After eight years of decline, the number of students majoring in computer science in the United States has started to increase over the past two years, according to a study released in March. But Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science doesn’t match the trend, continuing on a slight decline throughout the past five years.

Reversing the national decline that started in 2000, computer science enrollment has increased 14 percent since 2007 nationally, according to a report released by the Computing Research Association. The national rise in majors could be due to an expanding job market in computer science and related fields.

At SU, the number of computer science majors has only varied slightly each year, according to statistics from the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. In fall 2005 there were 200 computer science majors, and in fall 2009 there were 197, after the number increased to 224 in fall 2008.

One reason college students have increased interest in computer science is the positive outlook for the job market, especially during an economic recession when jobs are disappearing, according to the report.

“There are a lot of students who were looking at careers in economics or finance, but they realized that computer science is a safer path than Wall Street — they know there will be a job for them when they graduate,” said Peter Harsha, director of government affairs for the Computing Research Association.

Computer and mathematical science is one of the fastest-growing occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ projections for 2008-18. The field is expected to add 785,700 new jobs between 2008 and 2018, according to a report published by the bureau.

The steady number of computer science majors at SU could be because incoming students are misinformed about the field, said Jae Oh, director of the department of computer science.

Oh said he has seen a lot of incoming computer science majors who mistakenly think they will one day work as programmers. Computer programmers need a simple certification to get hired, not a four-year degree, he said.

“We make ideas and concepts about how to make computers faster and better, and programming is our tool to express those ideas,” Oh said.

Computer science enrollment was at an all-time high at the peak of the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. It began declining when the technology industry’s bubble burst around 2001, Oh said.

Small start-up companies like Amazon were striking it rich, and venture capitalists wanted to invest in the next big thing, Oh said. Eventually, the Internet technology industry grew larger than the economy could hold, he said.

The newest developments in the technology industry are green technology and biotechnology, and these fields will require many computer scientists in the coming years, Oh said. Companies want to expand their use of computers without having a negative effect on the environment, he said.

This is part of a growing trend of computer scientists being hired at not just computer companies, but at all kinds of businesses, Harsha said.

“There isn’t a single market that isn’t affected by IT,” Harsha said. “Businesses have become very adept at using new technologies, and everything is getting to be more wired.”

Although student interest in computer science hasn’t grown at SU, some current majors said they have experienced these trends in the industry’s job market.

Austin Arbor, a junior computer science major, said he has experienced the need for computer scientists while interning at JPMorgan Chase.

“When I first came to college I thought I’d work for a software company like Google or Microsoft one day,” Arbor said, “but after getting an internship at a bank, I now see that there are jobs at any kind of company.”