Recruiting Female Students to Higher Education in Mathematics, Physics and Technology. An Evaluation of a Swedish Initiative

Abstract

This report presents the results of an evaluation of a Swedish government initiative aimed at recruiting female students to higher education in mathematics, science, and technology by promoting change in the form and content of study programmes previously dominated by men. Five development projects received funding within the initiative: Reforming the Computer Science and Engineering Programme (D++), at Chalmers University of Technology, Scientific Problem Solving at Göteborg University, Women in Engineering Education at the University of Karlstad, The ITProgramme at Linköping University, and the Project Programme at Stockholm University, all of them providing degree programmes which address the needs of new groups of students by offering courses which take into account a wide range of student abilities, such as communicative skills, problem-solving capacities and abilities to view the subject matter from different disciplinary perspectives.