Feed: Slashdot
Feed Link: https://slashdot.org/
---

Title: Are Students Suddenly Losing Interest in Computer Science as AI Coding
Takes Off?

Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/09/22/0010...

On academic mentoring platform Nova Learning, Computer Science and AI, "once
the dominant choice among students... is losing ground fast, while
Engineering has nearly doubled its share." It's a small survey, but "The
steepest proportional decline is in Software & Data Science, the most
traditional 'learn to code' pathway, which lost 44% of its 2025 share. AI saw
the largest absolute drop of any single subject in the survey, down 6.2
points. "The category did not decline uniformly. Students moved away fastest
from the pathway most associated with entry-level software work, while the
more applied and human-facing subfields held their ground better." Slashdot
reader BrianFagioli writes: Nova Learning says the share of surveyed middle
and high school students naming Computer Science and AI as their primary
academic interest fell from 42.3 percent in 2025 to 27.9 percent in 2026,
while Engineering rose from 11.9 percent to 23 percent. The biggest gains
came from Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering... [B]roader enrollment data
points in the same direction. The National Student Clearinghouse Research
Center reported declines in Computer and Information Science enrollment at
four year institutions, even as Engineering grew. AI coding tools are not
proven to be the cause, but as software development changes and AI handles
more coding tasks, students may be starting to rethink what a future in
technology should look like. [Undergraduate enrollment in CS programs at four-
year institutions fell 8.1%, to approximately 606,000 students.]

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

---
VRSS v2.1.180528