UA Engineering Students Still Flocking Elsewhere

The College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas is a case study on the state’s “brain drain.”

While about 80 percent of the 1,600 students enrolled in the college are from Arkansas, only about 50 percent of them go to work in-state upon graduation, Assistant Dean William Warnock said.

And while there are certainly exceptions, he said, the ones most likely to leave the state are those graduating closest to the top of their class.

About 35 percent will stay close to Arkansas, taking jobs in Texas, Oklahoma or Missouri. The remaining 15 percent will go to large markets like Atlanta, Chicago, New York or California, or they will go on to graduate school.

“If you are in chemical engineering, we have very few jobs in the state of Arkansas in chemical engineering,” Warnock said. So those graduates are going to wind up out of state or overseas.

“But a lot of times it does get down to the salary, and many of these companies of fairly good size outside the state of Arkansas will keep upping the salary until they get a ‘yes.’

“It’s hard to turn down a $5,000 or $10,000 difference in salary, and that’s what we’re generally talking about. And they know the road system is not too bad between Arkansas and Dallas, and it doesn’t take too long to get home.”

Starting salaries for newly minted engineers in training — those who have bachelor’s degrees but do not yet have the four years of supervised experience required to sit for the licensing exam — typically range from $35,000-$45,000 in Arkansas. But out of state, they are frequently $40,000-$55,000, Warnock said.

“We had several of our students go out last year in excess of 60 [thousand dollars]. They were not instate. And there were several of them — it wasn’t just in one degree program,” he said.

“The good news is we have companies in those areas wanting to hire our graduates, so that shows we have a good product.”

Arkansas has only a few companies “that are willing to pay what it takes to steal away the cream of the crop,” Warnock said.

In recent years, the College of Engineering has produced about 250 graduates a year from its eight B.S. degree programs. The spring 2001 class was down by about 20, Warnock said, but that doesn’t seem to foretell a trend. During the spring semester, more than 150 companies came to the campus to recruit new engineers — “so we almost had a company per graduate,” he said.

Only about 9 percent of UA engineering students are international students, a bit below the national average for engineering schools. But 16 percent are women, a bit above the national average.

The UA College of Engineering was organized in 1913, although the university has offered a B.S. in civil engineering since 1888 and began classes in civil engineering as early as 1873. In addition to the eight bachelor’s degrees, it offers 14 master’s degrees and two Ph.D. degrees.

About 400 new students enroll in the UA College of Engineering each year, Warnock said — roughly the same as the total enrollment in the College of Engineering at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

The ASU College of Engineering was created just last year, after more than a decade as an independent department.

In the fall 2000, the ASU College of Engineering had a total enrollment of 398, including 94 freshmen, according to the school’s Office of Institutional Research and Planning.

Degrees Offered

UA College of Engineering

Bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering (B.S.B.E.)

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering (B.S.Ch.E.)

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (B.S.C.E.)

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering (B.S.Cmp.E.)

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (B.S.C.S.)

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (B.S.E.E.)

Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering (B.S.I.E.)

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (B.S.M.E.)

14 Master’s Degrees

2 Ph.D. Degrees

ASU College of Engineering

Bachelor of Science in Engineering with professional concentrations in:

Agricultural Engineering

Civil Engineering

Electrical Engineering

Mechanical Engineering