The average age of IEEE memberships has been increasing. This is because we have very high attrition of younger members, in particular student and particularly young professional (YP) members. In the US regions, IEEE student membership (including graduate students) has declined by over 20% since its peak in 2003. At the same time, using US government statistics, IEEE student membership is only about 4.3% of the potential total market of electrical, computer engineering and computer science college students1.
IEEE young professional membership retention is very poor. This is likely due to the rapid increase in the price of membership going from a student to a full member but is also due to less familiarity with the value of being a member. IEEE research has shown that the longer a person is a higher-grade IEEE member, the more likely they are to stay a member. If we can recruit more IEEE student members and retain YP members longer and then engage with these new members in a way that encourages them to participate, we can keep more of them as members and reverse the aging membership trends in the IEEE.
Based upon recommendations from the Membership Price IEEE Board of Directors Ad hoc committee (which I chaired in 2019), IEEE Members and Geographical Activities (MGA) has been doing some pilot studies of more gradual increases in YP membership dues and has seen improved IEEE membership retention as a result. In 2020, during the COVID pandemic and with most colleges doing remote learning, IEEE student membership tumbled. The IEEE Board of Directors decided to offer IEEE student memberships for a 50% discount for the 2021 membership year and this resulted in a significant recovery in our student membership this year.
I think we should keep the price of student membership low to increase our pool of potential higher-grade members down the road and also increase YP dues gradually over a 3 to 4-year period. But this is not enough to keep these members. We also need to fund efforts to show our student members that IEEE is more than a student club and welcome YPs to their local section and engage with them, offering them interesting volunteer opportunities.
This requires community efforts at the local level and the creation of new tools for member engagement, and it requires making investments in our membership. This will be required to fund the lower student dues and a more gradual increase in YP dues. IEEE has significant financial resources, some of these resources should be invested to ensure our future by helping us attract, retain and engage with our members.
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1 2019 Membership Pricing Ad Hoc Report, IEEE Membership Price Ad Hoc Committee Final Report, November 2019