Understanding the Educational and Career Pathways of Engineers (2018) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix C: Examining Postsecondary and Post-College Pathways of Engineering Students Who Start at Four-Year Colleges and Universities
Appendix C: Examining Postsecondary and Post-College Pathways of Engineering Students Who Start at Four-Year Colleges and Universities
Pages 151-179
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From page 151... ...
need for engineering professionals will require both improving the capacity for institutions to produce engineering degrees and strengthening the pipeline from degree completion to entry into the engineering workforce. Further, more attention must be paid to diversifying the engineering workforce with respect to gender and race/ethnicity, as diversity in the engineering workforce increases the ability of the profession to creatively 1 This paper was not subject to NAE editing.
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From page 152... ...
Understanding the educational trajectories and career paths of underrepresented racial minority students is of particular interest, as these groups continue to grow and become a larger share of the national population, yet are still highly underrepresented in engineering professional occupations. The purpose of this paper is to use a variety of national data sources to help understand engineering students' pathways from initial aspirations upon college entry through degree completion and commencement of an engineering career.
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How does degree completion among engineering aspirants compare to aspirants in other STEM fields?
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VARIABLES The CIRP Freshman Survey includes more than 250 variables representing student characteristics, pre-college experiences, and educational and career goals. To identify characteristics of students intending to pursue STEM majors upon college entry, we primarily relied upon student demographic characteristics, intended major, and pre-college academic preparation.
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This limitation is particularly important with respect to engineering, as many institutions require students to seek additional admission to engineering majors beyond admission to the university. Thus, students responding to the CIRP Freshman Survey may have been less sure about their major and based their major intentions on positive experiences they had in certain classes in high school.
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. Source: 2012 CIRP Freshman Survey, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
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Asian American students are most highly represented among engineering students (13%) , but White students most highly represented among non-STEM majors (63.2%)
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Social Self-Concept includes self-rated measures on: leadership ability, public speaking ability, and social self-confidence. Source: 2004 Freshman Survey, 2008 College Senior Survey, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
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. In terms of social self-concept, only non-STEM students scored higher than engineering students at college entry (p<0.05)
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. Sources: 2004 Freshman Survey, 2008 College Senior Survey, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
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Engineering Faculty Development As engineering faculty are most directly tasked with the professional preparation of engineering graduates, an important issue in understanding the educational trajectories of engineering students is the preparation and professional development of engineering faculty members in their teaching and learning activities. Figure C-6 displays faculty self-ratings regarding how well they felt graduate school prepared them for the responsibilities of being a faculty member.
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p<0.001. Source: 2010 and 2014 Faculty Surveys, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
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From page 163... ...
In general, White and Asian American students complete engineering and STEM degrees at much higher rates than their URM peers, but women enjoy higher completion rates than their male peers. These patterns mirror broader patterns in degree completion in higher education in the United States and point to the persistent disparities in URM students' pursuit of engineering degrees.
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Source: 2010 and 2014 Faculty Surveys, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. FIGURE C-10 Engineering Completion Rates of Engineering Degree Aspirants, by Race.
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FIGURE C-12 Engineering Completion Rates among Engineering Aspirants, by Sex Sources: 2004 Freshman Survey, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA; National Student Clearinghouse, 2010.
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. A plurality of engineering degree holders aspire to a master's degree as the highest degree they intend to pursue; more than 40% of engineering degree holders aspire to a master's degree while slightly more than 30% plan to seek no further education beyond their FIGURE C-13 Six-Year Completion Outcomes by STEM Field Aspiration Note: engineering, n=16,298; physical sciences, n=4358; biomedical sciences, n=23,406; sources: 2004 Freshman Survey, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA; National Student Clearinghouse, 2010.
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* difference from engineering is significant at p<0.001; sources: 2004 Freshman Survey, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA; National Student Clearinghouse, 2010.
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FIGURE C-16 Degree Aspirations among Engineering Graduates, as of June 2011, by Race Note: n=1,956. Source: 2011 Post-baccalaureate Survey, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
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The biggest change from immediate expectation to ultimate goal was in the percentage who FIGURE C-17 Post-College Pathways of Engineering Degree Holders (N=1,956) Source: 2011 Post-baccalaureate Survey, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
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Source: 2011 Post-Baccalaureate Survey, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. FIGURE C-19 Ultimate career goals of engineering degree holders who attended graduate school; n=749.
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Although most engineering degree holders who pursue graduate study plan to work as engineers, nearly one in five is considering some type of academic or research position after completing their graduate work. Economic Satisfaction As this particular cohort of engineering graduates completed their bachelor's degrees right as the recent Great Recession set in, they were asked a series of questions about their satisfaction with their standard of living and whether the economy affected them in any adverse manner.
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From page 172... ...
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Although the proportion of entering first-time, full-time college students interested in studying engineering has increased over the past decade, national reports still voice a concern that this increase has been insufficient to meet projected engineering workforce needs. Engineering aspirants are also some of the highest academically performing students in the nation, which may be attributable both to the selective admissions processes into engineering majors at many universities as well as students' preconceptions that engineering is an academically demanding
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From page 173... ...
Women were somewhat more likely than men, and White and Asian American students more likely than their URM peers, to aspire to doctoral degrees. By seven years after college entry, nearly 30% of engineering degree holders had enrolled and possibly completed some type of graduate program, with more than three-quarters pursuing an engineering graduate degree.
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From page 174... ...
Sustaining support for graduate study and work in engineering: • Faculty networks and support are critical to students finding appropriate graduate programs, gaining admission, and identifying a range of careers in research and academia. Faculty recognition is critical to becoming a scientist and many students may not initially see themselves as pursuing graduate work without the advice or encouragement from faculty.
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. The relations of ethnicity to female engineering students' educational experiences and college and career plans in an ethnically diverse learning environment.
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* Worked full-time while attending –0.692 0.687 –0.033 –1.008 0.784 0.686 0.035 1.143 school Taken an ethnic studies course 0.114 0.530 0.007 0.216 1.626 0.527 0.090 3.085 *
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p<0.001. Sources: 2004 Freshman Survey, 2008 College Senior Survey, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
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From page 178... ...
p<0.001. Sources: 2004 Freshman Survey, 2008 College Senior Survey, Cooperative Institutional Research Program, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
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From page 179... ...
* p<0.001; engineering pathway is defined as choosing an engineering graduate program or employment as an engineer, and other STEM pathway is defined as choosing a STEM graduate program or career other than engineering.
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