There has been an increase in the number of women pursuing postgraduate degrees in engineering and technology, according to recent figures.
The Times has revealed data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), showing females receiving a postgraduate degree in this field increased by 26 per cent between 2012-13 and 2016-17.
Dame Athene Donals, master of Churchill College in Cambridge and professional of experimental physics, told the news provider that subjects such as nuclear engineering are becoming more viable options for girls “in a way which, perhaps a decade ago, it was not”.
She added that more emphasis needs to be placed on changing attitudes at a younger age about females studying engineering subjects.
Meanwhile, James West, executive director of the South East Physics Network, suggested that engineering degrees are considered solid career routes, which could be encouraging more people to pursue them.
“A lot of the pure science degrees don’t lend themselves to a particular career path [but] engineering does, and computer science does too,” he stated, adding that women are potentially being influenced by this.
According to the figures from HESA, 23 per cent of those getting a postgraduate engineering degree in 2012-13 were female, while this increased to 25.1 for 2016-17.
This comes as data from the Skills Funding Agency revealed a decline in the number of people commencing engineering apprenticeships in 2016-17 of 5.7 per cent.
Derek Nelly, chief executive officer of Nixon Williams, a provider of accountancy services to engineering contractors, suggested this could be due to a previous reliance on “foreign talent to plug skills gaps”, the Engineer reported.