Engineering undergraduate persistence and contributing factors

Abstract

The engineers of 2020 must be technically sound in their disciplines, global citizens, as well as aspirational, ethical leaders. To foster a new generation of engineering talent, modern curricula must advance strong analytical skills, teamwork, professionalism, and leadership. However, new curriculum with poor student retention cannot be deemed successful. We believe we possess the key components of a successful program, such as well-designed curricula, dedicated faculty and strong support services, yet many students leave our School. There is widespread speculation about the reasons for leaving, including financial need and lack of academic preparedness. To address these national and local retention phenomena, an evaluation process was designed to obtain quantitative information about why our students leave. The study assessed student attitudes associated with educational experiences in their new major contrasted to their engineering experiences. Thus, information gained could be a basis for decision making for future processes and proposed improvements. Engineering is committed to the challenge of developing solutions to increase the overall retention rate and diversity of engineering graduates to meet both internal and external pressures for accountability and industry demands. This paper will address some of the viable solutions to counter the problems identified in our study as well as a discussion of how they have been implemented in our school.