Welcome to Engineering: Gender Equality in Learning and Integration among First Year Students

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2018

Authors

Manuel Firmino Torres (Author) FEUP; Sara Ferreira (Author) FEUP; Armando Jorge Sousa (Author) FEUP; Luciano Moreira (Author) FEUP; Raquel Torres (Author) Other

Journal

Title: International Journal of Engineering Education

Vol. 34 No. 1

Pages: 45-55

ISSN: 0949-149X

Publisher: Dublin Institute of Technology Tempus Publications

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 1 Citation

Scopus - 2 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00N-NGQ

Abstract (EN): The presented research explores four years of newcomer engineering students at FEUP, one of the largest faculties of engineering in Portugal. The students are surveyed in a mandatory course common to all engineering programs at the mentioned faculty, totalling an involvement of about four thousand. This research explores the perceptions of 1198 newcomer students regarding learning and satisfaction, workload, integration into academic work environment and institutional support whilst trying to find gender differences regarding the following variables: engineering program, academic year and change of residence. The questionnaire used in the presented research was validated and its internal consistency was excellent. The findings reveal that students' perceptions on learning and satisfaction as well as on institutional support (two out of four factors) are consistently similar between genders throughout the four years of the study. The differences found between male and female students on integration and workload, however consistent, are small if not marginal. The study is significant because it shows the relevance of the optimization efforts for integration (in the academic work environment) introduced in a mandatory course at the start of engineering degrees in order to bridge the gap between male and female students. This research shows that we are walking towards gender equality in engineering, but we feel that there is still some effort to be done, namely through inspiring scholars to analyse and act upon academic contexts and higher education governance without prejudice and with an open mind: a commitment that is as hard as necessary.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 11