The number of students enrolled at the School of Information Studies surpassed 1,400 for the first time this fall.

Sarah Hagelin, the iSchool’s assistant dean of student and faculty service, said the school saw a 17 percent increase in undergraduate and an 8 percent increase in graduate enrollment between fall 2012 and fall 2014. The number includes students both singly enrolled in the iSchool as well as duals. The total number of students had held steady around 1,200 for the past few years, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

The increase in enrollment is a result of intensified undergraduate recruiting, and growth in the information technology field. On campus, the rise in enrollment has led to more selectivity when picking applicants for the iSchool.

J.D. Ross, communications director at the iSchool, said the college was ready to accommodate the increase of the student body admitted this fall.

“We knew what the projected enrollment would be and we were prepared to handle that in terms of being able to add additional class sections and students’ needs are covered,” Ross said.

The school hired three more faculty members this summer and it secured program managers and part-time advisers in student services in response to the high enrollment. Even as enrollment increases, Hagelin, who is responsible for coordinating how many sections are needed, said the quality of education will not be compromised.

As enrollment increases, so does the college’s selectivity. The entire class has been the strongest academically to date, with an increase of 33 points in the mean SAT score, verbal and math, over last year’s class, according to an SU news release.

Julie Walas Huynh, director of academic advising and student development, said the school has put a lot of emphasis on undergraduate recruitment for the last five years, and welcomes the admission process becoming more selective.

“I think what is really cool now is being able to have the quantity in the interest to get the quality of the students that really we should see here,” Huynh said.

In addition to the school’s active recruiting efforts, Huynh said there has been growth from within SU, with students arriving on campus and discovering an interest in information technology. That, coupled with bright job prospects in the industry, has led to the increase in enrollment.

The demand for the informational field has been growing. According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, employment in the IT sector has grown by 37 percent. The report also forecasts the industry to grow more robustly than other sectors.

Likewise, the iSchool has also attracted attention from companies looking to hire. More than 30 employers attended Monday’s iSchool career event, Ross said. About 500 students participated in the event, a 50 percent increase from the last year.

The placement rate, which shows the number of students who either obtained jobs or advanced to a masters program within six months after graduation, is 94 percent.

“It is kind of like an iterative cycle — we turn out good students and they come back here and get more of them,” Ross said.

Huynh said besides the job demand, the field has become “prevalent and pervasive” in students’ lives, making them eager to learn about the influence of informational technology.

“What we are studying in the informational school is really applicable to the world around us,” Huynh said.

Published on October 2, 2014 at 12:01 am

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