September 2026
Enrollment Is Shifting. How Can ECE Departments Respond?
Enrollment trends across electrical and computer engineering are shifting, but not always in the same direction. At ECEDHA’s August 19 Community Summit, Enrollment, Retention, and Student Success Strategies, department leaders shared what they are seeing on their own campuses. Some reported significant growth. Others are seeing relatively flat enrollment or declines in particular programs. Several noted differences between electrical engineering and computer engineering enrollment, even within the same department.
The discussion highlighted an important question for ECE leaders. As student interests and enrollment patterns change, how can departments respond in ways that not only attract students, but help them see a future in ECE? Featured speaker Reza Abdolvand, Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Central Florida, shared how UCF is approaching that challenge through intentional student pathways, undergraduate research, and industry connections.
UCF itself offers an interesting case study in growth. The ECE department is approaching 2,300 undergraduate students, with much of its recent growth coming from electrical engineering. At the same time, the department has grown from approximately 35 faculty members when Abdolvand became chair to nearly 60.
Growth brings opportunity, but it also creates new challenges. More students require more faculty, additional course sections, laboratory capacity, and strategies for maintaining educational quality. UCF, for example, caps many ECE courses at 75 students and offers multiple sections in parallel.
But one of the most interesting lessons from UCF was not simply how the department is managing more students. It was how the department is thinking about what happens next for those students.
Creating a Pathway to Graduate Education
UCF has made a deliberate effort to create a stronger pathway from its undergraduate programs into graduate education.
One of the first barriers Abdolvand identified was awareness. Many undergraduate students had little understanding of graduate school, what the experience involved, or how graduate education could be funded.
Rather than waiting for students to seek out that information, UCF began bringing it directly to them. Each semester, faculty visit required undergraduate courses and spend time discussing graduate education, answering questions, and addressing misconceptions.That relatively simple intervention has become part of a much larger strategy.
Research as a Student Success Strategy
UCF has also made undergraduate research a central part of its approach.The department incentivizes faculty to bring undergraduate students into their research laboratories by matching a portion of the students’ hourly research pay. Today, approximately 50 to 60 undergraduate researchers are participating at any given time.
For Abdolvand, the connection between research and graduate education is significant. Once students experience research firsthand and develop relationships with faculty, graduate school becomes a much more tangible option.The approach reflects a broader lesson for student success. Students need opportunities to see where their education can take them.
That can mean research. It can mean graduate education. It can also mean a clearer connection to the industries that need ECE talent.
Connecting Students with Industry
UCF has extended its pipeline approach to industry partnerships.The department has worked with companies to identify workforce needs and create opportunities that give students relevant experience while they are still in school.
One example is UCF’s partnership with AMD. The company supports undergraduate students working in university research laboratories. UCF currently has a cohort of approximately 14 AMD Scholars, and Abdolvand shared that participants commonly continue to graduate school or move into employment with AMD. The partnership has since expanded to include opportunities for master’s and Ph.D. students.
The numbers may be relatively small compared with the department’s overall enrollment, but Abdolvand emphasized that these individual pathways add up.They also help students answer an important question: What can I do with an ECE education?
Looking Beyond the Enrollment Number
The broader Summit discussion demonstrated why that question matters.ECEDHA members reported very different experiences across their institutions. Some are seeing substantial increases in ECE enrollment. Others are seeing electrical engineering grow while computer engineering remains flat or declines. Participants also discussed students moving between computer science-related programs and ECE.
Those differences reinforce that enrollment numbers alone do not tell the whole story. Departments also need to understand what is influencing student choices. How are students discovering ECE? What do they believe their career opportunities will be? What experiences help them remain engaged? What might encourage them to pursue graduate education?
Those questions will become even more important as technology and the engineering workforce continue to change.