KEY POINTS:
Auckland University's maths department is trying to give its courses livelier names in a bid to attract more students.
A review of the department recorded a drop of about 200 fulltime equivalent students in the past 10 years to just over 700 students last year, and recommended that course names be made more "interesting and informative".
It noted a worldwide decline in first-year maths majors and said course restructuring had hit maths numbers at Auckland University hard last year.
Department head Associate Professor Bill Barton admitted the subject was a "hard sell".
Mathematics 5 was a classic example of a course name. "It doesn't tell you a single thing."
Although he disputed the global pessimism and said maths student numbers rose at Auckland this year, he agreed more accessible descriptions were essential.
It was particularly important in attracting first-year students.
"The people who are going to major in maths, they're going to do maths anyway," said Dr Barton.
"It's the people who are going to do maths as a service subject, and having to explain to them why they have to do it is a very difficult job."
He said a balance between motivating and descriptive terms was needed.
A course launched a couple of years ago, called Great Ideas Shaping Our World, sacrificed description in favour of motivation.
Dr Barton said the department needed to consult widely because it served a wide range of faculties.
The review was part of a regular programme and went to the university's council yesterday. Also among the 37 recommendations was stepping up PhD recruitment, offering more undergraduate advice and strengthening teaching teams.
THE REVAMP
MATHS 162
Now: Introduction to Applied and Computational Mathematics
Next year: Modelling and Computation
MATHS 361
Now: Advanced Methods in Applied Mathematics A
Next year: Partial Differential Equations
