the prior graphs) is dimmed by the trends in the fractions shown below. In fact, with just a few exceptions, relative enrollment growth has not occurred and in several instances, significant "losses" are evident.

Enrollments of the Ethnic Groups in Individual Engineering Disciplines

Bachelor's, master's and doctoral enrollments of the four ethnicity groups were analyzed for nineteen individual engineering disciplines as shown in the table below. "Bioeng & biomedical" is the "BIO" category used by the EWC. "Computer" includes computer engineering, computer science (in universities with engineering colleges) and computer science and engineering as reported to the EWC as "CMP". Since only Fall 2004 enrollment data are presented in this report, it is important to point out that "computer" has been experiencing significant bachelor's enrollment declines in the past few years and the enrollments reported here will probably continue to decline in the future.

Undergraduate Enrollments - Even the most casual glance at the table above should indicate that substantial differences exist among preferences of ethnicity groups for undergraduate study in engineering. Based upon the fractional enrollments listed in the table, African American undergraduate students prefer primarily electrical engineering with architectural and industrial engineering being favorites as well. Following these three, manufacturing and "computer" are of interest.

Hispanic American undergraduate students strongly prefer manufacturing engineering with industrial and civil engineering both being solid second choices. Electrical and environmental engineering are also favored.

Native American bachelor's enrollment fractions are largest in mining, geological and mineral engineering, architectural engineering and petroleum engineering. Civil engineering and environmental engineering are also preferred.

Asian American undergraduate students have a preference for bioengineering and biomedical engineering. "Computer", electrical engineering, systems engineering, engineering management and materials science and engineering fractions all exceed those for engineering as a whole.

Graduate Enrollments - Master's and doctoral enrollments for the four groups studied are shown in the two tables below.

Master's and doctoral enrollments of African Americans show a preference for industrial engineering, engineering management and systems engineering. (Industrial engineering was also a preference for undergraduate enrollment.) In addition, bioengineering and biomedical engineering is a preference at the doctoral level and architectural engineering is a preference at the master's level. (Architectural engineering was noted to be an undergraduate preference as well.)

Master's and doctoral enrollments of Hispanic Americans show a preference for civil engineering, industrial engineering and environmental engineering. (All three of these disciplines were also favored in undergraduate enrollments.) Manufacturing engineering, an undergraduate preference was also preferred at the doctoral level.

For Native Americans, mining, geological and mineral engineering and nuclear engineering were preferred for master's and doctoral enrollments. (Mining, geological and mineral engineering was noted previously to be an undergraduate preference.) Architectural engineering and civil engineering were master's preferences as well as undergraduate favorites. Environmental engineering was a doctoral preference as well as an undergraduate favorite.

Master's and doctoral enrollment preferences for Asian Americans included bioengineering and biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and "computer". (These three were also undergraduate enrollment preferences.) Systems engineering was a master's enrollment favorite as well as being preferred at the undergraduate level. Engineering management was preferred at the doctoral level as well as being an undergraduate favorite.

Conclusions

African American bachelor's engineering enrollments continue to decline from the maximum in Fall 2001. Master's and doctoral enrollments continue to increase from the minima in Fall 1999. For Hispanic Americans, bachelor's and master's enrollments did not increase in Fall 2004, thus departing from growth trends that began in the late 1990s. Native American enrollment trends are difficult to discern with confidence due to the smaller numbers and data scatter. Asian American undergraduate and graduate engineering enrollments declined in Fall 2004 following sustained periods of growth.

Data for relative enrollments (fractions of engineering as a whole) indicate that growth in enrollments does not correspond to growth in the representation of ethnic groups since both undergraduate and graduate engineering total enrollments have been growing rapidly in the recent past.

Each of the four groups differs in its preferences for the individual engineering disciplines included in this study. In addition, these preferences, in many, but not all, instances, apply to both undergraduate and graduate enrollments.

Acknowledgments

The undergraduate enrollment and degree data used in this study originated from the annual surveys of the Engineering Workforce Commission of the American Association of Engineering Societies. Engineering Trends acknowledges the efforts of this organization in providing credible data and expresses its gratitude for their services to the engineering profession. Persons seeking further information about their surveys and the availability of survey data should visit the AAES Web site (www.aaes.org).

Footnote

Engineering Trends data are compiled mainly from information submitted by universities to the annual surveys of EWC and ASEE. On the very rare occasions where errors in data appear, Engineering Trends corrects the error, if possible, or deletes the data if the error is large enough to alter significantly the trend of the university or the US total.