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The Evolution of Computer Science at the University Level

Combining computer science with arts disciplines may be the wave of the future for education.

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Ben Fishbein graduated in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. If he was starting college today, Fishbein said unequivocally that he would still major in computer science.

“It’s an extremely powerful skill to learn … computers are a phenomenal tool and every single industry is going to need to use a computer at some point,’’ said Fishbein, who has worked at companies including Meta and Google X’s Chronicle, and is now a tech entrepreneur.

Undergraduate degrees in computer science are on the rise—but more frequently when they are combined with arts disciplines—even at schools that specialize in computer science programs. Higher education officials say this is the wave of the future in computer science education.

This interdisciplinary approach is designed to enhance creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills among students, noted Jon Morgan, CEO and editor-in-chief of consulting firm Venture Smarter, who received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Stanford University. “Courses that blend computer science with arts-related fields, such as digital media, interactive design, and even music technology, are becoming more common.”

These efforts are not only making the field more accessible to a diverse range of students, but also preparing graduates for the multifaceted challenges they will face in their careers, Morgan said. “By embracing the arts, computer science education is evolving to produce more well-rounded, innovative thinkers.”

Schools that Blend Computer Science and the Arts

That is not to say that interest in straightforward computer science is waning. At prestigious technical colleges in the U.S. and around the world, enrollments remain high, but increasingly, students are opting for programs that incorporate other fields of study.

And there are many to choose from.

Carnegie Mellon University, for example, offers a Bachelor of Computer Science and Arts degree, which the school describes as “a technical, critical, and conceptual foundation for students interested in pursuing fields that comprehensively meld technology and the arts.” This includes game design, computer animation, computer music, recording technologies, interactive stagecraft, robotic art, and other emerging media.

“What we saw was great interest, not just with arts students who wanted computing skills, but also computer science [students] who wanted some creative thinking and production in their programming work,’’ said Stephanie Murray, senior associate dean for interdisciplinary initiatives and a teaching professor in the BXA (an umbrella term for the intersection of disciplines) inter-college degree program at CMU.

Students in CMU’s BXA program take 10 courses in computer science and 10 fine arts courses, with the balance of their course requirements comprised of general education and elective topics. Students have valuable interactions and learn how to build creative problem-solving skills into their tech projects, Murray said. Likewise, creative projects are enhanced by having tech components built into them, she added.

The number of students receiving undergraduate computer science degrees at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) has steadily risen from 595 in the 2017-2018 academic year to 1,203 in the 2023-2024 academic year, according to Fisayo Omojokun, chair of the university’s School of Computing Instruction and a principal lecturer at its College of Computing (CoC), one of the first computing programs in the country.

In addition to a computer science degree, the CoC offers a “less frequently heard of” bachelor of science in computational media (BSCM), Omojokun said. “CM intersects art, media, and computing,’’ and is delivered in partnership between CoC and the School of Literature Media and Communication, housed in Georgia Tech’s liberal arts college, he said.

Omojokun points out that CoC graduated nearly twice as many CS majors this past academic year than in 2019—the year before the pandemic—and that about one in every four undergraduate students at Georgia Tech is a CS major.

CM, with 53 graduates in the 2023-24 academic year, is a much smaller degree program, “but represents an attractive option for some students who like the blending of CS and art,’’ he noted. BSCM “was developed in recognition of computing’s significant role in communication and expression,’’ according to an overview of the major. Most CM graduates have gone on to work for major video game studios and interactive media firms, the site said.

After first being exposed to computer science when she participated in the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program, Fernanda Moreno entered Georgia Tech in 2017 as a CS major. However, after taking some introductory computer science classes that year, “I genuinely was not enjoying all the math and theory behind CS and did not think I would enjoy learning about it even more in-depth,’’ Moreno explained in an article on Medium.

She eventually realized that while she was interested in computer science, “I only liked a specialized version of it,’’ and went on to transfer into the CM degree program. Moreno said her “classes and extracurricular experiences have prepared me well to go into front-end development,’’ including a stint as a software development intern at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center.

“Technical and design skills are valuable in the tech world now more than ever, so having both kind of makes you a unicorn,’’ Moreno wrote.

Roberto Bresin, program director of the media technology engineering program at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, describes his program as “broader than pure CS,’’ and says it attracts a higher number of female students, who comprise about 40% of the program’s makeup.

These students are interested in the arts and many have already started working with photography, sound, and film, Bresin said.

