Attract Project - Attracting Students to Studies in Science and Technology/Engineering

LLP Project: ATTRACT
”Enhance the Attractiveness of Studies
in Science and Technology”

WP 7 - Attracting students to studies in

ATTRACT - WP7
science and technology /engineering
education

Leuven, 11 April 2012

Summary

 Goals

 Participant Institutions

 Recruitment and Access System

 Initiatives

 Field Trials Results

Stakeholders’ Recommendations

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

 Good Practises

 Main Conclusions

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Goals

Interest young people in Science & Technology and
Engineering (S&T/E)

Attract candidates to the higher education S&T/E
programmes

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Balance gender representation in S&T/E
programmes

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Participant Institutions

Aalto/Finland
IST/Portugal
KTH, LiTH, Uppsala/Sweden
K.U. Leuven/Belgium
TCD/Ireland

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Torino/Italy

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Recruitment and Access Systems
Degrees of freedom that the partner institutions may have
in shaping the recruitment system:
• Whether there is a numerus clausus and to what extent it
is decided upon by the institution
Typically, the Ministry defines a numerus clausus taking into account
institutions proposal (Exceptions: Belgium, Italy)  few degrees of freedom

• What background qualifications give access to the
engineering programmes
There are no significant differences among the considered countries
regarding secondary education diploma.

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• To what extent each institution may define the selection
criteria
Generally, students must pass an exam, whether an entrance exam or a
state exam. Some universities have additional requirements for students
who intend to pursue STE programmes.
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Recruitment and access systems: Calendar

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Recruitment strategies differs in the application period.
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Field trials development period had to be adapted to each country.

Initiatives

National Institutional

Breakdown
by Gender

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The initiatives were collected among the project partners between 2010/11
and 2011/12.

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Initiatives: National Level

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Initiatives: Institutional Level

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Initiatives: Gender breakdown

Examples of activities to combat this trend:

Summer Courses
Girls’ Week/Day

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Mentoring Programs

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Field Trials/Questionnaires
Questionnaires: entrant students and secondary students

• Each partner had the freedom to adapt the questionnaire to
its own country provided that the minimum dimensions were
satisfied.

Specific topics for entrant students:

• The moment in time when students decided to undertake an
engineering program.

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Specific topics for secondary students:

• The decision to follow tertiary studies, more precisely
engineering.
• The chosen area of studies.
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Common topics of questionnaires:

• The area of study in secondary education;
• The parental background;
• The efforts required to undertake an engineering programme;
• The perception of the engineering profession, in terms of the:
 Importance for the country development;
 Difficulty;
 Pay level;
 Recognition by the employers;

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 Access to the labour market.

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Sampling Process

Secondary Entrant
Questionnair
Country Institution Students’ Students’
e Language
Sample Sample
Belgium K.U. Leuven English 161 ---

Finland Aalto Finnish 607 485

Ireland TCD English 98 176

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Italy Torino Italian --- 255

Portugal IST Portuguese 583 1796

Sweden Uppsala Swedish --- 844

All results presented take into account the students’ total.
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Results: Secondary Students

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Results: Entrant Students

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Results: Secondary who want to pursue an engineering
programme vs. engineer Entrant students

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Results: Secondary who want to pursue an engineering
programme vs. engineer Entrant students

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Results: Secondary students who study S&T subjects vs.
Entrant students’ perceptions

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Results: Secondary vs. Entrant students’ perceptions

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Stakeholders’ Recommendations

 Develop resources to support key influencers: guidance
counsellors, maths and physics teachers;
 Analyse on-going/successful initiatives to attract
secondary students to STEM studies;
 Identify best practices in recruiting/training teachers;
 Recognize the importance of peers as influencers;

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 Explore the use of engineer role models;
 Explore the value of engineering as an “education”
rather than a “career”.

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Good Practises

 Promote STEM courses among the youngsters;

 Support teachers training and development in S&T;

 Enhance women’s participation and role;

 Promote engineers role models;

 Increase general public awareness about S&T

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importance.

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Main Conclusions

 The overall picture of engineering significantly differs from
country to country.
 The opinion of female students tends to be in accordance
with male students’ views in secondary school, with the
former more pessimistic about the contribution of
engineers to the country’s development.
 The percentage of university entrants having chosen

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engineering after 10th grade is higher than that of
secondary students who considered it after 10th grade. This
suggests that students who take up an engineering
programme postpone their decision. 33

Attract Project - Attracting Students to Studies in Science and Technology/Engineering

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