CAUTG Enrolment Report 2000-2001

1. Collection of Data

On March 16, 2001, the CAUTG enrolment survey form for 2000-2001 was placed on the web at http://www.mun.ca/german/German/CAUTG/questionnaire.html and a message was posted to the CAUTG listserv asking Heads and Directors to download the survey form, fill it out, and fax it to me by April 6. Emails and faxes were sent to universities and colleges that had not responded by mid-April. A sincere attempt was made to contact every institution. If data are missing or incorrect from your institution on Table 4 (The 2000/2001 Enrolment Survey with 38 Universities Reporting) or Table 11 (Colleges), or on any of the other tables, please contact me. An electronic data base has been created for easy update. After any corrections or additions, the CAUTG Enrolment Report 2000-2001 will be placed on the web, along with last year's report, which can be found at http://www.mun.ca/german/German/CAUTG. Information has also been collected on the topics Teaching Complement and Factors and Policies Affecting Enrolment. This information should be added to the web version in the near future.

 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.

Table 1a: 11-Year Report of German Enrolments 1990-2001 for 42 Universities with Gains and Loss Comparison of 35 Universities Reporting in Both 99/00 and 00/01.

This is the comprehensive report for all 42 universities, with data missing, so there is no point in totalling the columns or providing a graph. The only comparison made here is for the 35 universities that reported in both of the last two years. In 2000-01 17 universities show a gain of 776 over the previous year, and 18 universities show a loss of 1443, for a net loss of 667 students. While it is unfortunate that enrolment figures have declined this year, it should be remembered that they had increased in both of the past two years. Since the 35 universities included in the gains/loss comparison this year is a slightly different list from the 30 universities compared in Table 1 last year, an additional table (Table 1b) is provided this year to show a clearer comparison of the gains and losses.

Table 1b: Comparison of Gains and Losses in German Enrolments of 30 Universities Reporting over the Past 3 Years: 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-2001.

The loss of 667 students in 2000-2001 is softened considerably by the gain of 328 students the previous year (see Table 1, CAUTG Enrolment Survey 1999-2000). No absolute comparison of the two figures can be made, however, since different universities were involved, those that had reported in each of the last two years of that particular report. In Table 1b, only the 30 universities reporting in each of the last three years are considered. In this comparison, exactly the same number of universities show a gain (15) in 2000-2001 over the previous year as show a loss (also 15). It is encouraging that it is not always the same universities that lose or gain students. Of the 15 universities showing gains, 8 posted gains two years in a row, while 7 moved from the loss to the gain column. Of the 15 universities showing losses, only 5 posted losses two years in a row, while 10 moved from the gain to the loss column. The fluctuation of enrolments can be attributed in part to the rotation of courses in recent years reported by several universities.  We should therefore look for trends over a longer span to accommodate this rotation. Defining a trend as a gain or loss two years in a row, over the three-year period 1998-2001 eight universities show a growing trend, while only 5 universities show a declining trend. Over the three-year period, the gains total 1396 and the losses 1664, for a net loss of 268 students.

Table 2: German enrolments for 24 universities that have reported every year for 11 years.

There are no missing data here, so it makes sense to total. After two consecutive years of growth, enrolments are down this year.

Table 3: Ranking for 1999-2000: German enrolment expressed as per cent of total undergraduate full-time enrolment at 33 universities.

In the past we have ranked universities according to the size of their German enrolment. The suggestion was made in the 1998/99 report that we look for "market share", i.e. express the German enrolment as a per cent of the entire undergraduate enrolment at the institution. This is the second year we have ranked our enrolments in this fashion. The difficulty with ranking our enrolments this way for the current academic year is that the university enrolment figures are for the most part not yet available. Neither Statistics Canada nor AUCC have updated their enrolment figures since 1998. This figure was requested, therefore, from departments on the survey form, but not many departments were able to supply the information. The university enrolment figures used in last year's report were for full-time undergraduates 1998, found at the AUCC web site http://www.aucc.ca/en/research/enr_inst2.htm. The only more recent figures that could be found for this year's report are for 1999-2000 from Maclean's Special 2000 Edition, 20 November 2000, p110.

Table 4: The 2000-2001 Enrolment Survey with 38 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 nine-year period 1992-2001. 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 11-year period 1990-2001.

