The economy, as well as increased use of technology in other fields, has discouraged undergraduates from pursuing majors in computer science.

The Computer Research Association has completed their annual Taulbee Survey, which gathers information on doctorate-granting university programs in North America.

According to the CRA, there was a 23 percent drop in newly enrolled computer science majors in 2003, with a 3 percent drop in Bachelor of Science recipients in 2003.

Some have said the decline in enrollment is because of the outsourcing of computer science jobs to other countries.

“A broader answer is the overall job climate of the information technology field. The depressed economic climate has been fueling this,” said Professor Stu Zweben, chair of the Ohio State Department of Computer Science and Engineering and chair for the Computer Research Associations 2002-2003 Taulbee survey.

Zweben said the IT field saw a rate of high growth in the 1990s, so no one expected a decline. He said students expected to get rich quick, but now students are getting scared.

“The job market is not the only factor. There are a number of alternative programs in the computing field, like media technology or other types of web services, that are in the broad IT sector but are not in the computer science program,” Zweben said. “Some of these are more attractive to students, and they were not available five years ago.”

Zweben said a third factor contributing to the decline is the barriers and restrictions placed on computer science departments to make them more competitive during the 1990s, when the IT field doubled in a two-year period. These barriers can be relaxed as the economy continues to pull out of recession, he said.

“With the current state of the economy, the increase in job opportunities means companies will be starting to hire, and the IT sector will not produce enough students to fill these necessary jobs,” Zweben said.

Some students are pursuing computer science despite the statistics.

“We are becoming a more technologically inclined society,” said Filip Paun, a junior in computer information systems and math. “It is a guaranteed field.”

Mike Birchmeier, a senior in computer science and engineering, said he believes the field will balance itself out. Four years ago, there was a huge increase in students pursuing computer science majors – predominantly those who were just pursing it for money.

Now, since there’s trouble getting work, not as many students are pursuing the major, Birchmeier said. He said he does not think anything should be changed to adapt to the decreasing numbers because the decline will eventually taper off.