[pedalpete]

This article misses the reason behind closing the CS department. Was it completely due to budgetary concerns? Or was the University having difficulty competing with other CS schools. The article mentions the Florida Polytechnical University, has the creation of this school meant that their aren't enough CS students to fill classrooms at both colleges?

Though I, like most, was initially shocked that a CS school would be closing, maybe their is more to it than just budgetary cuts.

[kls]

I think Georgia Institute of Technology only being a few hours away would be the bigger issue. GIT has a pretty significant ranking usually popping in and out of the bottom of the top 10 slot. Being from FL I know a lot of people that want to remain somewhat close to home and that are looking for a good program tend to apply there over UF. What is strange is that UF was generally in the upper ranks of Florida CS programs after FIT fell off the map in the early 90's. As well UCF's program has been getting better and better over the years. I don't know where they rank but I do know they have been improving maybe UCF siphoned off a bit of their Central Florida recruits, which I would imagine contributed quite a few in head count. USF did not have a great program when I was in Tampa but things could have changed, as that has been over 15 years ago.

[ja27]

I don't think GT has any real effect on UF. Different states, different budgets, and really, a different level. UF is the big public engineering school in the state. Every other public university in the state is always fighting for the budget scraps after UF gets theirs. USF does have a decent program, but not great. It could benefit tremendously from more investment by the state. Faculty salaries are not competitive and make it difficult to attract and retain top talent.

[rsanchez1]

It seems to me that UF is starting to focus more on its business school and on engineering anyway.

[Gormo]

It appears to me, as a graduate of both, that the difference is largely attributable to the business school receiving larger grants from alumni than the engineering school. The graduate school of business recently received a very large donation from an alumnus, sufficient to build a brand new and extremely modern facility to house its MBA program.

But I wouldn't necessarily say that the university as a whole puts more focus on the business school than engineering - in fact, before the Hough donation, the MBA facilities were located in between two floors of a very old building, and you had to actually duck down to enter, through a very short and narrow doorway, a la Being John Malkovich.