Challenges of the 1990s: Clothing and Textiles Enrollment Trends and Program Issues

Abstract

Major changes are occurring in higher education. Clothing and textiles programs with origins in home economics face many challenges as they move into the 21st century. The three purposes of this study were (1) to examine enrollment patterns, staffing and department configurations; (2) to ascertain the extent of departments' involvement in recruitment and enrichment or improvement activities, and perception of environmental conditions affecting programs; and (3) to test hypotheses concerning potential differences between large and small programs for recruitment, enrichment or improvement and environmental conditions. One questionnaire was mailed to the administrator of every department (234) with faculty who were members of the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) in the United States, 160 administrators provided usable responses. Seventy percent of the administrators indicated their departments were multidisciplinary. Small programs, fewer than six faculty, constituted seventy percent of the sample used in the analysis. MANOVA and Hotelling's T2 procedures identified differences between large and small programs for recruitment (F(10, 119) = 1.86, p < .05), with large programs indicating greater recruitment activities. The other two hypotheses approached significance by program size for enrichment or improvement activities (F(10,128) = 1.71, p = .08) and perceptions of environmental conditions (F(12,119) = 1. 73, p = .07). Conclusions and implications focus on critical issues and concerns.