A Survey of the Use of Computers at State-Supported Senior Colleges and Universities in the United States

• Main Author: Anderson, John W., 1944-
• Other Authors: DuChemin, Roderic C.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: North Texas State University 1977
• Subjects: computer usuage; state-supported universities; State universities and colleges > United States > Data processing > Statistics.; Electronic data processing > Study and teaching (Higher) > United States.
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc332193/

The purpose of this study was to determine the use of the computer in higher education at state-supported senior colleges and universities in the United States. The following findings and conclusions are based on the information gained from the study. 1. The average number of years computers have been used by institutions of higher education is ten. The length of time increases with both the level of offering and the enrollment of the institution. 2. A greater emphasis is placed on administrative use of the computer than on other uses. 3. A majority of the institutions have one centralized computer center that provides services to all users. Also, the majority of the individual computer users are provided the services without explicit charges or are only charged for a part of the services. 4. Policies pertaining to the use of the computer are most frequently formulated by the director of the computer center and a computer usage committee. 5. The amount of money spent for each of the different categories for expenditures (administrative, academic, and research) increases with the level of offering of the institutions. 6. Sixty-eight per cent of the institutions now offer an academic program in computer science and offer bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees. Six per cent of the total students in the responding institutions are enrolled in computer science courses. 7. Although use for research was the first use of the computer in higher education, that use is now the least frequent. 8. The computer hardware systems used by institutions of higher education vary both in size and in manufacturer. There are more IBM computers being used than any other make. 9. There is no standardization of computer languages; the ten most frequently used ones are FORTRAN, COBOL, ASSEMBLER, BASIC, RPG, P L/1 , ALGOL, SNOBOL, GPSS, and APL.