IT Students in US Are More Skilled Than 80% of IT Students in China, India, and Russia

According to new research conducted by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, IT undergrads in the US are more skilled  compared to their counterparts in China, India, and Russia. So, are STEM programs in US so good as research says? The Typical Student team learned more about the quality of IT education in US.

Computer Science Programs in US: Key Takeaways

Here are the key findings of the new research on computer science programs in different countries:

• 678 students in China, 364 students in India, and 551 students in Russia took the test. In the United States 6,847 seniors' data has been analyzed by researchers;
• test checked general students' knowledge on concepts of programming, algorithms, software engineering, and other computer science principles;
• undergrad seniors who studied computer science in the US outperformed final-year students in China, India, and Russia on a standardized exam measuring their skills;
• an average US student in computer science porgram ranked higher than about 80% of their fellow students tested in China, India, and Russia;
• difference in scores among students in China, India, and Russia was statistically insignificant;
• 89.1% of respondents are supposedly domestic US students. 

Researchers Comment On The Results

Prashant Loyalka, a center research fellow at the Rural Education Action Program in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University commented on the results of research as follows: "There is this sense in the public that the high quality of STEM programs in the United States is driven by its international students. Our data show that’s not the case. The results hold if we only consider domestic students in the US.”

Is there any correlation between gender and skills of computer science students in the US?  

Male students scored insignificantly higher compared to female students in each of the four countries: 

"The difference between men and women is there in every country, but the gaps are modest compared to the gaps we see between countries and elite and non-elite institutions." 

Research Goals

The researchers intend to continue to study the skills of students in science, technology, engineering, and math fields in different countries. 

Next, they are going to examine the "relationship between skills developed in college and labor market outcomes." And, one more goal of the research team is to distinguish the driving differences in the performance among countries.