New Data on CS Majors; Start of H-1B Season
Mar 5, 2008
Data from the Computing Research Association (CRA) indicates that the number of undergraduates majoring in computer science at North American universities remains dramatically lower than it was at the beginning of the decade -- there has been a 49% decrease in enrollment numbers between the 2001-02 and 2006-07 academic years.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that the downward trend that followed the dot-com bust might be coming to an end. CRA's research, which focuses on departments with Ph.D programs, shows a slight uptick in the number of undergrads declaring a computer science major in the last couple of years. The organization will release more data on the number of graduate-level degrees later this year.
As Computerworld writes, data on declining enrollment numbers is "often cited as an argument for increasing the H-1B visa cap" by industry supporters like Bill Gates. The Microsoft chairman called the current H-1B program the "worst disaster" last year. And it's almost that time again: on April 1st, the U.S. government will start accepting H-1B applications for 2009.
If last year's surge is any indication, the annual cap of 65,000 visas will be reached right away. In fact, Oracle exec Robert Hoffman, who co-chairs the industry group Compete America (strong advocates of increasing the cap on H-1B visas), told Computerworld that "the expectation is that you are going to see an even bigger flood of applications than what we saw last year." Mr. Hoffman will be among the speakers at Tech Policy Summit later this month.
Tags:
