One School Boosts IT Enrollment

As an adjunct professor, I have seen firsthand the decline of student enrollment in IT programs. While I was at Tech Ed, I met a couple of fellow community college instructors who told me that their programs had declined also. We brainstormed about why we are seeing a declining enrollment. Ideas included lack of advertising of the programs or perception by potential students that the program is too hard. The IT jobs are there, but the students are not.

Computerworld interviewed Andrew Sears who is the IS department chair for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dr. Sears’ department has seen a 40% increase in freshman enrollment. Part of their success is due to outreach programs that concentrated on not only on high school students and parents, but also on high school guidance counselors, high school teachers, and middle school teachers.

The message of the outreach focused on the opportunities that exist and also the nature of the IT profession. “Working in IT isn’t just about sitting behind a computer; it’s very people-oriented,” stated Dr. Sears.

While getting program information directly to potential students and their parents seems the most obvious method to recruit students for a college program, it did not occur to me how valuable the guidance counselors and teachers are in the student’s decision process. Andrew Sears realized it and now his department is reaping the benefits.

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Career Watch: One School Boosts CS Enrollment

Tom  <><