CAUTG Enrolment Report 2001-2002 1. COLLECTION OF DATA: On April 1, 2002, the CAUTG Enrolment Questionnaire for 2001-2002 was posted on the web at http://www.mun.ca/german/German/CAUTG/questionnaire2002.html and a message was sent to the CAUTG listserv asking Heads and Directors to download the survey form, fill it out, and fax it to the Enrolment Surveyor by April 15. E-mails and faxes were sent to universities and colleges that had not responded by mid-April. Out of 43 universities listed in Table 1, 40 replied. Information was also received from 9 colleges.
Every attempt has been made to supply an accurate report. Figures deviating substantially from previous years have been followed up and in several cases corrected. The most common errors involved whole courses or programs being omitted and intensive courses not being doubled. Please check your own institution's figures for accuracy. This report reflects updates and corrections received by 5pm Wednesday, May 22, 2002.
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 1: 12-Year Report of German Enrolments 1990-2002 for 43 Universities with Gains and Loss Comparison of 39 Universities Reporting in Both 00/01 and 01/02. This is the comprehensive report for 43 universities (Athabasca has been added since last year), with data missing, so there is no point in totalling the columns or providing a graph. The only comparison made here is for the 39 universities that reported in both of the last two years. In 2001-02, 20 universities show a combined gain of 1605 over the previous year, 16 universities show a combined loss of 842, and 3 remain the same, for a net gain of 763 students.
Table 2: Total German Enrolments for 25 Universities That Have Reported Every Year for 12 Years. Montreal has supplied all missing data and so has been added to this list since last year. Enrolments at these 25 universities are up this year by 327 students.
Table 3: Ranking of 2000-2001 German Enrolments at 37 Universities. In the past we ranked universities according to the size of their German enrolment. Since 1999-2000 we have looked for "market share" by expressing the German enrolment as a per cent of the entire undergraduate enrolment at the institution. This year the universities are ranked both ways: by actual size and by market share. This table is labelled correctly, in that it represents the ranking for last year, since the university enrolment figures for 2001-2002 are not yet available.
Table 4: The 2001-2002 Enrolment Survey with 40 Universities Reporting. The total German enrolment for this year reported by 40 universities is 18,711. Table 4 shows the enrolment distribution 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 year's survey results have been added to the database 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 ten-year period 1992-2002. While distribution figures were in the history file for the year 1990-91, only the total enrolment was available for 1991-92. The tables begin therefore with 1992-93.
26 universities are included in this ten-year study. Ottawa and York , who could not be used in the 12-year study of 25 universities (Table 2) because the 1990-91 data were missing, have been included in the 26 universities used in the 10-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. Since we now have an electronic database, if the Simon Fraser distribution figures can be provided for the missing year, SFU will be added to this ten-year study. Montreal has supplied missing data and has been added to all charts, increasing Table 2 to 25 and Tables 5-10 to 26 institutions.
Table 5: Total Enrolment in Language Courses. 10,593 students were enrolled in language courses, compared to 10,316 last year. The increases are at the first-year level.
Tables 5a, 5b, 5c, & 5d show the distribution of enrolment in language courses. The previous labels Beginner, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, and Advanced were replaced last year for clarity and consistency with 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year and 4th year. The 1st-year figures over the ten years should be reliable. Tables 5b, 5c, and 5d are less reliable, since departments interpreted 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 the second semester of Intermediate 1, when Intermediate 2 was intended to be 3rd year. These institutions then gave their 3rd 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 sharp decline this year is caused by the reduction in the reading course at UBC. The previous spike had 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. There is a dramatic increase in this area. 916 students were enrolled, compared to 431 last year.
Table 8: Culture/German Studies in Translation. Enrolment in this area tripled in 98-99 (a jump from 401 to 1302) and remains high. 1,042 students were enrolled this year.
Table 9: Literature. Enrolment is up in this category. 955 students were enrolled, compared to 847 last year.
Table 10: Literature in Translation. Numbers are up in this category. 439 students were enrolled, compared to 293 last year.
Table 11: Colleges. There were replies from 9 colleges, 8 of which reported German enrolments. It is difficult to reach the colleges by e-mail or fax. An attempt will be made to contact more of them by regular mail.
Table 12: Graduate Enrolments. The graduate programs are holding steady. 11 universities reported graduate students this year, compared to 10 last year. In 2001-2002 there were 58 M. A. and 47 Ph. D. students, for a total of 105 graduate students, compared to 104 the previous year.
In addition to the above tables, information has also been collected on Faculty Complements as well as Factors and Policies Affecting Enrolment. A report on these topics should be available soon.
3. SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION. THE ENROLMENT REPORT BRINGS GOOD NEWS. In 2001-2002, 20 universities show a combined gain of 1605 students over the previous year, 16 universities show a combined loss of 842, and 3 remain the same, for a net gain of 763 students. The figures point to an overall, genuine increase, rather than a surge caused by any particular course. The spike in Table 7 (Culture/German Studies)--an increase of 485--is contributed to by increases in this area at a number of universities. The plunge of 815 in Table 6 is caused largely by the reduction in the Reading Course at UBC, a decrease of 658 students. And still we show an overall increase of 763. The only other area where the graph points steeply downward is that unreliable graph for 4th-year language. The problem of interpretations of the labels is explained in the report.
There is much to be happy about here, with increases in language (first-year), literature, literature in translation, and culture/German studies, for an overall increase in undergraduates of 763, and with a total enrolment of 105 graduate students, up from 104 last year.
Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to provide the correct figures.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcella Rollmann
Enrolment Surveyor
May 22, 2002
marcella@mun.ca
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