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College is Remade as Tech Majors Surge, Humanities Dwindle


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Students on the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park.

Across the country, spring graduation season highlights the swiftly tilting academic landscape. Cap-and-gown roll calls for computer science and other technology-centered disciplines are becoming ever lengthier, and for the humanities, ever shorter.

Credit: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/The Washington Post

Higher education institutions are seeing rising enrollment in computer science at the same time interest in humanities is declining.

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center estimated U.S. students pursuing four-year degrees in computer and information sciences and related fields climbed 34% from 2017 to about 573,000 to 2022, while the number of English majors dived 23% to about 113,000, and history majors fell 12% to roughly 77,000, over the same period.

Many colleges are looking to establish a balance to accommodate increased demand for technology credentials while preserving the humanities.

One solution being pursued at the University of Maryland is to institute blended majors like "immersive media design," while another is to persuade students from other fields to take multiple majors.

From The Washington Post
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Abstracts Copyright © 2023 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA


 

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