Dear CAUTG colleagues,
I am happy to announce that this report brings good news in the form of an upward enrolment trend over the past two years.
Best regards,
Marcella RollmannCAUTG Enrolment Report 1999-2000
1. Collection of Data:
This is the first year I have prepared this report. In December I received the 1998/99 Report and in mid- February the extensive history file from last year's Enrolment Officer Doug Woods. Last year for the first time the Survey was mailed out electronically. I opted to follow the same procedure this year, using the electronic document created by Doug for last year's Survey. On April 6, 2000, the Enrolment Survey was emailed to 42 universities and 2 colleges listed on an electronic address list of Heads and Directors. Since email addresses are in a constant state of flux, some of these surveys were returned as undeliverable. I then checked the CAUTG Directory and the web site for updated addresses, and in some cases followed up with faxes or telephone calls. Faxes were sent to all colleges for whom fax numbers could be found. The answer to the question from last year's survey officer as to why only two colleges replied is that most of the colleges do not appear to have electronic mail. In future I recommend we contact the colleges by fax or regular mail. I have also in the meantime become familiar with the history file and have discovered that the old survey form was very user friendly. In future I recommend we use an electronic version of that form. A sincere attempt was made to contact every institution. If data are missing from your institution on Table 4 (The 1999/2000 Enrolment Survey with 35 universities reporting) or Table 11 (Colleges), please supply me with your correct email or other address.
2. Results and Comparisons:
Attached are 12 Tables reflecting the results of this year's Survey (Table 4) and comparisons based on data from the history file:
The first two tables are for the ten-year period 1990-2000:
Table 1: 10-year report of German enrolments 1990-2000 for 42 universities with gains and loss comparison of 30 universities reporting in both 98/99 and 99/00. This is the comprehensive report for all 42 universities, with data missing, so there is no point in totalling this or providing a graph. The only comparison made here is for the 30 universities that reported in both of the last two years. 18 universities show a gain of 1174 over the previous year, and 12 universities show a loss of 846, for a net gain of 328 students. If you can provide any of the missing data for any of the years, please contact me.
Table 2: German enrolments for 24 universities that have reported every year for 10 years. There are no missing data here, so it makes sense to total. The chart shows an upward trend!
Table 3: Ranking for 1998-99: German enrolment expressed as per cent of total undergraduate full-time enrolment at 32 universities. In the past we have ranked universities according to the size of their German enrolment. The suggestion was made last year that we look for "market share", i.e. express the German enrolment as a per cent of the entire enrolment at the institution. Since this is an undergraduate survey, I compared the size of the German enrolment to the undergraduate full-time enrolment at the institution. Since the 1999 university enrolment report was not yet available, the German enrolment and the university enrolment figures are for 1998. Note that the German enrolment figures represent the sum of the German course enrolments for the entire year, whereas the total undergraduate enrolment for the institution, to determine the relative size of the institution, is taken at one point in time for the year. The university figures are available at http://www.aucc.ca/en/research/enr_inst2.htm.
Table 4: The 1999/2000 enrolment survey with 35 universities reporting. The table shows the enrolment distribution for this year spread over nine categories: 1 Language, 2 Reading, 3 Business German, 4 Culture/German Studies, 5 Culture/German Studies in Translation, 6 Literature, 7 Literature in Translation, 8 Linguistics and 9 Other. This is the new information collected this year. If data for your institution are missing, please contact me. This year's survey results have been added to the data from the history file for the comparisons below.
Tables 5 - 10 show the enrolment distribution for Language, Reading, Culture/German Studies, Culture/German Studies in Translation, Literature, and Literature in Translation for the eight-year period 1992-2000. While distribution figures were in the history file for the year 1990-91, only the total enrolment was available for 1991-92. If the distribution for that year can be found, the tables and graphs can be quickly revised to reflect the entire 10-year period.
25 universities are included in this eight-year study. Ottawa and York, who could not be used in the 10-year study of 24 universities (Table 2) because the 1990-91 data were missing, have been included in the 25 universities used in the 8-year study (Tables 5-10), and Simon Fraser has been omitted, since the breakdown for one year (1995- 96) was not in the history file, although the total enrolment was available. Again, since we now have an electronic data base, if the Simon Fraser distribution figures can be provided for the missing year, SFU will be added to this eight-year study.
Table 5: Total enrolment in language courses. The graph shows an upward trend in the last two years.
Tables 5a, 5b, 5c, & 5d show the distribution of enrolment in language courses from beginner to advanced. 5a: Beginners: the information for beginners is reliable and shows a slight upward trend. 5b: Intermediate 1, 5c: Intermediate 2, and 5d: Advanced: this information is not reliable! On the survey form, I revised the clarifications for the levels, trying to make it clear that Intermediate 1 is second year or any course beginning with 2, Intermediate 2 is third year or any course beginning with 3, and Advanced is fourth year or any course beginning with 4. These levels have always been described as denoting an entire year, but some universities are reporting Intermediate 2 as the second semester of Intermediate 1, and Advanced as third year. Please check your institution. If you show figures for Advanced but you do not offer a fourth-year language course, then your figures are wrong. Please contact me. Some people understood that for the first time this year, which partly explains the drastic drop on 5d. The increases on 5b and 5c would probably be even greater if all of the Intermediate 2 were added to Intermediate 1 correctly, and all of the Advanced were added to Intermediate 2 correctly. If you will provide me with the correct reporting for as many years back as possible, I can readjust the chart and graph. I recommend that next year we omit the confusing terms Intermediate and Advanced and label the levels simply First Year, Second Year, Third Year, and Fourth Year.
Table 6: Reading. The upward trend is caused largely by the figures from UBC. Point of Discussion: Perhaps someone from UBC could report on the format of this very successful course.
Table 7: Culture/German Studies. The chart shows a downward trend, as does Table 8 for Culture/German Studies in Translation. I discovered that Memorial's Culture course had been included since 1992 on this table, when in fact it is taught in English. So I have moved those figures to Table 8. If you discover a similar mistake, please contact me.
Table 8: Culture/German Studies in Translation. The chart shows a huge increase in 98/99 followed by a drop in 99-2000 largely because of the figures from Dalhousie. Even with the lower figures for this year, Dalhousie seems to have a very successful Culture course. Point of Discussion: Perhaps someone from Dalhousie could report on the format of this course.
Table 9: Literature. Figures are up slightly over 97-98. Point of Discussion: Could someone explain the drop in 98-99?
Table 10: Literature in Translation. The graph shows a decline this year, after a rise last year. Are courses being alternated?
Table 11: Colleges. As explained above under Collection of Data, it was not possible to reach many of the Colleges by email. I recommend we contact the Colleges by fax or regular mail. I did not discover the problem this year in time to mail out the forms by regular mail. When emails were returned as undeliverable, faxes were sent. Eleven colleges responded.
Table 12: Graduate Enrolments. Graduate enrolments are up at four out of the six universities that reported in both of the last two years.
Summary. The overall picture this year is positive. We have increases in the past two years in total enrolments. 18 universities show a gain this year of 1174, with 12 showing a loss of 846, for a net gain of 328 students. Whereas there is a slight gain for beginner language courses, there is an even more discernible gain for Intermediate. UBC has a very successful reading course, and Dalhousie has an equally large Culture in Translation course, leading to increases in the past two years in those areas. Enrolment in literature courses is up, while enrolment in literature in translation courses is down. Graduate enrolment is up. All in all, there is much here to be encouraged about.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcella Rollmann
Enrolment Officer 1999/2000
May 22, 2000
Revised 4 July 2000
Web version 14 March 2001
marcella@mun.ca