Degree/faculty ratios can be used as a measure of the faculty workload in engineering colleges. Trends in these ratios may be considered to be important in decisions relative to the hiring of faculty. In the current period, where some engineering disciplines are rapidly growing and others are shrinking in degrees awarded, degree/faculty ratios for individual programs may be considered useful in planning activities.

Fall 2005 engineering enrollment data (Engineering Trends reports 0806D (undergraduate) and 1006B (graduate)) indicate that undergraduate and master's degree enrollments are declining and doctoral enrollment growth has ceased. Declining trends for degrees at all academic levels should be expected. Also, counter to enrollment and anticipated degree trends, the numbers of engineering faculty continue to increase.

This report considers trends in degrees per faculty member in engineering colleges as a whole since AY1970-71 and selected engineering disciplines since AY1980-81. Data for disciplines include biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, industrial, mechanical and materials (materials science and engineering) engineering, bioengineering and computer science. The computer science data include only degree and faculty data for programs "within" colleges of engineering.

Degree and Faculty Trends for Overall Engineering Since Academic Year 1970-71

The two graphs below show the recent trends for the numbers of engineering faculty and degrees awarded to bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in engineering colleges. (Data are not shown for AY1993-94 through AY1997-98 since the number of universities responding to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) annual surveys during this period was lower than in prior and subsequent years.) Data for the number of faculty refer to faculty reported (fall of academic year) by engineering colleges providing degree data at each of the three academic levels.

Growth in the numbers of engineering faculty since fall 1998 has been significant. The relative positions of the bachelor's, master's and doctoral faculty curves are noteworthy. Prior to the early 1990s, most faculty were associated with engineering programs awarding bachelor's and master's degrees. Since the early 1990s, the "master's faculty" data lie between the bachelor's and doctoral data. Thus, the fraction of faculty associated with "bachelor's only" engineering colleges has increased and the fraction associated with "bachelor's and master's only" has decreased. The former trend probably arises from the increased number of universities establishing engineering programs. The latter trend probably arises from the increased number of engineering doctoral programs in colleges that were formerly "bachelor's and master's only".

The effects of declining bachelor's and master's enrollments on degrees awarded in AY2004-05 are evident in the second graph below. The growth rates have declined noticeably. Declines in the numbers of engineering bachelor's and master's degrees are anticipated for AY2005-06.

Doctoral degree growth continues; record numbers were awarded in AY2003-04 and AY2004-05. Doctoral enrollment data indicate the onset degree of declines in three or four more years.

Degrees per Faculty Member Trends for Engineering Since Academic Year 1970-71

The graph below shows the ratios of degrees per faculty member as determined from the two graphs above. (Data are shown for the period AY1993-94 through AY1997-98 even though there was a reduction in the number of universities reporting degree and faculty information.)

Bachelor's degrees per faculty member increased from 2.4 in AY1975-76 to 4.0 in AY1983-84, subsequently declined to about 3.1 and remained at this level for the 1990 decade. An increase to 3.3 occurred in the early 2000s due to significant growth in the number of bachelor's degrees awarded. A slight decline in AY 2004-05 took place due to stagnation in degree growth and continued increases in the number of engineering faculty. Further annual degree/faculty ratio decreases should be expected due to current declining enrollment trends. If faculty growth continues, declines in degree/faculty ratios may be substantial.

Master's degrees per faculty member have generally increased from the late 1970s through AY2003-04. The large increases in AY2002-03 and AY2003-04 represent a significant departure from the long-term trend. The downturn in AY2004-05 resulted from the combined effects of a decrease in the rate of growth of master's degrees awarded and continued growth in the numbers of engineering faculty.

Doctoral degrees per faculty member grew steadily from the minimum of 0.20 in the late 1970s to a maximum of 0.40 in AY1996-97. The ratio then sagged to 0.32 and recovered to 0.38 in AY2004-05. This ratio should continue to increase for a few more years since the growth in the number of doctoral degrees (currently about 13% per year) will more than offset the growth of the number of faculty (currently about 3% per year).

