Interest in computer science is on the rise across Canada, says Prof. Doug Howe, director of Carleton’s School of Computer Science. Since a low point around 2005 in the wake of the dot-com bust, when annual intake dropped to some 40 new students, numbers have been increasing steadily thanks to the marketable job skills the field promises.

Carleton’s undergraduate computer science program, which has nearly 1,400 students and just under 400 first-year students in 2015-‘16, made a couple of key changes now paying dividends. Its game development and security streams, started in 2007 and 2008 respectively, have become very attractive, says Howe.