Enhancing Student Transitions into Engineering from Underrepresented Backgrounds Enhancement Themes conference, Thursday 9 June 2016 John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh Christine Switzer, Emma Nicol, Douglas Bertram, Michael Kenny, Michael Murray, and Neil Ferguson Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Strathclyde

Department Background 100 staff (43% female) incl. 29 academic staff (38% female) UGT, PGT, & PGR degrees Largest CEE recruiter in west of Scotland (1 st or 2 nd in Scotland) UG Population students - 21% female - ca. 20% SIMD2040 PGT Population - ca. 80 students % female - ???? SIMD2040 PGR Population - 78 students % female - ???? SIMD2040

Undergraduate Profile: Women gender parity UK average

Undergraduate Profile: Women Athena SWAN Action: Remove entry requirement for Physics/Mechanics Physics or Chemistry in 2016/17 entry Removed entirely for 2017/18 entry

Undergraduate Profile: SIMD Students from 20% & 40% most deprived areas of Scotland equality of access

Our Catchment Area

Women (purple) Men (blue)

SIMD20/40 (red) SIMD60/80/100 (black)

Academic Performance Second year performance of all students vs women

Academic Performance Second year performance of all students vs SIMD2040 students

Retention Issues

Student Feedback: Surveys “I liked the amount of tests I have been given for maths (4) have encouraged self- study and have helped me to understand concepts(1) and build knowledge (1).” “Quick feedback on coursework” “Engineering mathematics was very good and relevant. You got to see maths used in engineering examples, which hasn’t been done in 1st and 2nd year in maths.” “I would like to see a continuation of the way engineering maths is being taught.” The Good: The Bad: “Dr Switzer’s notes are not very good (8).” “I wish (Dr Switzer’s notes) were annotated more rather than just a lot of equations with no sentences to explain them in detail.”

Many comments were unsurprising Student Feedback: Surveys Some surprises about classes, workload, & skills Constructive feedback

Student Focus Groups “Third year was better than second. Coming from college, second was too full on. In the first week of second year I was getting stuff I hadn’t done before so wished I had started in first year.” “I really struggled with maths at the start. A lot of topics didn’t build on my previous (college) knowledge. Not continuous. I know all of the college entrants struggled” “Having Advanced Higher in maths helped me to transition and helped in second year too.” “First year was quite fun, nothing difficult. Mostly about building friendships. Nothing compared to “proper” uni.” “Second year was full on compared to first year. Labs and reports almost every week.” “In some lectures [redacted] not learning in class. Did not get extra explanations beyond the written notes. Complaints got nowhere.”

Linking Problems to Support What we do already: Uni: Maths Skills Centre Peer Mentoring Industry Mentoring Year Advisors – Mid-year feedback – Liaise with class reps Personal Development Advisor (underutilised) What else: Curriculum revisions Tutorial support Entry criteria changes Maths support for Y2 DE Tailored Mentoring PDA support? – personal feedback to all students mid & end of year?

Conclusions / What Next Entry GPA to academic performance Further analysis on some aspects Monitor effects of curriculum changes & support Apply similar approaches to other areas – Other (protected) groups – Assessment & feedback Acknowledgements: CEE students & Class Reps