Current and Emerging Statistical Trends in Engineering Education

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1994

Department

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract

Data for enrollment, degrees, number of faculty and research funding for US colleges of engineering since 1965 are presented. These data: faculty loads (enrollment and degrees per faculty member), research funding (total and per faculty member) and funding per graduate degree (MS and PhD) are analyzed to define the trends over the past quarter century. BS degrees appear to have ceased their decline and may begin to increase; MS degrees continue to grow modestly; PhD degrees continue to grow rapidly and, based on current enrollment trends, should maintain this pace at least through the next half decade. Faculty loads are anticipated to increase. In spite of significant annual increases in research funding over the past two decades, graduate enrollments have increased to the point that constant dollar annual funding per graduate degree (both MS and PhD) has reached a maximum and may have begun to decrease. An analysis of the undergraduate and graduate degrees awarded by the largest engineering colleges indicates a.) little turnover in the colleges in this group, b.) the major graduate colleges award a significant number of BS degrees and c.) the major undergraduate colleges include most of the major graduate colleges.

Publication Title

Journal of Engineering Education

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