How Can We Increase Female Engineering Retention Rates at Union?

The purpose of this project is to discover ways to increase retention rates in female engineering students at Union. STEM and more specifically, engineering fields lack a female presence, with females only making up 21.4 percent of undergraduates enrolled in engineering as of 2015. Studies that were conducted at colleges and universities similar to Union were looked into. It was discovered that self-efficacy, which is an individual's belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors, and confidence levels play a large role in whether females continue in their engineering degree or not. A large part in combating low confidence levels is peer mentorship, more specifically with upperclassmen female engineering students as it gives underclassmen a sense of belonging. It was also found that a course model specifically targeted towards female engineering students is beneficial in increasing females’ confidence in their engineering ability. If this confidence can be built early on in the degree program, it is more likely that the student will have the confidence in the rest of their courses and thus be more inclined to stay in the engineering program.