Fewer women study STEM subjects at university

According to research published by Information Age, less women are pursuing IT-related subjects at university.

The information revealed that, in the 2014-15 academic year, fewer than 18 percent of students enrolled in computing courses were women. This number is down by one percentage point since the last academic year, and two percentage points from the year before.

Gerry Arthurs, Virgin Media Business’ education lead, was astonished that so few women are choosing to pursue science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) subjects:

“Technology is incredibly important in a modern education and it needs to be across the board, from primary schools all the way through to further education in universities and colleges.

“It is essential that people are not put off from pursuing the careers they want, or are denied a competitive advantage, due to a lack of digital or technical skills.

“Technology is at the heart of every successful business, so it is bad news all round if people, male or female, feel that they cannot or do not want to study subjects like computing.”

Despite the rise in importance of STEM subjects on the educational agenda and in industry, the research suggests that there is not much being done to encourage women to pursue IT at university.