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Young talent for the engineering sciences: Umbrella organization 4ING discusses solutions
Image: Sonja Rode.The conference brings together representatives from almost all university faculties of engineering and computer science in Germany. High-ranking representatives such as VDI President Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lutz Eckstein, acatech President Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jan Wörner and TU9 President Prof. Dr. Angela Ittel will be on site as guests and actively involved in the panel discussion.
Prof. Dr. Ute Clement, President of the hosting University of Kassel, warmly welcomed the participants in advance. "Engineers are urgently needed for the challenges ahead of us, for example in climate protection and digitalization. It is also important for us in Kassel to inspire young women and men for this," she said. "I am delighted that 4ING is visiting Kassel to discuss this topic." Almost 1,000 people graduate in engineering at the University of Kassel every year. One of the focal points of the university in northern Hesse is the connection with sustainability issues. As part of the new Kassel Institute for Sustainability, further engineering degree courses with a sustainability profile will be established in the coming years.
"We have talked enough about the growing problems, now we need to identify and then implement specific solutions," said 4ING Chairman Prof. Dr.-Ing. Olaf Wünsch, who is also Head of the Department of Fluid Mechanics at the University of Kassel. He is referring to the ever-widening gap between the continuously declining interest in studying engineering and computer science and the increasing demand for suitably qualified academic specialists in industry. According to the latest DeStatis figures for the winter semester 2022/2023, the number of first-semester students in computer science and mechanical engineering, for example, rose slightly by 1.5 percent compared to the previous year, but in civil engineering courses it fell again by almost four percent. In contrast, the shortage of academic specialists is increasing, particularly in the energy and electrical professions as well as in mechanical and automotive engineering, as the STEM Spring Report 2023 from the Institute of German Business (IW) shows. Women are still underrepresented: while 46% of women work in scientific subjects such as biology or chemistry, the figure is just 10% in engineering professions such as energy and electrical engineering or in the metalworking professions.
"In order to attract more young people to our engineering and computer science courses, we need to know more about their motives. For this reason, we asked them in a trend survey how they inform themselves, what encouraged or demotivated them to choose an engineering or computer science subject," explained Wünsch. The respondents were young people at the beginning of their engineering or computer science studies. According to their answers, young people mainly decide to study engineering or computer science because of personal contacts. Parents and teachers, but above all peers, exerted the greatest influence on the decision. Almost two thirds decide at the end of their school years. From their point of view, the Faculty's website is the best tool for attracting young people to study - especially when students and their experiences are in the foreground. YouTube videos follow some way behind. The young people would like there to be a dedicated website for prospective students, which would provide information on course content as well as the costs of studying and potential careers. The results will be presented for the first time at the conference.
The conclusion of 4ING Chairman Wünsch: "Universities, professional societies, associations, business and politics now have a duty to act - each in their own area of responsibility and in a concerted manner.The universities must emphasize the importance of their education for securing the future and reflect this in the curriculum, the associations and professional societies must improve the image of the relevant professional fields through information campaigns, the economy must offer attractive and family-friendly working models, and politics, namely the education ministries of the federal states, must open up teaching to engineering and computer science topics."
The umbrella organization "Fakultätentage der Ingenieurwissenschaften und der Informatik an Universitäten" (4ING) represents 140 Faculties, Faculties and Departments at 60 universities and technical universities in Germany. These provide more than 90 percent of the university courses offered in the subjects of civil engineering, geodesy, mechanical engineering, process engineering, electrical engineering, information technology and computer science.
The exact results of the survey are available at 4Ing, see contact below.
The program of the event can be found here:
Links to
Destatis: First-year student numbers WS 22/23: https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2022/11/PD22_503_21.html
IW STEM Spring Report 2023: https://www.nationalesmintforum.de/fileadmin/medienablage/user_upload/MINT-Fruehjahrsreport_2023.pdf
Contact for 4ING:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Olaf Wünsch
University of Kassel
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Tel.: 0561-804 3878
Mail: vorsitzender[at]4ing[dot]net
Ass. iur. Heike Schmitt
4ING Management
Tel.: 06151-950 51 35
Fax: 06151-950 35 97
Mail: H.Schmitt[at]4ing[dot]net
Contact University of Kassel:
Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communication, Press and Public Relations
Phone: +49 561 804-1961
Email: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
www.uni-kassel.de