Women in engineering – transforming the future

Engineering has been an industry dominated by men, even now women represent just 12.3% of the engineering workforce. There are much discussed barriers to entry for women, but once they break into the sector they report being happy with their career choice, with 98% of female engineers saying they find their job rewarding, according to a survey from the Royal Academy of Engineering.  And there is support from government with recent calls for more women to consider engineering careers, saying their role is ‘an absolute necessity’ to deliver large scale future projects like HS2.

So there is a call for change and that change starts with education.

The University of Gloucestershire has developed engineering programmes with the aim of establishing a diverse engineering technology community, that can inspire female engineers of the future. Recognising that there is a need for graduates that are highly skilled across the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) the University of Gloucestershire is committed to providing a range of unique opportunities for students to study those subjects at undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels.

The University of Gloucestershire is proud to support the Gloucestershire STEM Network. To mark International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), Professor Kamal Bechkoum, Head of School of Business and Technology and Dr Salah Al-Majeed, Head of Engineering Technologies welcomed people attending an event held at the university’s Park campus, to discuss strategies for overcoming some of the barriers engineers of the future may face.  Chair of Gloucestershire STEM network Rebekka Bishop spoke at the event, she says she firmly believes there is a huge pool of female talent out there; “There are so many transferable skills that can be applied to engineering, with huge changes in technology, what we traditionally think of as engineering is changing and women will play a key role in the future, as they always have done.”

Fostering new talent and innovation and helping students reach their potential is at the core of the courses that have been developed at the University of Gloucestershire. All the programmes have been designed to be accredited by the Engineering Council through the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (iMechE) and / or The Engineering Council. As a university we drive ideas through our engineering research, offering a range of postgraduate taught degrees.

The University’s School of Business and Technology will start offering degree-level programmes in a range of engineering specialisms this September. For more information about our new Engineering courses, visit glos.ac.uk