Staying or leaving: contributing factors for U.K. engineering students’ decisions to pursue careers in engineering industry

ABSTRACT

This sequential, explanatory mixed-methods study examined students’ intentions to stay in or leave engineering industry careers upon graduation. We gathered survey data from 128 second-year engineering students about their intentions and attitudes. The participants were enrolled in a two-week interdisciplinary engineering summer course at University College London called How to Change the World. From this survey, we also interviewed 15 students, eight intending to stay and seven intending to leave, about their intentions and experiences that informed those decisions. We found that students’ perceptions of future (motivation), expectations, experiences at university, confidence in their ability to succeed in engineering courses, and sense of belonging in engineering industry were the main contributors to their decisions to stay or leave. The two data streams combined provide a richer picture of how students may be better supported during and through their engineering degree programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• retention
• motivation
• belonging
• engineering pathways
• mixed methods

Acknowledgements

The authors would also like to thank the anonymous participants for their time and the organisers of the How to Change the World course.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the University College London (UCL) Global Engagement Office and UCL Department of Chemical Engineering as well as the National Science Foundation [grant number 1626287] for funding parts of this work.

Notes on contributors

Cicely Striolo

Cicely Striolo, MSc is a Consultant and Polymer Scientist supporting companies to further their Sustainability and Circular Economy initiatives at PA Consulting. Previously, she was a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCL where she was the lead of the teaching team for the third year Process Plant Design I module, and winner of IChemE's inaugural Sustainability Teaching Award. Her research focused on Engineering Pedagogy fundamentals for supporting engineering project-based education. Cicely worked for several business units and corporate functions within Chevron Phillips Chemical Company (CPChem) across the US. Cicely graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and later she earned an MSc in Management Science from University College London. She is a chartered Chemical Engineer (CEng MIChemE), Fellow of the Higher Education Association (FHEA), and a qualified Project Management Professional (PMQ).

Michaela Pollock

Michaela Pollock gained a MEng and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering both from Imperial College London. She is currently a Senior Teaching Fellow at University College London (UCL) where she leads in the development of the curriculum and teaching for process plant design with a focus on generating industrially relevant, contemporary and applied teaching material. She also teaches introduction to process safety with the aim of demonstrating how safety concepts are relevant to different settings and industries with a particular focus on process industries. Her research interests are concentrated on engineering education with particular focus on bringing applied concepts and industrial experience into a classroom environment, group work and teaching methods. Prior to joining UCL she worked at Air Products, a leading industrial gases company, where she held a number of roles in R&D and engineering design. Dr Pollock is a Chartered Chemical Engineering (CEng MIChemE) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Association (FHEA).

Allison Godwin

Allison Godwin, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Education and of Chemical Engineering (by Courtesy) at Purdue University. She is also the Workforce Development Co-Director for CISTAR, the Center for Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. Her research focuses how identity, among other affective factors, influences diverse students to choose engineering and persist in engineering. She also studies how different experiences within the practice and culture of engineering foster or hinder belongingness and identity development. Dr. Godwin graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education. Her research earned her a National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on characterising latent diversity, which includes diverse attitudes, mindsets, and approaches to learning to understand engineering students’ identity development.