Dive Brief:
- Stanford University has launched a pilot CS+X degree program in which students have the opportunity to major in computer science along with a humanities field like history, art, or classics.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the program is not unique as higher education institutions recognize the importance of computer science skills across a range of fields and work to give students an opportunity to discover these connections in courses like Psychophysics and Music Cognition for the CS+Music degree.
- At Stanford, there is some strain over the pilot as students and faculty question the wisdom of some of the pairs or the curriculum plans — but others see the program as a necessary step into the future, where a range of jobs will require computation.
Dive Insight:
The CS+X program is an example of innovation that may retain humanities majors who otherwise would have been pressured to choose a more career-focused major. Many humanities majors have seen dips in interest that have caused colleges to re-evaluate, in many cases because students and their parents are becoming more sensitive to the cost of college and the path to a first job. The number of open faculty positions in the humanities is also down, creating a tough job market for graduate students in the field.
While many colleges have changed their messaging to emphasize the importance of a liberal arts base so students don’t feel like their only path forward is in STEM, programs like the CS+X degree could be a key strategy moving forward.