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Science 13 May 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5724, p. 948
DOI: 10.1126/science.308.5724.948c
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Figure 2 Microsoft Chair Bill Gates may know how to add up the profits of his software giant, but his math is a bit shaky on the labor power front. Microsoft has many vacant positions because "there just aren't as many [U.S.] graduates with a computer science background," Gates lamented last month at a forum on innovation and education at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The shortage of grads "creates a dilemma for us, in terms of how we get our work done," noted the world's richest man.

But the data tell a different story. A newly published survey by the Computing Research Association (CRA) of top university departments show that the number of U.S. bachelor's degrees awarded in computer science rose by 85% from 1998 to 2004; a similar rise has occurred in doctoral programs since 1999 (see graph, above). The annual number of new undergrad majors has admittedly fallen off since the dot.com bust in 2000, notes CRA's Jay Vegso. "But these numbers have always been cyclical," he says. "I don't see any reason to panic."

CREDIT: CRA




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)