North America New PhD Numbers Hold Steady

Each year, the Computing Research Association conducts its Taulbee Survey to document trends in student enrollment, degree production, employment of graduates, and faculty salaries in PhD-granting departments of computer science, computer engineering, and information sciences in the US and Canada. For the second year in a row, the number of new PhD students overall(2,962) was about the same-2,995 in 2008-2009. However, with more departments reporting in 2009-2010, this total actually represents a slight decline. The number of new students in computer engineering programs also decreased. The proportion of new doctoral students from outside North America declined from 59.1 percent in 2008-2009 to 56.8 percent in 2009-2010, although these figures still exceed the 54 percent from two years ago. Total enrollment in computer science doctoral programs in 2009-2010 is comparable to that of the preceding year, after accounting for the larger number of departments reporting.