last revised 9 February 2013
Some quantitative information regarding liberal arts, computing graduates, quoted from my 2010 paper with Charles Kelemen:
"In recent NSF study of "Baccalaureate Origins of S&E Doctorate Recipients", only 20 of top 50 schools (ranked by number of S&E doctorates per 100 graduates) came from research-oriented universities. Most of the remaining 30 schools are undergraduate, liberal arts colleges. [5]
"One of the authors of this article observed Members of Technical Staff years ago during a project at Bell Laboratories. In that environment, all technical people were competent. However, the folks in various lead positions were notable for their communication skills and ability to work with clients, customers, and other team members.
"In a series of about ten industry panels several years ago, representatives of the computing industry were asked to identify the most important skills for potential employees. Every industry panelist, without exception, listed "communication skills" and "the ability to work in groups" as the two most important qualifications for success. Although the ordering of these two areas varied by panelist, specific technical skills never made the top two qualifications on the list.
"Altogether, the experience of breadth and interdisciplinary work of the liberal arts would seem to have a direct payoff in professional careers."
Reference:
5. Joan Burrelli, Alan Rapoport, and Rolf
Lehming, Baccalaureate Origins of S&E Doctorate Recipients,
NSF Report 08-311, July 2008.
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created 6 February 2013 last revised 9 February 2013 |
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