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International News

UNITED STATES began 20 years ago, the number of US teaching faculty in
UC Berkeley’s new college computer science fields had grown at only about half the
rate of the growth in the number of students, and the num-
ber of tenure-track faculty has grown by only one-tenth the
rate of enrolment growth. “The undergraduate population
continues to grow, but there’s a smaller growth in teaching
resources,” says Elizabeth Bizot, a senior research associ-
ate at CRA.
UC Berkeley sets norms often followed at other institu-
tions, and consolidation of its computer-science fields into
a new college is not the only step it is taking. After much
internal debate, says DeNero, UC Berkeley is also changing
the two main ways that students get admitted as computer-
science majors.
Those accepted into computer science as part of their
admission to the university will now be guaranteed a space,
starting this academic year, ending a system by which they
had to meet a grade-point-average threshold during a set of
Simulated model of Berkeley's new data science college initial courses. And for students who try to switch into the
computer-science major after their acceptance to the uni-
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT Berkeley versity, the opportunity will be allowed only in the sopho-
is starting a new college of computer and data sci- more year, and the decision will be based on a “holistic”
ence, in what it expects might become a nationwide assessment rather than a pure GPA-driven metric, says Dr.
model for coping with the field’s surging and often unmet DeNero.
demand. UC Berkeley, like many US campuses, has been Even with the changes at UC Berkeley, some people will
overpowered by the rapid rise in interest in computing in be disappointed. “There will still be students who would like
recent years, with huge increases in graduate numbers with- to major in computer science but can’t,” Dr. DeNero says,
out sufficient staff and infrastructure to cope with demand. “because there is a capacity challenge.”
California’s flagship public institution sees creation of
the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society — UC GRE’s declining popularity
Berkeley’s first new college in more than 50 years — as a way
of helping the campus cope by consolidating the deluge of HE GRE (GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATION),
demand and then better allocating it. the mostly commonly used standardised graduate-
A key step will be tackling the data-science element via Tschool admissions test, is being dramatically scaled
partnerships with faculty in other fields, says John DeNero, back in size and content as US universities overwhelmingly
associate dean of undergraduate studies at the new com- move away from its use. The Covid pandemic accelerated
puting college. These scholars might not teach computer an already active movement by higher education away from
programming, but have enough expertise in the computer- standardised tests because of concerns about cost, their ra-
related aspects of their own specialities to teach courses cial and demographic biases and their general failure to
about data usage, he explains. “Data science fundamentally accurately predict student success, with use of the once
is more scalable on the Berkeley campus because it involves ubiquitous GRE falling by at least half since 2018.
faculty from all over, instead of mostly faculty from one Many other countries have also abandoned the GRE, but
department,” adds DeNero. at a slower rate and with the notable exception of India,
Overall, the challenge facing UC Berkeley and US univer- where growth is being driven by a heavy embrace from busi-
sities looks imposing. The average number of students in ness schools.
computer science fields nationwide has increased by more The test, which dates back to 1936, will be shortened
than six times its 2006 level, according to the latest annual to last only about two hours, with the drastic reduction or
compilation by the Computing Research Association (CRA). removal of several sections, according to its maker, the Edu-
UC Berkeley has nearly 2,000 graduates a year in com- cational Testing Service (ETS), the world’s largest private
puter science and data science, up from just 200 a decade non-profit educational assessment company.
ago, and now representing almost a quarter of the universi- The price of the test — $220 (Rs.18,021) in the US and
ty’s total undergraduate degrees. Data science accounts for most parts of the world — will not be changed, says ETS.
close to half of those 2,000 graduates, after holding almost “The changes we’re making to the GRE test have been prior-
no share just five years ago. itised based on test-taker feedback,” says Alberto Acereda,
CRA says that since this nationwide enrolment surge the company’s associate vice-president for higher educa-

50 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2023