HOUSTON — The University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering is in the Top 15 for several metrics measuring diversity in the field of engineering. This includes a pair of No. 12 rankings for degrees awarded to Hispanic students and underrepresented minorities highlighted by a graph in the May 2021 issue of Connections from the American Society for Engineering Education.
The information comes from the latest edition of the American Society for Engineering Education’s Engineering and Engineering Technology by the Numbers report. The report, which uses 2009 data, was released in October 2020, and updated in January 2021.
According to the report, the University of Houston is 12th in the Bachelor’s degrees awarded to 257 Hispanic students. The university was also 12th overall in Bachelor’s degrees awarded to 315 students of the underrepresented minorities. The ASEE defines an “underrepresented minority” as the three groups “that have representation in the science and engineering workforce far below their representation in the adult U.S. population. This includes individuals who are Hispanic, Black/African American and American Indian/Alaskan Native.”
Overall, the University of Houston is 44th out of 422 institutions in Bachelor’s engineering degrees awarded. The university was 45th in awarding Master’s degrees and ranked 42nd in doctorates awarded.
It is also the 27th in doctorates awarded to foreign nationals, highlighting the university’s international reach.
Founded in 1893, the ASEE is a global society that aims to measure excellent and broadly accessible education and empower students and engineering professionals. Their annual report is a key benchmark for institutions to compare themselves to one another.