The Analysis of Gender Attitudes towards Engineering Education

Engineering is the backbone of the technology that drives our world. It starts with television and transportation, and ends with automobiles and architecture. No one will deny that mankind depends on engineering for its advancement and sustainability. Still a great number of researchers [1], [2] state the low study motivation in engineering studies. So what are the reasons that make motivation to study science and engineering so low? The present day social context suggests one more problem question about the popularity of sciences: why is it so that a great many of young girls believe that engineering is just a career for boys who love mathematics, physics and science. The research presented in this paper tries to reveal the gender percentage of those students who enter and graduate mechanical engineering studies and what learning outcomes they gain during their studies. It also analyses how gender relates to enrolment in engineering and technological studies, persistence and attainment of bachelor students. The research is performed in a quantitative paradigm. It is based on 7 years of longitudinal research studies in International Studies Centre of Kaunas Technology University. International Studies Centre provides mechanical engineering studies (bachelor program Export Engineering) in four foreign languages: English, French, German and Russian. The main research methods are: comparative analysis of scientific literature dealing with the analysis of gender attitudes towards engineering education and the statistical analysis of gender stratification during the longitudinal research, performed at the International Studies Centre of Kaunas university of Technology.