Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Session #: 3249

GIS and Undergraduate Engineering Recruitment, An Exploratory Study at DeVry University, Pomona.

Alan Price DeVry University, Pomona, CA.

Abstract

Enrollment in undergraduate engineering programs in the United States (U.S.) has declined over the past two decades. Studies have shown that the number of bachelor’s graduates in engineering has declined since 1985, while the number of ABET accredited engineering programs has increased by approximately one-third during the same time period. This suggests greater competition among new and old engineering programs for the same dwindling supply of students. To more effectively identify and target graduating high school students interested in pursuing higher education in an associates program in Electronics and Computer Technology (ECT) or bachelor programs in Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) or Computer Engineering Technology (CET), DeVry University, Pomona campus has evaluated the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to synthesize, analyze, and display relationships between spatial data and database attributes to reveal hidden patterns and trends that are not readily apparent using basic spreadsheets or statistical packages. This paper is an exploratory study of the early use of GIS at DeVry University, Pomona, to data mine using freely available California state educational data and DeVry University historical student data to identify high schools within a defined geographic radius for targeted recruiting efforts of its undergraduate programs. Early results indicate positive new student enrollment potential. While this paper discusses one California university and its use of state educational data, the research methodology and its outcomes discussed in this paper can be generalized and adopted at most colleges and universities in the U.S.

I. Introduction

DeVry University, with 24 campuses throughout the United States and Canada, serves some 52,000 students annually. In Southern California, three campuses exist and are located in the cities of Long Beach, Pomona, and West Hills. Each offers undergraduate and graduate curricula in technology, business and management. The Pomona campus has approximately 2,300 students in five bachelor degree programs and one associate degree program, with each being offered during the day, evening, and/or weekend, dependent upon the selected program.

Opportunities for higher education have increased over the past several years with schools such as DeVry University emerging to fill a market void for students looking for alternatives to attending a traditional university. Such for profit institutions are driven to promote high “Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2004, American Society for Engineering”

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Price, A. (2004, June), Gis And Undergraduate Engineering Recruitment Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13494