Fewer students major in tech reports on the declining number of students entering and graduating in IT related degrees, including here information science/studies.
"In the University of Pittsburgh's information science program, which combines the study of information technology and how people use it, the number of students majoring has dropped to 200 for this school year, said Bob Perkoski, IS undergraduate program director. Last year, 229 students were majoring in IS and the year before, 260, Mr. Perkoski said."
It is interesting to see the effect of the declining graduates in the field of information science/studies with the ever increasing utilization of information technology around us. This isn't to say that information science/studies professionals are the only graduates/experts that can elucidate the interplay of IT and IS and the social structures within which they are embedded. However, who else is better positioned to study and explicate these relations? Computers science/engineering graduates traditionally have concentrated more on the technology rather than its social significance and implications. On the other side, social sciences do not emphasize enough on the technology as an important determining actor in the complex web of socio-technological interconnections.
Nevertheless, the decline might not have any immediate effects in real life due to the fact that in practice it is rarely recognized that information science/studies graduates are the best positioned to deal with the interplay of IT/IS and the relevant social structures.
Similar entries:i.t./i.s. majors usually aren't trained to study or research their topic other than in very minor ways. go look at most of the undergraduate programs out there in the world, see how many hours of research methods, foundations of research, or similar courses they require.... usually none. what do they really focus on it seems.... productive skills and training. so, i agree less majors in these won't make a significant difference any time soon in terms of research. an argument about productive capacity can be made though, but then.... i'm not sure the training that these students receive in their programs can't be had elsewhere, and i'm not sure that different forms of education, such as a liberal arts degree isn't adequate training to learn the skills and practices generally taught in an it/is degree program on your own time.
that is probably the problem causing the lowering of numbers, the certification/training regime paradigm isn't appealing at the university level because it can be had elsewhere.
Posted by: jeremy hunsinger at August 21, 2004 08:38 AM"It is interesting to see the effect of the declining graduates in the field of information science/studies with the ever increasing utilization of information technology around us."
It doesn't surprise me at all. The jobs are scarce, competition is fierce, and 9/10 of the people in technical positions have been severely burned by employers over the past 5 years. A position which once listed for $90K/year is often advertised at $50K/year in today's market. Extreme overtime is the norm, and the compensation is too low to make up for it.
I left the tech field a few years ago - most of my former co-workers (including those with decades of experience) are still struggling to find stable jobs since the dotcom crash. There is nothing you can learn in an undergraduate IT program that you can't easily learn on your own with a few books, if you're motivated to do so. There is no longer any incentive to slog through that type of degree, particularly when so many undergrad programs require extensive math courses (past Calc II) that the majority of them will never have to use.
- Jesse