A major curriculum overhaul and tapping into the interests of elementary students are just some of the ways to address a diversity problem in the field of engineering, in particular the lack of female students.
“We do have an image problem in engineering,” says McMaster University Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Ilene Busch-Vishniac, who spoke this past week at the 18th annual Lynda Shaw Memorial Distinguished Lecture Series in the Faculty of Engineering.
With males five times more likely to choose engineering as a profession, Busch-Vishniac says when females make the decision to go this route, retention becomes a problem.
“It’s harder to get them in and even harder to get them to stay,” she says.
At Western, the number of females in Engineering this year rose four per cent from last year, making up about 20 per cent of the student base, with the majority focusing on Chemical Engineering.
To see this number rise further, Busch-Vishniac says addressing the current Engineering curriculum is the place to start. Tapping into the the experience of some American university counterparts, an ongoing study shows by including more ‘human experiences’ in Engineering, diversity has a greater chance to flourish.
“By changing the curriculum we can make it more attractive to others,” she says.
“We still need to keep its technical side. It’s not washing it out, simply making it more attractive for women to pursue.”
The stereotype of engineering of gears and pulleys needs to be re-worked, she says. Why not feature applications such as skateboards, staplers, balloons or even cooking sausages, which she noted one professor has done.
These novel ideas were recently tested by teaching an Engineering course with and without the use of the new applications.
“In the class with the applications, the grades went up and the performances of the students were better,” says Busch-Vishniac. “The student evaluations also went up because they felt they learned much more. The broad appeal of the applications made a difference.”
She adds it’s the universities’ jobs to find ways to entice young girls to contemplate a career in engineering.
“In high school you have biology or science class, but not engineering,” she says. “Students are not encouraged enough and we need to reach down, even to the primary level, and begin to perk that interest.”
More female faculty members would also be a blessing, adds Busch-Vishniac.
“I never had someone stand up in front of the class that looked like me, and that can make a significant difference as well,” she says
While there is still more than a year left on her curriculum study, she hopes to see some initial changes to Engineering curriculum within five years. Whether or not it will have an immediate impact on the number of female engineers will have to be seen.