Attracting Females into STEM – The QUB Perspective 12 June 2014 Professor Tom Millar Dean, Engineering & Physical Sciences

Total Female Entrants A-level (more than 1000 entrants) Across all STEM A-levels, the number of female entrants has increased by 700 since 2006, males by 100.

% A-level entrants STEM Subjects Over all STEM subjects, the percentage of female entrants has reduced from 47 to 45% in the period

% QUB Female Applications by Discipline In general, the percentage of female applications has been declining over period, with the biggest drop in Maths & Phys, 43 to 32%. In 2013, only Psychology Pharmacy and BMS had more than 50% female applications – in 2009, Chemistry and Biol Sci had more than 50%.

% QUB Female Offers Offers tend to follow applications

% QUB Female Admissions Percentage admitted tends to follow applications and offers, with outliers Chemistry offers 52%, intake 60% in 2011, down to 44% and 39% in 2013, similar trend in Chem Eng

% QUB Female across all STEM Schools 2013 has seen a significant drop in the percentage of applications, offers and admission, on the order of 5-6% since Related to drop in A-level STEM entrants – only 2%? Underlying demographics? STEM subjects at University not as attractive?

Input Percentage of females entering STEM subjects has been falling steadily since 2010 (43.4% to 37.2%) FTE has increased in the same period (612 to 673)

Output Females get better degrees (1st and 2.1) than males Females have better retention rates than males Year 1: 4.6% vs 4.7% (2013) The QUB Year 1 retention rate (F) is 5.0% Overall (5 yr) retention rate: 11.2% vs 14.2% (2009)

% Female Applications, Offers and Intake , by Discipline Increasing the uptake of STEM subjects by girls at secondary level Does it matter? YES, if we are to achieve envisaged growth in ICT and Advanced Engineering in NI How can it be achieved? FOR DISCUSSION