FIVE-YEAR GROWTH IN ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY DISCIPLINES

By Charles Stuppard

Reprinted from ASEE Connections

According to data submitted to the ASEE Survey of Engineering & Engineering Technology Colleges, the number of engineering technology bachelor’s degrees increased 97 percent from 2015 to 2019. Figure 1 displays the change of each engineering technology discipline over five years. The yearly breakdown of the number of engineering technology bachelor’s degrees is shown in Figure 2 and Table 1. Of the 10 reported engineering technology disciplines, four—architectural engineering technology, engineering technology (general), industrial/manufacturing engineering technology, and other engineering technology disciplines—exhibited growth of over 200 percent. Additionally, these four disciplines shared a similar pattern of growth over the five-year period, gradually increasing from 2015 to 2017 with sharper increases following 2018 and 2019. Only two disciplines—aerospace engineering technology and electrical/electronics engineering technology—
experienced a decline in bachelor’s degrees awarded this five-year period. The remaining four disciplines—civil engineering technology (+145 percent), computer engineering technology (+39 percent), construction engineering technology (+18 percent), and mechanical engineering technology (+88 percent)—exhibited similar yearly changes, in addition to overall growth, such that there was an increase of engineering technology bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2018 followed by a decrease in 2019.