Biomedical Engineering Education: Enrollment, Courses, Degrees, and Employment

During the 1979-1980 academic year a two-page questionnaire on biomedical engineering education was sent to 251 engineering schools. 71 schools indicated that they had degree programs and an additional 35 indicated that they had official minor or option programs, 107 did not have a program, and 38 did not respond. For schools offering degrees in biomedical engineering, there were 2859 students enrolled in 37 B.S. programs, 830 students in 48 M.S. programs, and 469 students in 41 Ph.D. programs. Options or minors in biomedical engineering with a degree in another engineering discipline were available at the B.S. level at 41 schools, at the M.S. level at 42 schools, and at the Ph.D. level at 34 schools. Over the past two years, schools offered 109 courses in biomedical instrumentation, 74 in computers in medicine, 162 in physiological systems/modeling, 60 in biomechanics, 47 in biomaterials, 33 in hospital internship, 23 in clinical engineering, 9 in biomedical engineering lab, and 67 in other areas. During the academic year 1978-1979, schools awarded 464 B.S. degrees, 249 M.S. degrees, and 107 Ph.D. degrees in biomedical engineering. Of these graduates, 253 found jobs in industry, 23 in government, 35 in academia, and 66 in hospitals or clinics; 100 went to medical school, 96 to biomedical engineering graduate schools, and 57 to other graduate or professional schools.