Women's Pursuit of Undergraduate Engineering Degrees in Eastern Africa: Exploring Retention in Higher Education

• In Event: Theorizing on Educational Issues Affecting the Marginalized

Abstract

In this proposal, I describe an ongoing exploratory, empirical research study examining why women remain enrolled in undergraduate engineering at universities in three East African countries: Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. While there is a body of research about barriers to women’s educational attainment in these countries, there is relatively little research about what helps them persist to graduation, especially in engineering. This work relies on an exploratory, mixed-methods research design involving a survey phase (using a 50-item questionnaire) and interview phase (using a 15-question interview protocol). The findings from this study will add knowledge to the field by highlighting discipline-specific factors that help women in understudied countries persist in STEM higher education.

Author

• Meseret F. Hailu, Arizona State University