A Look Inside The Engineering Students’ Backpack: Differences In Engineering Capital According To Gender Or Migration Background.

Every student has a unique combination of experiences, resources and social networks related to engineering, called ‘engineering capital’, derived from Archer’s concept of ‘science capital’. The engineering capital gathered throughout life creates a backpack that impacts someone’s aspirations to study engineering, as well as the performance and persistence in the programme itself. Engineering technology is one of the most homogeneous fields within the STEM domain, being mostly white and male. To stimulate a more diverse engineering technology field, this research paper investigates the relationship between the level of engineering capital and gender or migration background, as well as the influence of engineering capital on aspiration and performance within the engineering technology field. Through an online survey, last-year secondary education pupils in math/science tracks (N = 490, March 2023), and first-year engineering technology students (N =391, October 2022) in Belgium were asked about their engineering capital, and engineering aspiration (pupils) or performance (students). Results disclose little difference in engineering capital, engineering aspiration, or engineering performance for students with a migration background. However, female pupils appear to have less engineering capital than male pupils, and in need of more engineering capital to gain an interest in engineering technology compared to male pupils. Once women start the engineering technology program, engineering capital does not influence female students’ performance differently than male students. It is possible that only those with a heavy backpack of engineering capital find their way to the program. That is why it is important that educators stimulate students’ engineering capital

Enhancing (future) students’ sense of belonging to increase diversity and inclusion in engineering

The shortage of engineering talent leads to a loss in economic output. This shortagecombat has to be fought on several fronts, one of them is attracting and retaining more currently underrepresented students. This paper discusses the need to improve a sense of belonging and to increase professional awareness, or the understanding of the different roles an engineer can take on, in order to increase diversity in engineering. Based on an extensive literature review an overview is given of previous research on this topic from an interdisciplinary perspective. Research has shown that professional identity development has high impact on persistence and study success. Although identity development is a hot topic in engineering education research, several studies indicate that engineering students still have difficulties in grasping what it is to be an engineer and often fall back upon the rather stereotypical, harsh technological, male image. However, research also shows that it is important for students to know what to expect and value in order to develop feelings of belonging or fit. The former European project PREFER has developed promising tools in this regard. However, these tools have not been tested regarding inclusiveness. The paper also outlines the next steps that will be taken by the authors as part of an interdisciplinary project URGENT to increase attractiveness and retention of underrepresented groups in engineering education. This URGENT project proceeds on the outcomes of the PREFER project and will focus on the attraction and retention of female students and students with a migration background

De tien vermogens van de mens

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"Ik verwacht iets groots". De grensoverschrijdende zoektocht van de feministische theologe Catharina Halkes

Catharina Halkes was appointed as the first chairholder 'Feminism and Christianity' at a European University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands). In 2016, her biography has been published.status: publishe

KU Leuven students' survey results: gender schemas and engineering schemas

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