Case Study

Southampton University

This information was taken from an interview with Georgie Keane, the Women's Engineering Group Co-ordinator at Southampton University. The interview was conducted in Southampton on Thursday 28th June 2001. The information from the previous Dean was achieved via e-mail correspondence with Professor Tony Hey during June 2001.

Introduction

The Faculty of Engineering at Southampton University, like most engineering departments across the country, has few females within each department, sometimes only one female student or member of staff. Having reviewed these figures the Dean at the time, Professor Tony Hey, was concerned that the faculty was not supporting what few female members they had (at every level).

With this in mind Professor Hey set up the WEG Co-ordinator position. The original idea behind the position was to find out the facts regarding the very poor numbers of female students in the Computing Science area that was drastically below the national average (the national average was 13% at the time). The position was also to be used to put into place positive support mechanisms which would help the Faculty recruit more females and keep those that were already there, both as students and members of staff.

Once funding had been allocated for this position the job was given to Georgie Keane on the understanding that she worked for eight hours per week and the job was solely to work with the female undergraduates, post graduates and staff within the department. The position began in September 2000.

Georgie's responsibilities include the organisation of guest speakers, careers workshops and industry visits for the undergraduate and postgraduate students and careers talks for the staff members.

The group run by Georgie Keane is a culmination of a WES (Women's Engineering Society) group and the activities done within the Athena Project. The group, known as WEG, Women's Engineering Group, was established after the original WES group of the University became redundant. The group invites students from engineering disciplines to attend but also invites students studying physics, medical sciences and geography (although there are a greater proportion of female students in medical science and geography).

Contacts

In order to organise successful activities Georgie had to first contact the female engineering students. This proved to be a very complex task. Unable to get e-mail addresses from administration Georgie has had to design WEG registration forms. Using the induction day at the beginning of term, Georgie hands out these forms and asks the female students to fill them in. The forms ask for the students contact information as well as providing an area on the form for the student to indicate any activities she would like to be doing within WEG.

Activities

As the co-ordinator Georgie has organised a number of activities for the students and staff since September 2000. These activities have included two industrial visits, two female engineer speakers and a career workshop on writing a CV. All these events take place during Wednesday lunchtimes (although the industrial visits take longer than a lunchtime).

The Wednesday lunch period was chosen as students have no lectures after lunch on a Wednesday (the nationally agreed time for inter University sports competitions). It also meant that students and staff were already on campus which radically improves the number of people who attend compared to evening activities.

The two guest speakers were invited to speak for their differences in their career paths. One engineer had not come through University but had paved her own career path, often taking side steps to get where she wanted to go and had worked for a number of companies. The other was asked to speak for her commitment to one company and traditional training, a University graduate this woman had entered into a company at a middle position and had worked her way up the ladder, staying in that same company. Both the undergraduates and postgraduates responded well to both speakers and were very interested in the different steps they took to get where they are today. They were also very interested to hear what life in an engineering company was like for a female engineer.

The industrial visits were designed for their more glamorous engineering activities to gain students interest. One visit was to the plant of a large confectionery manufacturer where the drink vending machines were produced and the other to the new Football stadium in Southampton. The students undertook a tour of the stadium and were able to see all aspects of the design and building works including the pitch drainage system and the hospitality facilities.

Georgie has found that when organising the visits asking students who are interested to sign up often proves almost useless at the number actually turning up is never equivalent to the number signing up for it. Often those signing up do not show up and those that do show up hadn't signed up in the first place. The industrial visits do prove to be very informative for the students, they are able to catch a glimpse of life in engineering.

Georgie also organised a social for the female students, an activity that often works in other institutions but was not quite as successful at Southampton. The social was held in a bar on campus and what soon became obvious was that the students would not interact with each other, they sat in course groups choosing not to mix with students from other courses. Georgie feels that she finds more success at initiating conversations after guest speakers as the students have something with which to strike up a conversation.

Along with guest speakers from the engineering industry, people who can help the students with their career development are also invited to give presentations. One such example is the workshop on 'Writing your CV'. This was an event well attended by the female engineers but also by some male students. One female asked if it would be okay for a few male friends to attend and however much the event is run by the WEG group for women it was felt that excluding men would only loose more women from the group rather than keep them.

The timing of these activities is also a very important aspect of their success. The academic calendar has to be studied very closely when organising events. In the first weeks of the first term students are more willing to attend events but at the end of the first term when coursework is due they are unlikely to give up their time. The same goes for the first weeks of the second term, where the students come into the exam period and will not spare any time for WEG activities. This makes the organisation of five or six events across the academic year a very complicated task.

Georgie was also expected to organise activities for the female members of staff in engineering at Southampton. However, having discussed this with a member of the Equal Opportunities staff at the University the main responsibility has been handed over to EO although Georgie will be providing input on a regular basis.

Many of the events are dependant on the funding Georgie receives from the Faculty. Although the money in the coming year will be less than the last (last year included funds for the acquisition of a computer) Georgie still includes a small buffet and beverages at each event. This enables students to get together and discuss the event, or things said during the event, with one another, a networking opportunity and a subtle form of support for the students.

Web Page

Georgie has also set up a web page linked to the Southampton University website for WEG. The pages include information about forthcoming events and contact details as well as any possible activities e.g. mentoring that the group would like to be involved with.

WEG is intended to act a support network for the female students and a means of making contacts in other departments. Georgie's role in this group is as Co-ordinator primarily but also to support the students and help their education. The importance of her position has already been seen on a number of occasions over the past year. She has helped ease a few situations that have arisen between one or two female students and their lecturers or working groups.

Future Plans

The funding for the next academic year has still to be officially allocated but the Dean of the Faculty seems keen to keep this work going and is happy with everything that has been completed so far.

The events for the academic year 2001 - 2002 have already been partially organised by Georgie. These include speakers and industry visits along with a demonstration from a woman about how to dress for an interview, what are the essential items and what are not appropriate.

Georgie is also keen to work with the Students Union Engineering Society (SUES) to get her contacts for next year. At the beginning of each year the society sets up a table for freshers to sign up. Georgie intends to leave some registration forms for the female students to pick up and fill in, not only making her job a little less time consuming but also to increase the publicity of the group.

Georgie also has plans to extend the industrial visit invites to male engineering students. As yet there are no industrial visits for the male students and as the female students do not fill up the transportation provided she feels it would be of better use if males were able to attend also.

Georgie is very active in her role as WEG Co-ordinator and feels it is a worthwhile activity for the students and the University, as the students may not initially feel a need for such a group but that eventually they come to rely on it.