Jackson Magas

UWRT 1103-009,013,014

18 September 2019

Word Count: 514

Inquiry Proposal

I was sitting in my computer science lecture hall about a week ago and noticed something

the guest speaker said that was very interesting and alarming to me. The guest speaker was an

employer working for The Hartford insurance company. He pointed out the statistics of how

much computer science graduates meet the expectations of employers and job requirements.

After reading a document relating to the improvement of computer science education in

the U.S. from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, I was able to find reasons

as to why colleges haven’t been able to meet the expectations of the field. The document

considered the fact that the demands of the computer science field are becoming wider while

colleges aren’t able to properly provide the wide arrange of classes that are now necessary for the

field. It was also found that over time colleges’ computer science schools have remained static

and unable to grow due to lack of funding and controversy from within universities in

incorporating a better program. As the field continues to grow, colleges effectively bottleneck

the outcome of their graduates due to the lack of resources and courses that are now expected

from employers today.

Before starting this inquiry I only knew of what the guest employer had to say which

initially sparked my interest in the topic, leading me to choose it for my question. I have already

found multiple documents, articles, and even a book that I believe will allow me to deepen my

understanding of the topic. They relate to the specific details on why the problem of supply and
demand is occurring and how it’s affecting the field at large. The sources I used can be found at

the bottom of this paper on my work cited page. A few keywords I can use for research on my

inquiry may be “STEM in higher education”, “Computer Science graduates transition to

workforce”, “Higher education’s effectiveness in preparing students for careers”, and “Resources

available to computer science students in college”. Next I will look through more databases

through Atkins Library in order to discover more about my topic and to gain more historical

context.

I can easily limit the range of my topic by finding statistics and articles to research

specific colleges and companies that are experiencing these issues as well as how big the

problem was in the past and how big it will be in the future. On top of all that, I can even narrow

down the demographic whom the problem affects the most. After diving into the topic I am now

considering how many companies this problem affects and how big of a priority it is for colleges

to improve their computer science departments. This question is very important in regards to my

fellow peers and the community here at UNCC as it makes us question the effectiveness and

value of our computer science department on campus. This critical view will allow us to suggest

improvements and upscale our program in order to compete with other institutions and to

become a more competent, well-known university.

 Work Cited

Hora, Matthew T., et al. Beyond the Skills Gap: Preparing College Students for Life and

Work. Harvard Education Press, 2016.

Nager, Adams, and Robert D. Atkinson. “The Case for Improving U.S. Computer Science

Education.” INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION FOUNDATION,

May 2016.

Roberts, Eric. “A History of Capacity Challenges in Computer Science.” 7 Mar. 2016.