“When I present the program to new students every year, I tell them, ‘media tech is computer science for humans, so we work at the level of interaction’,’’ he said. “We have developed our brain over millions of years and machines are new, so we need to learn how machines should serve us and not how we serve machines.”

Judith Gal-Ezer, a professor emerita at the Open University of Israel and chair of the ACM Europe Council’s Education committee, said graduation trends for computer science majors in both disciplinary and dual-disciplinary programs have been increasing over the past few years, both at her university and globally. Gal-Ezer added that she is involved in a project looking at graduation and retention in European countries, “and this trend is very well seen.”

There is a concerted effort at the Open University to blend computer science with arts disciplines, she said, noting that a faculty member from the art department integrates technology in her works, and the university has a Digital Humanities and Social Sciences Hub.

The Open University offers single-degree programs, as well as dual and interdisciplinary programs that combine computer science with fields such as economics, business, philosophy, and physics, Gal-Ezer said. Students also can opt for subfields such as cybersecurity and data science.

At Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, research and education efforts in AI and computer science are driven by its College of Computing and Data Science (CCDS). Launched in February 2024, the CCDS combines the strengths of NTU’s former School of Computer Science and Engineering with other disciplines at the university, says Luke Ng, a vice president of research and dean of CCDS.

The college offers nine undergraduate programs and five graduate programs in AI and computing, with an enrollment of about 4,800 students in the academic year that began in August 2024, he said.

“While many of the faculty at CCDS are computer scientists by training, we also have faculty members from related disciplines such as mathematics, business, and medicine,’’ Ng said. “This interdisciplinary mix enriches our educational approach and fosters a broader perspective on technological innovation.”

Students who are not enrolled in CCDS but wish to broaden their knowledge and skills in computing can consider a minor offered by NTU in computing and data analysis, or the newly launched minor in AI, he said.

“With AI set to be the main engine that drives the global digital economy, the future is really bright for graduates in computing, data science, and AI,’’ Ng said.

Georgia Tech’s Omojokun agrees. The university’s School of Computing Instruction (SCI) is currently exploring how to incorporate recent major developments in generative AI-assisted software development into its curriculum, “while still maintaining rigor and instruction of fundamentals in our program,” he said.

The model is a little different at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, which does not offer a blended computer science/arts program until the graduate level. “For our undergraduate programs, we believe that building a solid technical foundation is essential,’’ explained Dennis Hofheinz, a professor in the university’s Department of Computer Science, who said computer science enrollments there are “definitely increasing.”

While AI “may be a game changer,” Hofheinz added, “it’s not entirely clear how, exactly.”

A Dissenting View

With AI commanding so much attention and the cost of college skyrocketing, not everyone agrees it is worthwhile to get an undergraduate degree in computer science. IEEE member Tereza Carvalho, an associate professor at the Polytechnic School of Brazil’s University of São Paulo (EPUSP) and a visiting professor at France’s Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, believes the number of people interested in computer science is decreasing.

“This occurs because the growing dissemination of programs, software, and applications has led people to believe that practicing computing is a trivial thing and you don’t need to take a higher education course to do so,’’ Carvalho maintained. Instead, they feel they can attain the information they need online, she said.

EPUSP offers “very few initiatives” that integrate computer science and the arts. The university offers two courses: computer science and computer engineering, the latter of which Carvalho teaches.

Like the others, she said the curriculum is constantly updated and as of this past year, students have more technical electives to choose from, including AI, big data, and robotics.

Not surprisingly, AI has provoked changes in all areas of research and computer science, Carvalho said. “There is a demand for students seeking to develop research at master’s and doctoral levels in the area of AI,’’ she said. “This means that in other areas, we have a lack of demand … for students interested in doing master’s and doctorate degrees in areas other than AI. Today, the market is quite heated because of digital transformation.”

What the Future Holds

The trend toward degree programs that blend the arts, media, business, and computing disciplines is something we are likely to see more universities offer in the coming years. The siloed approach to computer science education is no longer applicable, said CMU’s Murray. With increasing demand for new AI skill sets, students will continue to study computer science—and related fields.

While noting that she has a background in the humanities, Murray said what she’s observed among her students is “they continue to be all in on technology because it lets them make the art they want to make. As an interdisciplinary expert, I’ll say it’s better to expand your knowledge base, and the arts is a really good fit for integrating with other disciplines.”

If disciplines don’t interact, they stagnate, Murray contended. “Arts is voracious and you can take in everything and make something new with it. That’s especially true for computer science; the interesting outcomes will come from people with creative backgrounds. We have problems to solve and you can’t just throw tech at it.”

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