Women push for places on UCL engineering course after it dropped need for physics and maths A-level

 
Engineering graduate: Rachel Smith decided against pursuing a career in the arts

The number of women taking engineering degrees at a top London university has surged after it dropped the requirement to study physics and maths at A-level.

University College London is believed to be the only university to remove the traditional subjects from its entry criteria for civil engineering courses, and has seen the number of female students almost triple.

It comes as schools, universities and employers across the country are battling to increase the number of women in engineering.

Paul Greening, director of UCL’s centre for engineering education, urged other universities to change their course entry requirements rather than “begging” schoolgirls to study physics, and said standards are as high as ever.

He said UCL’s Civil, Environmental and Geomatic engineering department (CEGE) tweaked its entry requirements because it was missing out on bright students who could not apply because their A-level choices made them ineligible, even though they were gifted at maths and science.

The change means that prospective students are no longer required to take specific A-level subjects, but they must still score all A grades at A-level, and get top grades in maths and science GCSEs.

Dr Greening said by insisting on maths and physics A-levels, universities miss out on ‘polymath’ students - who are gifted in several fields of study - many of which are girls.

He said: “We went to visit a school in Southend and met a bunch of polymath students who were brilliant at lots of things. They found it difficult to choose which three subjects they would focus on at A-level. A lot didn’t choose maths and physics but would have been brilliant at them.

“We decided to try to tap into that gang. We weren’t roving around the country saying ‘we need to do something to get more girls in’, but it was clear that a lot of this gang were girls.”

He added that only around 20 per cent of students who take physics A-level are female, so universities that insist all engineering students must have taken the subject at A-level are automatically wiping out large numbers of women.

Other subjects, such as design and technology, are equally useful, he said.

He added that it is vital to the country that engineers come from a variety of backgrounds because they can come up with different ways of looking at problems and finding solutions.

Nick Tyler, professor of Civil Engineering at UCL, said the university, the profession and the world was missing out on “humungously bright, engaging, creative students” because of subjects they chose at the age of 15 or 16.

Dr Greening insisted the department has not “relaxed” its entry requirements, adding: “As soon as I say maths and physics are not required people think we are looking for people who are not quite as good.” But he said this is not the case and many of the students with non traditional A-levels outperform their peers

They are given extra maths lessons to catch up and often excel because they use “creative thinking” to come up with solutions to real life problems in group tasks, Dr Greening said.

Around ten per cent of students in UCL’s Civil, Environmental and Geomatic engineering department do not have maths and physics A-levels.

In 2006, when the entry requirements were changed, there were 252 girls in the department, which was 21 per cent of the total. Last year there were 752 female students, which was 29 per cent of the total.

The university hopes to increase the number of female students to 50 per cent.

I turned down fine art offer to study engineering

After studying fine art, chemistry, psychology and biology, Rachel Smith was not the obvious candidate for an engineering course.

But after becoming interested in the world’s energy and water resources she was determined to study environmental engineering to help come up with solutions.

She turned down an offer to study for a degree in fine art, took a gap year and applied to study engineering at UCL.

Despite her non-traditional academic background she excelled on the course and graduated with an international masters in environmental engineering in 2011.

She said: “I liked science at school as well but I think, like so many people, I didn’t take maths and physics any further because I didn’t really like my teachers or whatever the decision is when you are 15 or 16 years old choosing your A-levels.”

Rachel, now 27, and three other students without maths A-level, were given extra maths lessons in their free time. She said: “I found the maths really hard, I won’t lie... That support especially coming up to exams was really invaluable.”

Rachel, originally from Cheshire, said she “stumbled across” the UCL course and had not planned to become an engineer. She said: “They were silly enough to take me and I haven’t looked back. It’s been great.”

She added: “Like anything, there were some subjects that were much harder than others, but there are always ways to understand things - I think it’s important to know your ‘learning style’ if you want to study engineering in order to make the most out of any university’s course, lecturers and resources.”

She advised young girls interested in studying engineering to research the different types of engineers, and said they should not be put off if they do not have physics and maths A-level.

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