Bachelor's Degrees per Faculty Member in Individual Engineering Disciplines

Bachelor's degrees per faculty member since AY1980-81 for the ten disciplines chosen for study are shown in the graph below. It is clear that individual disciplines depart from engineering as a whole in terms of ratio magnitudes and trends.

Currently, mechanical, biomedical and industrial engineering and computer science have bachelor's degrees per faculty member ratios that are essentially the same as engineering as a whole. Mechanical and biomedical engineering ratios are increasing slowly, industrial engineering is about constant and computer science is decreasing rapidly due to increasing faculty numbers and negligible degree growth in AY2004-05.

Electrical, civil, computer and chemical engineering currently have ratios that are nearly the same and somewhat lower than that of "all engineering". Electrical and civil engineering ratios are slowly increasing and that of computer engineering has remained constant. Chemical engineering ratios continue their substantial decline (since AY1997-98) due to the combined effects of degree decline and faculty member increases.

Bioengineering and materials engineering currently have the lowest ratios of the ten disciplines included in the study. Bioengineering ratios have continued to grow substantially since AY1994-95 as a result of rapid degree growth and only modest faculty growth. Materials engineering ratios have remained essentially constant since the late 1980s.

Master's Degrees per Faculty Member in Individual Engineering Disciplines

The graph below compares the variations since AY1980-81 in master's degrees per faculty member ratios for engineering and the ten disciplines studied. Although there is considerable spread among the various individual disciplines in any given year, the trends shown are generally similar to that of engineering as a whole.

Computer and industrial engineering and computer science have ratios greater than "all engineering", but all three disciplines have decreasing trends. Electrical engineering ratios increased significantly from AY2001-02 through AY2003-04; a slight decrease occurred in AY2004-05.

The ratios for civil, mechanical and biomedical engineering are now about the same and lower than engineering as a whole. Currently, civil and mechanical engineering ratios are slowly increasing and that of biomedical engineering is stationary.

Master's degrees per faculty member for bioengineering and chemical and materials engineering are essentially the same and substantially lower that that of overall engineering. All of these disciplines have ratio trends that are slowly increasing.

Doctoral Degrees per Faculty Member in Individual Engineering Disciplines

The doctoral degree to faculty member ratios for the ten engineering disciplines included in this study are presented in the second graph below. Unlike the ratios for master's degrees, doctoral degree ratios for almost all disciplines are near those of engineering.
Currently, materials, chemical, biomedical and electrical engineering have doctoral ratios greater than "all engineering". Data scatter complicates discerning trends, but both chemical and electrical engineering ratios appear to be increasing slowly.

The computer science doctoral degree per faculty member ratio is currently about the same as overall engineering. Determination of the current trend is not possible due to scatter in the data.
The doctoral degree per faculty member data for industrial, civil, mechanical and computer engineering and bioengineering are slightly lower than those of engineering in recent years. Due to scatter in the data, recent trends are difficult to determine for these disciplines. However, it appears that slightly increasing trends are occurring for civil and mechanical engineering and, possibly, bioengineering.

Summary

Engineering degrees per faculty member were analyzed for engineering (AY1970-71 through AY2004-05) and ten engineering disciplines (AY1980-81 through AY2004-05). The impetus for the study was the continuing increase in the number of engineering faculty members at a time when bachelor's and master's enrollments were decreasing and doctoral enrollments ceased to grow.
The degree per faculty member ratios of the ten engineering disciplines included in the study differed from those of engineering as a whole for bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. In addition, for many disciplines, the current trends in these measures differed significantly from the overall engineering trends.

Acknowledgments

The faculty and enrollment data used in this study originated from the annual surveys of the American Society for Engineering Education. 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 ASEE Web site (www.asee.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.