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Newsletter Contents

Synopses of New Reports in Inside Engineering Education on the Engineering Trends Web site  http://engtrends.com

1. "The Halcyon Days of Enrollment Growth Are Over - Undergraduate Enrollment Growth Has Ceased,
    Master's Enrollments Are Declining and Doctoral Enrollment Growth Is Fading"
2. "Significant Changes in Undergraduate Enrollments in Engineering Disciplines - Major Gains
    (Mechanical and Civil Engineering), a Major Loss ("Computer") and Minor Variations For Other
    Disciplines
3. "Master's Enrollments Declining and Doctoral Enrollment Growth Fading - Discipline Enrollments Not
    Following Overall Engineering Trends"

Engineering Trends Databases Expanded - More College and Discipline Records and Expanded Data for Disciplines (Enrollments, Ethnicity and Gender)

Alert - Misleading Reports Being Written Based on Erroneous, Out-of-Date Degree Data

New Studies Underway at Engineering Trends

1. "Analysis of Research Expenditures By Engineering Colleges and Departments"
2. "Trends in Foreign National Enrollments in Engineering Colleges and Departments"

Synopses of New Reports in Inside Engineering Education on the Engineering Trends Web Site

The Halcyon Days of Enrollment Growth Are Over - Undergraduate Enrollment Growth Has Ceased, Master's Enrollments Are Declining and Doctoral Enrollment Growth is Fading (Report No. 0705A)

Undergraduate first-year enrollments have declined 2.5% since Fall 2002 and total full-time enrollments declined 0.4% in Fall 2004. Since Fall 2001, part-time undergraduate enrollments have declined 16.4%. Bachelor's degree declines should begin in two or three years.

Full-time master's enrollments declined 7.4% in Fall 2004 while master's degrees were undergoing unprecedented growth (AY2003-04). The total engineering decline was exceeded by the combined declines of computer (including computer science), electrical, industrial and mechanical engineering. Full-time doctoral enrollments grew at an average rate of 11.7% annually for three years beginning in Fall 2001; the increase in Fall 2004 was only 3.9%.

Significant Changes in Undergraduate Enrollments in Engineering Disciplines - Major Gains (Mechanical and Civil Engineering), a Major Loss ("Computer") and Minor Variations For Other Disciplines (Report No. 0705B)

Mechanical and civil engineering are experiencing substantial and sustained first-year and total full-time undergraduate enrollment growth at a time when full-time engineering enrollments have reached a maximum. Aerospace, bioeng/biomedical, marine/naval, materials and petroleum engineering are also growing in both first-year and total full-time enrollments. Nuclear engineering, which has grown in total enrollment since Fall 2000, has not shown first-year enrollment growth in the last three years.

Computer engineering (including computer science) has experienced substantial first-year and full-time enrollment declines since Fall 2001. The rates of decline of both sets of enrollment data are increasing annually. Growth in degrees declined to 6.2% in AY2003-04; the average annual growth for the three prior years was 19.2%. A prolonged period of declining numbers of degrees awarded in this discipline may begin as soon as AY2004-05.

Master's Enrollments Declining and Doctoral Enrollment Growth Fading - Discipline Enrollments Not Following Overall Engineering Trends (Report No. 0705C)

Full-time master's enrollments in engineering declined substantially in Fall 2004. Computer (including computer science), electrical, industrial and mechanical engineering also declined substantially. The combined decreases in these four disciplines exceeded the overall engineering decline. Aerospace, bioeng/biomedical and civil engineering continued their long-term enrollment growth trends.

Full-time doctoral enrollment for engineering continued in Fall 2004, but at a rate substantially less than in past years. Computer (including computer science), chemical, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering also experienced reduced enrollment growth rates in Fall 2004. Bioeng/biomedical engineering continued its substantial long-term growth trend and has shown significantly increased growth rates since Fall 2000. Aerospace, industrial and materials engineering have continued their long-term doctoral enrollment growth trends, but their growth rates have been low.

Engineering Trends Databases Expanded - More College and Discipline Records and Expanded Data for Disciplines (Enrollments, Ethnicity and Gender)

Engineering Trends databases have now grown to 188,000 records with each record containing up to 228 data fields. A single record contains data for one year for an individual engineering college or discipline/department.

Annual data for individual disciplines/departments have been expanded to include enrollment data and ethnicity and gender data for both degrees and enrollments. These additional data will be useful in many studies, including recruiting activities by universities and industry where ethnicity and gender specifications are important.

Alert - Misleading Reports Being Written Based on Erroneous, Out-of-Date Engineering Degree Data

It has come to our attention that reports and technical papers indicating that undergraduate engineering degrees are declining are being published and/or distributed. Annual surveys of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Engineering Workforce Commission (EWC) of the American Association of Engineering Societies are in agreement on undergraduate degrees. The degree data from these surveys (see the Degrees Since 1945 page on the Engineering Trends Web site) indicate that undergraduate degrees have been increasing since AY1998-99 through AY2003-04 and may reach a new record in a year or two.

The papers and reports reaching erroneous conclusions contain data significantly lower than ASEE and EWC data for years following 1990 and contain no data after AY1999-00.

New Studies Underway at Engineering Trends

Analysis of Research Expenditures By Engineering Colleges and Departments

This analysis of research expenditures will include expenditures in engineering and individual departments, average expenditures per faculty member in engineering and individual disciplines and average expenditures per master's and doctoral degree in engineering and several disciplines.

Trends in Foreign National Enrollments in Engineering Colleges and Departments

Master's enrollments are now declining rapidly and doctoral enrollment growth is fading. In AY 2003-04, foreign nationals were awarded 45.4% of the engineering master's degrees and 57.8% of the doctoral degrees. Engineering Trends is now exploring the effects of foreign national graduate enrollments on the overall engineering enrollment and those of individual engineering disciplines.

Can We Be of Assistance?

Engineering Trends specializes in client-defined studies comparing engineering colleges and departments at individual universities. We would be pleased to assist you in your activities in this regard. Engineering Trends has the capability to provide rapid responses and accurate studies at low cost to our clients. All studies are based upon a no-cost quotation specifying the scope of the study and the delivery time, as well as cost.

We welcome your suggestions of reports to be added to the Inside Engineering Education section of our Web site and reviewed in forthcoming newsletters. You may contact us via our Web site http://engtrends.com, by e-mail at news@engtrends.com and/or by phone (906) 482-1523. We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Richard W. Heckel
Founder & Technical Director

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