FAYETTEVILLE — The academic college at the University of Arkansas that is responsible for educating nurses and teachers accounted for almost half the university's enrollment growth this fall.
The university's College of Education and Health Professions grew by 323 students this fall, topping all academic units in terms of growth, UA officials announced Friday.
Overall, enrollment is up by 655 students from a year ago to a record 19,849.
UA released its 11th-day headcount figures Sept. 11, and its preliminary analysis of the breakdown for its academic colleges followed Friday.
Tom Smith, dean of the education and health college,said a program-by-program breakdown of the college's enrollment likely won't be available until mid-October. That is when enrollment is officially reported to state officials.
However, Smith predicted the figures will show growth across nearly all of the college's programs, which include teaching, nursing, prenursing, kinesiology and human-resource development.
"Just about every program in our college is growing," Smith said. "I think it probably has something to do with our economy.
"In bad economic times, teaching and nursing are professions where the job market is pretty secure."
Human-resource development is an undergraduate program that is attracting older, nontraditional students, he said.
Administrators at his college didn't know whether the recession would hurt or help its enrollment until they saw the numbers, taken during a state-mandated snapshot of UA's 11th day of classes, he said.
"People who want to retool for the job market - do they have the resources to go back to school? So that can cut both ways," Smith said.
The education and health college is now the university's second-largest, with 3,628 students, UA spokesman Steve Voorhies said in a news release. The 323-student gain is up 9.8 percent over last fall, and the college represents 18.3 percent of total UA enrollment.
The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences remains the largest of UA's six undergraduate academic units. Its 7,280 headcount is up 1 percent from 7,208 a year ago and represents 36.7 percent of total enrollment.
Enrollment changes for UA's other colleges include:
A slight decrease of 35 students, or less than 1 percent,at the Sam M. Walton College of Business. Its 3,579 students comprise 18 percent of the student population.
An increase of 6.9 percent, second-highest on campus, at the College of Engineering. Its 2,421 students make up 12.2 percent of total enrollment.
An increase of 5.8 percent at the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. Its 1,772 students represent 8.9 percent of the university population.
An increase of 6.6 percent at the Fay Jones School of Architecture, where its 450 students make up 2.3 percentof the total.
The University of Arkansas School of Law is down four students, or 1 percent, from a year ago. Its 408 law students represent 2.1 percent of total enrollment.
Smith said he is looking forward to learning which programs contributed to the growth of the College of Education and Health Professions. Should the trend continue, he will need the statistics to determine how to add or reallocate staff and resources for each program.
"It's a nice problem to have," he said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7, 8 on 09/22/2009