After six years of stagnation, students are flocking back to computer science. Total enrollment per department by majors and pre-majors in US computer science programs is up 6.2 percent over last year. If only majors are considered, the increase is 8.1 percent, according to the Computing Research Association’s annual Taulbee Survey. The CRA surveyed 264 PhD-granting institutions in the US and Canada.

PhD production was up 5.7 percent this year, and the total number of new PhD students was up by 10 percent. Although enrollment is up in computer science departments, diversity in undergraduate programs remains poor. According to the survey, about 88 percent of computer science degrees were awarded to men and two-thirds to whites.