Investigating Characteristics that Typify Engineering, Computer and Biological Sciences Graduates, the Differences that Occur among and between these Disciplines and the General Population of SUS Graduates [electronic resource] / Theodore Micceri.
The purpose of this exercise was to determine whether any of the available demographic or academic variables show distinct trends in three specific discipline areas that differ from those of other areas: (1) Engineering, (2) Computer Sciences, and (3) Biological Sciences. Using data from 39,087 SUS...
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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2005.
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| Summary: | The purpose of this exercise was to determine whether any of the available demographic or academic variables show distinct trends in three specific discipline areas that differ from those of other areas: (1) Engineering, (2) Computer Sciences, and (3) Biological Sciences. Using data from 39,087 SUS graduates in 2002-03 and of 324,164 science courses these students took in the SUS, the following results occurred regarding students in these disciplines: They were more likely to have started as freshpersons (FTIC) than other disciplines. Engineering students consistently took longer to complete degrees than those in other fields, no matter what type of student they were at entry (FTIC, AA Transfer or Non-AA Transfer), with Computer Science Students second. Students in the Biological Sciences were close to those in other disciplines (Figure 2). Transfer students took longer than FTICs from their initial date of college entry. Females are represented among Engineering and Computer Science students at less than half their expected representation (compared with the general student population). Generally, racial-ethnic groups were represented as expected, with a slightly lower representation among Hispanic students in Computer Sciences, and higher representation among Asians in the sciences and engineering (Figure 3). Regarding details, females appear more likely to be transfers than men across all racial ethnic groups, and tend to be less prevalent in the sciences, except for the Biological Sciences, than men. Regarding course taking several patterns emerge from the data: Business courses are by far the most frequent of all courses, and physics and mathematics, chemistry, biological sciences and business courses occur frequently in more disciplines that any other course discipline area. Biology students take more science courses than any other group, while Engineering students take more Engineering courses. Computer Science students take fewer science and engineering courses than students in any of the other primary discipline groups. The vast majority of graduates in all discipline areas (circa 76%) come from the major SUS Research Universities (UF, FSU, USF, FIU and UCF), and this is particularly true in Engineering (86%), although less so in Computer Sciences (65%). Regarding cut courses, Biology majors take more than any other group, because of their large number of chemistry, physics and biology courses. Non-FTIC students take more of all types of these science courses in all disciplines than do FTIC students. Includes appendix: List of Cut Courses. (Contains 4 figures and 4 tables.) [This document is an Internal Technical Report of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.] |
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| Item Description: | Abstractor: Author. Educational level discussed: Higher Education. |
| Physical Description: | 11 pages. |
| Type of Computer File or Data Note: | Numeric (Numerical/Quantitative Data) Text (Reports, Evaluative) |
| Preferred Citation of Described Materials Note: | Online Submission. |