ICWES15 - Challenges Facing Female Engineering Students in Africa - Our Experience. Presented by Miss Nana Yaa Oti-Boateng, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
ICWES15 - Challenges Facing Female Engineering Students in Africa - Our Experience. Presented by Miss Nana Yaa Oti-Boateng, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
1. CHALLENGES FACING FEMALE
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ENGINEERING STUDENTS IN
AFRICA-OUR EXPERIENCE
Challenges Facing FES ICWES15
KNUST
Nana Yaa Dufie Oti-Boateng1,
Korkor Daah Agyente1, Peggy Oti-Boateng2
1Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah
1
University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
2Technology Consultancy Centre, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
2. BACKGROUND
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Engineering and science are the backbone to the
industrial and socio-economic development
Challenges Facing FES ICWES15
Even though women are about 50% of the population in
Africa
In Ghana less than 30% university enrollments are female
Only 1.9% of the the total number of students are women
pursuing degrees in engineering.
Female engineers make up 11% of the total number of
engineers in the USA and Australia
China and Russia have the highest percentages of
women engineers i.e. 40% and 58% respectively
Unfortunately no African country can boast the same 2
3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
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o The aim of this study was to find out the reason for
low participation of females in engineering by :
Challenges Facing FES ICWES15
o conducting a baseline survey to ascertain the
challenges of female engineering students in KNUST
and
o create awareness about them so as to advocate for
change
3
4. METHODOLOGY
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The study was conducted on the campus of
KNUST, with a population of about 26,000 as at 2010
KNUST comprises of six colleges namely:
Challenges Facing FES ICWES15
College of Engineering,
College of Health Sciences,
College of Science,
College of Agriculture and Institute of Renewable Natural
Resources,
College of Architecture and Planning and
College of Art and Social Sciences.
Pre-tested Questionnaires were administered to
students (50FES, 50NFES and MES&MES)
Statistics from colleges were analysed to determine
trends with baseline study 4
6. ENROLMENT AT KNUST
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Males and females in Gender-based enrolment
colleges 08/09 into CoE over 4 years
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7. DEMOGRAPHY
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Percentage of students
Percentage of FES living in
living in the 10 regions of 7
the various regions
Ghana
8. FEMALES IN VARIOUS ENGINEERING
DISCIPLINES AT KNUST
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9. ETHNICITY
70
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60
50
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No. of students (%)
40
30
20
10
0
Percentages of ethnic groups Percentages of Ethnic groups
students come from FES come from
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10. 8/15/2011 Challenges Facing FES ICWES15
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PERCEPTIONS OF FES
11. OUTLOOK ON ENGINEERING
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Percentages of
recommendations Percentages of how much 11
FES enjoy engineering
12. EXPERIENCES OF FES
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Best Experience of FES Worst experiences of FES
13. ADVISORS OF FES TO PURSUE
ENGINEERING
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14. CONCLUSION
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Engineering curriculum needs revamping to make it
more interesting, relevant, engendered, interactive
Challenges Facing FES ICWES15
and more practical
General education of the public on engineering and
its importance with emphasis on female engineers
and their contributions should be done
Scholarships should also be instituted to cater for
the needs of needy but brilliant girls whose dreams
are to become engineers.
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15. 8/15/2011 Challenges Facing FES ICWES15
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THANK YOU