NCUB joins government campaign for greater STEM participation among women

The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) has today joined with educators, industry and business in the Your Life campaign to work towards increasing participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, particularly among women. It is clear that no one organisation can take on this challenge alone which is why NCUB is glad to be one of 180 organisations pledging to take action as part of the national Your Life campaign. In order to play our part NCUB has made several of our own commitments to:

• Extend the reach of our National Engineering Competition for Girls
• Run a pilot programme to look at how universities attract women onto their technology and engineering courses
• Undertake research to understand why the proportion of women on technology and engineering degrees varies by institution
• Share good practice in university recruitment of women onto technology and engineering courses

Following NCUB’s submission to the Perkins Review of Engineering skills, the government has taken up our suggested target to double the number of women studying undergraduate engineering and technology degrees by 2030 and increase the number of women pursuing careers in engineering and technology.

Olivia Jones, NCUB Project Manager for Talent, Enterprise and Development, said:

“The UK is currently a world leader in engineering and technology innovation but women are poorly represented in these fields.

“We’re missing out on a huge pool of talent and while previous initiatives have been well meaning, they’ve not been effective enough and it’s time for a fresh approach.

“It’s exciting to see the government recognise the importance of addressing the gender imbalance in STEM subjects and we’re looking forward to working with them to tackle it.”

ENDS

NCUB Press Office – Will Hoyles 07772 512519 will.hoyles@ncub.co.uk

NCUB’s National Engineering Competition for Girls asks pupils to submit their solutions to some of the world’s big problems and last year over 500 secondary schools got involved. Prizes are awarded at the The Big Bang Fair and the winners get £500 for themselves and £500 for their school as well as mentoring and work experience prizes.