Closing the Gender Gap in Engineering: Students Role Model Program

Abstract

A report of UNESCO highlights that in higher education, only 35% of students who enrolled in majors related to STEM are women. Stereotypes, cultural barriers, lack of confidence, lack of knowledge of career opportunities, and lack of vision of possibilities are more than enough reasons for students who do not pursue university studies in areas of Engineering or drop out University. The Professional School of Software Engineering at Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa was not the exception to this reality. To make an impact and change our reality, the authors started a “Students Role Model Program”. The objective was to create a community of female students that became role models who share their motivation to STEM with new female students and to take active participation in the recruitment process. The main activities were divided into two branches: a) Exposure to role-models at the student level and b) Participation in the international community Django Girls. We believe that the main contribution of this work is to show the structure of our program which can be replicated in different engineering majors that seek to improve the retention of their female students.