Engineering Faculty (College and Discipline Totals) and Degrees per Faculty Member in Various Disciplines

The recruiting and retention of faculty members having great academic potential is critically important in the achievement and maintenance of engineering programs of highest quality. This report focuses on the trends in engineering faculty numbers in colleges and disciplines from AY1980-81 to the present time. Data will also be presented for variations in degrees (bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral) per faculty member over this period.

Faculty data are usually reported by engineering colleges for the department offering a specific degree. If the department awards degrees in more than one discipline, the faculty data are often categorized for the “major” engineering discipline of the department.

Total Numbers of Engineering Faculty

The graph below indicates the variation in the number of engineering faculty members since Fall 1980.

In the early 1970s, faculty numbers were approximately 14,500, reached a minimum in the Fall 1977 and then began the rising trend shown in the graph. In contrast to this trend, full-time undergraduate enrollments began to increase after a minimum in Fall 1973. Undergraduate degrees began to increase after a minimum in AY1975-76. Graduate full-time enrollments and degrees decreased through the mid-1970s. Thereafter, a period of sustained graduate program growth occurred. Thus, the growth in number of faculty members beginning in the late 1970s lagged behind the growth of undergraduate enrollments and was more closely aligned with the growth of graduate programs.

Freshman and total full-time undergraduate enrollments reached maxima in Fall 1981 and Fall 1983, respectively. Bachelor’s degrees subsequently reached a maximum in AY1985-86. The graph above indicates that the number of faculty members continued to increase until Fall 1987 and then remained essentially constant through the early 1990s, a period of declining undergraduate degrees and enrollments and increasing graduate degrees and enrollments.

Number of Faculty in Engineering Departments/Disciplines

Trends in faculty numbers in engineering disciplines have not mirrored those of engineering as a whole, as shown in the following two graphs.

As pointed out previously, the faculty numbers in larger disciplines may include some faculty from other disciplines. Data reported for electrical engineering faculty contain some computer (both engineering and science) faculty even though computer faculty data are reported separately by many colleges. Thus, faculty reported for electrical engineering in this report are somewhat inflated and computer faculty numbers are higher than those shown. This situation may apply to other disciplines as well (e.g., mechanical/aerospace, civil/environmental, biomedical/bioengineering and chemical/petroleum). However, the magnitude of this “overlap” for the latter four disciplines is judged to be relatively minor for the purposes of this report.

The graph above shows that four of the largest engineering disciplines exhibit faculty variations similar to those of engineering as a whole. The other three show essentially constant faculty numbers over the last two decades.

Each of the six smaller disciplines included in this study have faculty variations that are unique, as shown in the graph below.

Numbers of faculty in any discipline ought to be linked to degrees awarded in the discipline. As was seen previously for engineering as a whole, this correlation is less than exact in that graduate and undergraduate degrees vary independently and there can be a lag in the faculty variations needed to accommodate enrollment variations.

The inflated faculty numbers for electrical engineering faculty and underreported numbers of computer faculty have an influence on the ratios of degrees per faculty member. The ratios shown for electrical engineering are lowered and, for computer, are raised. (Degree data used in calculating the ratios are reported by discipline (not department) and are therefore unaffected.)

The three graphs below indicate the two-decade variations in the ratios of degrees (bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral) per faculty member for the thirteen engineering disciplines indicated previously. The overall engineering ratios are shown as well. The annual totals of degrees and faculty numbers in the disciplines for engineering programs reporting both faculty numbers and degrees were used to obtain the ratios. The discipline designations are as follows: civil (CE), chemical (ChE), computer (engineering and science – Cmp), electrical (EE), mechanical (ME), materials (MSE), industrial (IE), environmental (EnvE), aerospace (AspE), bioengineering (BioE), biomedical (BmdE), nuclear (NucE), petroleum (PetE) and total engineering (Eng).

The bachelor’s degree/faculty ratio for engineering reached a maximum of about 4.0 in the early 1980s as a result of the unprecedented and rapid growth of undergraduate enrollments. Since that time, the ratio declined and has remained essentially constant at about 3.0 for over a decade.

Several engineering disciplines (typically the largest ones) have bachelor’s degree ratios that follow the overall engineering trend. However, departures from the overall engineering trend are numerous. It is noteworthy that some of the disciplines that traditionally have large doctoral research programs and funding have the lowest ratios.

The master’s degree per faculty ratio for engineering increased slowly until the early 1990s and has remained almost constant at about 1.5 since that time. Larger ratios (e.g., IE) may result from part-time master’s degree programs. Some of the larger disciplines (e.g., CE and ME) closely follow the engineering trend. However, it should be noted that ChE has shown a very low ratio for over two decades. It is also noteworthy that MSE and NucE, disciplines with relatively large doctoral degree emphasis, have low master’s degree per faculty ratios.

The doctoral degree per faculty ratio for engineering as a whole increased to a maximum in AY 1996-97 and declined subsequently. Almost all engineering disciplines have followed this trend. Most engineering disciplines have ratios similar to the ratio for engineering. The exceptions are, for the most part, the disciplines with doctoral degree and research emphasis.

Future Trends in Engineering Faculty Numbers

Enrollments in undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering are currently increasing. This “simultaneous growth” has no historical precedent. It is clear that the engineering education community is about to face the issue of whether to increase the number of engineering faculty. Will the decline in full-time undergraduate enrollments anticipated to begin in a year or two offset the rising demands of graduate programs? Will undergraduate enrollments, after a period of decline, resume their growth trend as a result of a transition to sustained period of national economic growth?

Engineering colleges might want to consider that, arguably, faculty increases have lagged increases in employment demand and the onset of reduced demand. Strategic planning for hiring faculty of greatest academic potential in disciplines of future importance would appear to be prudent.

Acknowledgment

The data for this study originated from the annual surveys of the American Society for Engineering Education. Engineering Trends acknowledges their efforts in providing credible data and expresses its gratitude for their services to the engineering profession.

Footnotes

American Society for Engineering Education survey data for the period AY1993-94 through AY1998-99 were handicapped since the number of universities providing information was somewhat lower than in other years. Thus, the totals for US degrees and faculty numbers were lowered. Data during this period were not used in some graphs. However, it was found that this under-reporting had, in most instances, little effect on degrees per faculty member data. Faculty data were not reported for 1997-98.

Engineering Trends data are compiled from information submitted by universities to the annual surveys of EWC and ASEE. On the very rare occasions where errors in data appear, Engineering Trends corrects the error, if possible, or deletes the data if the error is large enough to alter significantly the trend of the university or the US total.