Articles Addressing Shortage of CS Professors Across Many Institutions
By Betsy Bizot, CRA Director of Statistics and Evaluation
Two recent articles have addressed the shortage of Computer Science professors at many institutions.
Inside Higher Ed featured an article titled “System Crash” on CS student complaints that their departments can’t meet demand. The article highlights the CRA Generation CS Report, the National Academies study, and Craig Wills’ November 2017 CRN article on faculty search results. The article places the concerns of students at specific institutions within the national context.
“Computer science students on a number of campuses complain that their departments can’t meet demand. Their professors are also stressed. But experts say there is no clear fix for nationwide shortage of computer science faculty.”
In addition, Dice Insights posted an article titled “Tech Industry Really Needs Professors and Teaching Talent” on industry’s demand for workers now and also the need for teachers of future computer scientists. This article referenced the Generation CS Report, the National Academies study, and last year’s CRA Taulbee Survey report.
“It’s understandable that talented faculty would want to follow the money, but the net effect on the tech talent pipeline is like a farmer eating his seed corn, as today’s meal comes at the expense of next year’s harvest. Fewer talented teachers could potentially constrict the flow of talent to the nation’s tech firms.”
