According to a recent article published in the New York Times, enrollment in computer science programs has seen a significant increase in the United States over this past year. In fact, a comparison of the 2008 enrollment to the 2007 enrollment showed a 6.2% increase, making it the first time these programs have seen an increase in enrollment over the past 6 years.

Experts are pleased to see the increase in enrollment, as many fear that the lack of science and engineering students in the United States does not bode well for the country’s ability to compete within a global economy.

“This could be a sign that we are beginning to make headway as well as increased intention, increased interest and increased investment,” Andrew A. Chien, who is the director of research at Intel, said in the New York Times interview.

Following the dot-com crisis that took place in 2000, computer science programs saw a sharp decline in enrollment – a fact that was a particular shock to the system after having previously enjoyed a boom in enrollment. After the collapse of the dot-com industry, however, many students pulled out of the field and decided to follow career paths they thought were much safer, namely financial engineering and investment banking.

Over the past year, these numbers seem to be slowly reversing themselves once more. According to the Taulbee Survey conducted by the Computing Research Association, the number of undergraduates majoring in computer science programs increased by 9.5%, while the decline in bachelor’s degrees in the field dropped from 20% to 10%. Furthermore, the number of individuals pursuing a Ph.D. in the field increased by 5.7%.

“The most compelling story for our community is that interest in computer science appears to have turned a corner,” Peter Harsha, who is the director of government affairs at the Computing Research Association, said in the New York Times article. “We think this bodes well for efforts to change the perception about careers in computing.”

Although the overall enrollment within the computer sciences has improved, there is still concern regarding the number of women in these programs. In fact, while the total enrollment grew, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to women in the computer sciences remained at 11.8%.

Of course, if you are interested in pursuing a degree in the computer sciences field, you can find plenty of great online and offline colleges to choose from right here at Top-Colleges.com!