Data published by UCAS (The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) has found that for the second year running, the number of female students applying to study computing or technology and engineering at UK universities has grown, but the gulf between the number of male and female students opting for these courses continues to persist.
At the time of publication, 26,430 students had been accepted onto computing courses and 24,130 had been accepted onto technology and engineering courses. However, only 5,520 of those heading off to university to study computing are female, with the number of female technology and engineering students totaling 5,100.
Furthermore, data from the Joint Council for Qualifications shows that of the 18,306 students that undertook a computing A Level, only 2,765 of those students were female.
However, although the figures appear to show a grim outlook, the UCAS data shows the number of female students accepted to a degree in computing is 14% higher than in 2022, while the percentage of females applying for engineering and technology degrees has grown 4% since last year. Comparatively, the percentage of male students opting to apply for a computing degree has only increased by 4% while the number applying for engineering and technology degrees has actually decreased by 5%.
The same is also true for the number of female students opting for a computing A Level. Since 2019, the number of young women choosing to study the subject has risen from 1,475 to 2,765 students. Meanwhile, the percentage of female students achieving top grades for the subject has consistently been higher than for their male peers, with 31.3% of female students earning A*-A grades, compared to 21.7% for male students in 2023.
While the technology industry is still perceived as being extremely male dominated, Heather Dawe, UK head of data at digital transformation solutions company UST, said that while diversity does remain a challenge, the numbers are improving and there’s a much greater awareness around the value of having a diverse workforce.
However, although she acknowledges that there is work to be done to tackle gender inequality, Dawe worries that anecdotal evidence of tech being overrun with men is creating a self-perpetuating cycle that puts women off of considering a career in tech before they’ve even applied for university.
“We need to help women and young girls to see there’s a role for them in the technology industry,” she said.
Citing the story of a female student she knows who excelled in her maths exams but was unsure about continuing to study it as all her classmates would be male, Dawe argues that more needs to be done earlier in the education chain to address the issue of girls giving up subjects they’re good at and feel passionate about due to concerns around being in the minority.
Seeking out alternative routes into the tech industry
Although the traditional A Level to university pipeline is still wildly popular with the majority of young people in the UK, other options are becoming more widely available to students.
In 2020, the UK government launched a new type of vocational qualification called T Levels, for students who wanted an alternative to apprenticeships whilst still having a more work-focused approach than A Levels are able to offer. Every T Level includes an industry placement with an employer that will last approximately 45 days, and students who study T Levels are still eligible to go and study at university if they pass their course.
Currently, three T Levels are available to students who want a technology-based option: Digital business services; digital production, design and development; and digital support services.
However, in the current academic year, only 687 students were studying a digital production, design and development T Level, of which 612 were male and 65 were female. Only seven of the 40 students studying digital business services were female while the digital support services course had eight female students amongst its 182 strong cohort.
Apprenticeships and internships are another way in which students are seeking out routes into the industry as they provide young people with a realistic insight into what a job in technology might look like and often come with the promise of employment at the end.
Cybersecurity company F5 launched its internship program three years ago and offers places to young people who have just graduated from university or are participating in a so-called sandwich year, a year-long opportunity offered to students on some courses such as business, maths, or computing that allows them to gain some practical experience working in their chosen industry.
“A large chunk of the female engineers we now have in the business have come from that internship program, which is amazing,” said Teja Kilshaw, senior manager in EMEA at F5. Many weren’t originally students who had already opted to study engineering courses specifically, but have now chosen to go down that route and become engineers, she said.
Where some candidates might be put off by a seemingly daunting list of requirements needed to apply for some entry level positions, Kilshaw said that by offering opportunities like this, F5 has seen more female and diverse candidates come into the business than they perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have.
She said the program also encourages more young people to consider a career in tech without necessarily having to work on the product development side of the company. F5 also runs internships in their marketing and sales departments meaning that the young people who have signed up for those programs have made a conscious decision to come and work for a tech company.
Teachers need more support
Having spent a lot of time talking to young people in schools, Dawe said that pupils are very aware of technology, the role it has to play in our lives, and the impact it could have going forward, but it’s vital students get to learn about technology from as early age as possible.
“There’s a real interest in coding and children are aware of AI and they know it’s going to have a major impact on their lives and want to learn more about it. I think there’s increasingly a an opportunity to tap into that and I’m seeing that in classrooms now, “ Dawe said, adding that she’s been having some wonderful conversations with children about using AI and other technology applications like coding and debugging.
“I think it is more accessible than it’s ever been and there’s definitely a wider interest in it,” she said.
However, the pace of change in technology is so fast, teachers who are already struggling with difficult work conditions can be forgiven for not also being able to teach their students how to code. “Teachers are really keen to help children learn these skills, but they don’t necessarily know how to,” Dawe said.
Consequently, she believes that more could be done by all those with a vested interested in promoting opportunities in tech — whether they are in schools, charities, industry, or the government — to provide a more holistic approach to promoting technology as a viable study option and ultimately career path.
Dawe said that as a woman, she feels like she also has a role to play and is obligated to spread the message about the career opportunities that exist within tech and show young women that they are welcome in the industry.
“I go out to schools and talk in assemblies and to classes, explaining the different opportunities that are available in tech, the just the diversity and the career choices you can make,” she said.
Although a lot of the conversation around tech careers is often dominated bycoding or software development, Dawe said its important for people to know tech is about much more than that.
“Yes, you can of course be a coder but you can also be a UX designer, or be a product designer, or a data scientist, or work in cybersecurity. There is more to technology than just one or two careers,” Dawe said.
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