Today, only half as many women as in the 1970s are completing computer science degrees, and academics are trying to figure out why.

?Twenty years ago, more like 30 to 40 per cent [of students] were women,? said Gail Powley, vice-chair of the University of Alberta Women in Scholarship Engineering, Science and Technology (WISEST).

Today, she said, those numbers have been cut in half, noting that nationally, computer science programs reflect the starkest contrasts in gender parity.

According to the University of Alberta’s Department of Computing Science, during the 2007-2008 academic year, only 37 out of 247 undergraduate students were female.

According to Eleni Stroulia, a professor of computer science, two correlated phenomena are currently happening in North America.

?So in a gender-neutral discussion, the numbers are dropping,? Stroulia said. ?[But, secondly,] the numbers of females are dropping even faster. So we have fewer students, and the gender gap is widening.?

The growing gender imparity is unfortunate, according to Stroulia, because ?you need a multi-perspective team to make good decisions,? adding that as women leave the IT industry, the field becomes ?more and more uniform.?

Nobody knows exactly why computer science programs are failing to attract more women, she said, but ability isn’t an issue.

?So It’s not that they can’t do it?[and] we don’t see a similar phenomenon in math?so It’s not that math phobia is a problem.?

One of the possible reasons being put forth, Stroulia said, is that IT is perceived as a geeky subject with little social interaction.

The problem, she explained, is that women are thought to want to have an impact in society, and are deterred from the idea of sitting in front of a computer all day.

Stroulia stressed that, despite that perception, there are ?plenty of opportunities? to combine other interests with computing science.

?We do meet with people, and work in teams, and talk with people. we’re not sitting in front of a computer all the time, hiding from the world,? Stroulia said.

Meanwhile, some organizations are trying more active outreach projects.

Programs such as the Canadian Information Processing Society have sponsored Women in IT Day, which aims to engaging young female students in IT-related activities to communicate what a career in the industry might look like.

Indeed, Stroulia said that ?in some cases it seems that this does not even enter the choices of women, so they haven’t seen anybody that would emulate or illustrate this career for us.”

Stroulia also said that having more women involved in technology featured in media could also help to promote women’s involvement.

She noted that criminology programs saw great boosts when the CSI series became popular and the same tactic could be explored in this situation.

Powley agreed.

?Media has been recognized as one of the key problematic issues, where people who join IT aren’t thought of as being fashionable or friendly or anything,” Powley said.

Powley explained that the idea of having scientists-in-residence has been floating around as another way to allow students to come into contact with role models in the industry.

?These individuals would be young, dynamic professionals working in local companies so that young people can see that these people are cool, they’re fun, and there are jobs,? Powley said.

That jobs are being outsourced to India and Asian countries is another concern that discourages potential students, she said. She stressed, however, that while some jobs are leaving Canada, there is a large domestic shortage of IT graduates.

Powley, a chemical engineer, said that there are immense career benefits to focusing on computers, no matter what field a student enters.

?I focused on an area of chemical engineering that was very computer-intensive and it did me extremely well throughout my career. In fact, I got one of the highest-paying roles in chemical engineering. So for people who have an interest in biology, there’s a computer side to biology they can look at.?

“Really It’s a wonderful profession,” Powley said. “It’s high-tech, It’s current, you have the latest and greatest in toys, if you will, [and] there’s a very dynamic environment.?

The report, released Oct. 18, showed that Canadian full-time students in undergraduate programs will pay, on average, 2.8 per cent more in tuition fees in 2007-2008 than they did last year.

Alberta tuition fees rose at nearly twice that rate, going up by 4.6 per cent.

According to Steven Dollansky, a vice-president with the University of Alberta Students’ Union, Alberta’s increase is indicative of the level of investment that the provincial government is putting into post-secondary education.

?Albertan learners have seen tuition rises that have drastically outpaced the national average, the focus on reducing barriers of access to learners has not been recognized by the provincial government as it has been by other jurisdictions,? Dollansky said. ?As a result, we are falling behind our peers.?

However, University of Alberta provost and vice-president Carl Amrhein questioned the merit of comparing Alberta’s tuition fees to a national average.

?I think the average is a misleading number,? Amhrein said, noting that while Quebec is renowned for having the lowest tuition levels in the country, the differential fee for non-Quebec residents makes comparing up-front tuition fees problematic.

Zach Churchill, the national director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), said that different provinces charging different tuition fees affects students? mobility within the country.

?[I want to stress] the importance of the federal government and the provincial government taking a leadership role on assuring that we have an affordable and accessible post-secondary system in this country that is mobile [and] that allows students to study wherever they want,? Churchill said.

Amrhein doubts that a lack of student mobility can be linked to tuition fees. He pointed out that most of the tuition levels are tightly clustered around the national average.

?There’s not a lot of student mobility across the provinces to begin with relative to what you would find in say the US or within the European community,? Amrhein said. ?[However], I don’t really see that [a] $400 difference is going to affect many choices.?

According to Dollansky, though, high tuition fees in Alberta are contributing to a demographic change in the students able to attend the University of Alberta.

?Ten years ago, [there was a] wider spectrum of students from a more diverse economic background,? he said. ?Just because the slots are being filled, doesn’t mean that the institution is accessible, it means that it is accessible to a smaller and smaller portion of the population.?

By continuing to pursue maximum tuition increases every year, Dollansky said that the university’s administration isn’t recognizing the fact that students are being turned away by heavy fees.

The students’ union would now like to see a ?fully funded tuition roll-back? that would commit the government to fund whatever revenue the universities lose from a reduction in tuition.

?We don’t want to see the University left out in the cold,? he stressed. ?[But] the fact that we’re above the national average, in a time of prosperity like this in Alberta, and we’re not passing that prosperity onto learners who are going to sustain that growth, is just unacceptable.?

Duncan Wojtaszek, executive director of the Council of Alberta University Students, (CAUS), echoed Dollansky’s criticisms.

?In an environment like Alberta, where the government has plenty of resources to affect change and also in a place where the cost of living is so much higher than the rest of the country, we would have thought that that was a powerful reason to have lower tuition when compared to the national average,? he said.
Wojtaszek noted that while finances are rarely the only barrier to education, tuition fees are a significant one.

Amrhein, however, noted that tuition fees are only a fraction of the costs students face and that in order to ensure accessibility, the entire spectrum of financial hardships associated with post-secondary education must be addressed.

?[Tuition levels are] clearly important, but I worry also about those students in Alberta who have to come to either Edmonton or Calgary to get to one of the two big universities. Tuition is only about a third of the cost they incur; room and board is twice tuition roughly speaking,? Amhrein said.