A New Computer Science Student Recruitment Strategy University Of Sharjah (UOS) Case Study

Corresponding Author: Manar Abu Talib University of Sharjah, P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Email: [email protected] Abstract: In this study, we focus on two objectives: (1) To raise awareness of the computing field in three groups of students-high school, freshmen in their first term of university (i.e., students taking the Introduction to IT course) and freshmen in their second term of university (i.e., students taking the Programming I course); and (2) to organize visible CS/IT activities (i.e., robots, the Google Developer Group (GDG), Hour of Code, etc.) and involve as many students as possible. We conducted a detailed survey among these three groups of students to measure the effectiveness of making presentations on CS/IT and determine whether or not awareness of computer science increased as a result. As well, we organized a series of CS/IT activities and events. We measured the effectiveness of the Hour of Code activity on 515 students from grades 1 to 5. The survey results were promising and we conclude that such efforts should continue to be a topic of research into student enrollment growth in the future academic terms. It is also framed to benefit faculty members, administrators and others throughout the global community.