 25 universities are included in this nine-year study. Ottawa and York, who could not be used in the 11-year study of 24 universities (Table 2) because the 1990-91 data were missing, have been included in the 25 universities used in the 9-year study (tables 5-10), and Simon Fraser has been omitted, since the breakdown for one year (1995-1996) was not in the history file, although the total enrolment was available. 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 nine-year study.

Table 5: Total Enrolment in Language Courses.

After an increase last year, enrolments in language courses are down this year.

Tables 5a, 5b, 5c, & 5d show the distribution of enrolment in language courses.

The previous labels Beginner, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, and Advanced have been replaced this year for clarity and consistency with 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year and 4th year. The 1st-year figures over the nine years should be reliable. Tables 5b, 5c, and 5d are less reliable, since departments were understanding the labels differently. For example, there never were as many 4th-year students as the graph indicates. Most of those were actually 3rd-year students. These levels have always been described as denoting an entire year, but some universities were reporting Intermediate 2 as a second semester of Intermediate 1, when Intermediate 2 was intended to be 3rd year. These institutions then gave their third year the designation "Advanced", because that is what they call 3rd year at their own institutions. On the reporting form, however, with its year-long designations, Advanced was intended to be 4th year. It will take several years to see an accurate pattern in 2nd-4th years.

Table 6: Reading.

The upward trend is caused largely by the figures from UBC. The steady increase has been caused by the development of the Reading German series, a five-part CD-ROM/Print program developed at UBC by Joerg Roche et. al. and offered on campus as well as on-line.

Table 7: Culture/German Studies.

After a sharp rise in 98-99, the figures have fallen the last two years.

Table 8: Culture/German Studies in Translation.

The chart shows a dramatic increase in 98/99 followed by a drop in 99-2000 with a levelling off this year, largely because of the figures from Dalhousie, which 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.

After an increase last year, enrolment is down again in this category.

Table 10: Literature in Translation.

The graph shows a decline two years in a row, but the numbers are still higher than 97-98 just before the unusual jump in 98-99.

Table 11: Colleges.

Numerous emails, faxes, and snailmails were sent in an attempt to contact all the colleges. We have received answers from 9 colleges, 7 of which report German enrolments. The majority of colleges reporting are sporting healthy enrolments.

Table 12: Graduate Enrolments.

In 2000-2001 there were 54 M. A. students and 50 Ph. D. students, for a total of 104. Out of 10 universities reporting two years in a row, 6 remain the same or show a gain, while 4 show a decrease. The total decrease is 22.

Summary.
After two years of growth, the overall picture this year is less positive. In 1999-2000 we enjoyed an increase in total enrolment of 328 students over the previous year, with gains in Language Courses, as well as in the categories Reading, Culture in Translation, Literature, and Graduate Studies. This year we show a decline of 667 students over the previous year, with gains only in Reading. But there is a great fluctuation in the numbers as far as which universities are up or down, reflecting perhaps the reported rotation of courses. To make sense of this fluctuation I looked for trends, defining a trend as a gain or loss two years in a row (Table 1b). Over a three-year period only five universities show a declining trend, and three of those have some of the healthiest enrolments, in spite of the losses. Over the three-year period, the net loss of students is only 268. So there really is not as much doom and gloom in this report as one might initially conclude from the downward incline of most of the charts.

On Table 2 you see that our lowest point before this year was 97-98, the last year for which HSSFC had statistics when it concluded modern languages were in a crisis and set up a Task Force to look into the problems. It is unfortunate that HSSFC did not know CAUTG had detailed statistics for the two years after that: 98-99 and 99-2000. In both those years our enrolments increased. At Memorial we also had our lowest numbers in 97-98 but have shown growth in all three years since. We enjoyed our largest enrolment this year since the peak year of 92-93, with 108 more students in 2000-2001 than last year.

The overall numbers nationwide are lower by 232 this year (Table 2) than the previous low in 97-98. This does not mean that as a profession we are sinking. The 232 can be found in a single university's losses. As shown on Table 1a, one university alone had 246 fewer German enrolments in 2000-2001 than it did in 1999-2000. To judge the health of our profession, it is more important to look at Table 1b, where we see that the trends depict less of a crisis situation, with most universities holding their own or showing gains.

 Respectfully submitted,

Marcella Rollmann
Enrolment Officer 2000/2001
May 18, 2001
marcella@mun.ca
Revised web version 29 May 2001