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Learning Experience and Socio-Cultural Influences on Female Engineering Students’ Perspectives on Engineering Courses and Careers

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Abstract

As developed and developing countries move towards greater technological development in the 21st century, the need for engineers has increased substantially. Japan is facing the dilemma of insufficient engineers; therefore, the country has to rely on foreign workers. This problem may be resolved if there is a continuous effort to increase the number of women engineers, who currently represent only 1%–2% of engineers in Japan. In this study, the satisfaction level of the learning experience of Japanese female engineering students was measured to determine its relationship with the students’ intention to choose engineering as their profession. Socio-cultural influences on the respondents’ intentions to pursue careers in the field were also studied. The findings revealed that learning experience was directly related to female students’ intention to pursue their career in engineering whereas socio-cultural values of a society have strong influences on students’ motivation to pursue careers in engineering in general. Additionally, some strategies are proposed to attract young girls to pursue engineering courses, as well as for current female engineering students to continue their studies and choose professions in the field as their career.

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Acknowledgments

This research was conducted with the support from Sumitomo Foundation, Japan under the Japan related Research Fund Fiscal Year 2012 Project Code: 128408.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Art, Computing and Creative Industry, Sultan Idris Education University, 35900, Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia

    Balamuralithara Balakrishnan

  2. Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 53100, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Foon Siang Low

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  1. Balamuralithara Balakrishnan
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Correspondence to Balamuralithara Balakrishnan.

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Balakrishnan, B., Low, F.S. Learning Experience and Socio-Cultural Influences on Female Engineering Students’ Perspectives on Engineering Courses and Careers. Minerva 54, 219–239 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-016-9295-8

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