Women invasion in Engineering at KTH!

For the autumn term, the proportion of women who applied for the programme as their first choice was 20% (a total of 27 women), which is double compared to the previous year. 

“This is an amazing development. We’re hoping of course that this is just the beginning and that we’ll be seeing more and more women join the programme many years into the future. We won’t be satisfied until we achieve a balance of around 40–60%,” says Communication Manager Gabriella Hernqvist.

These figures are unique for a master’s programme in electrical engineering. The programmes are traditionally dominated by male students, according to Hernqvist. The leadership of the School of Electrical Engineering has taken the recruitment issue extremely seriously and has allocated resources accordingly; Hernqvist believes this is the most important factor for success in this area.

“It’s meant that we’ve been able to develop the programme while having the opportunity to try out different ideas for how to reach our target group. We’ve now settled on a couple of projects that we want to continue working on.”

To encourage more women to apply it’s been important to provide a more diverse image of what an electrical engineer can look like and work with in the future. The website and course catalogue have been key channels of information, along with student ambassadors and bloggers. 

Hernqvist adds that without committed students, the recruitment project would not have been possible. “It feels like we at Electrical Engineering have unusually powerful drive and commitment among our students, alumni and all the other stakeholders around us. We must continue to maintain and make use of this in the best way possible.”

She says that KTH-wide events such as Open Days and Giants have also helped. “They’re crucial to us. They give our programme an opportunity to reach prospective students in a way that we’d never be capable of ourselves."

"We’re entirely dependent on initiatives such as Giants and Tekla carrying on many years into the future if we’re to continue to broaden our recruitment base and seriously get close to the kind of figures we want to achieve.” The high number of applicants has positive consequences for the programme, e.g. in terms of quality, she says.

“The fact that, as a student, you’ve applied for a programme that a lot of people see as attractive and exciting may be proof that you’ve chosen the right programme and hopefully spur you on to complete your studies at KTH".

"We also hope, of course, that a large number of applications and the higher points required for acceptance onto the programme that this often entails, will give us higher-quality students with a better chance of passing the courses.”