Abstract:

This paper presents a Service-Learning experience at the School of Civil Engineering of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). The project has made it possible to implement activities to support education, specifically in the final years of secondary education, and to encourage vocations in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers, especially among secondary school students. To this end, female university students presented their final degree projects to secondary school students. In this way, secondary school students could understand what civil engineering is and what kind of projects are carried out in this field. The aim is to make engineering a possible life path for women and to ensure that the decision they make about their studies is not influenced by prejudices and false feelings of inadequacy. The main conclusion that can be drawn is that the data obtained corroborate the results from the literature that young women have a much higher feeling of inadequacy for engineering studies than young men. This means that most of them do not see themselves as good future engineers and do not plan to enrol in these studies. We understand that it is in the interest of society to make engineering as a profession known to both men and women. It is important to attract talent, especially female talent, to these studies, which are so necessary for society.

Keywords:

Learning-service, STEM vocations, women.