Women in Construction Engineering: Improving the Students' Experience throughout their Careers

Abstract Recent retention studies identify factors that exist beyond the academic environment as critical to student withdrawal. In the Construction Engineering career, there is a participation of women similar or lower to that reported in professional life, about 6.3% of the workforce. These figures are alarming. This work seeks to diagnose female students' academic needs to improve their support to complete their degree on time and continue their professional development as successful women engineering. This diagnostic study seeks to know the perception of female students of the Construction Engineering career about their interests and academic needs to improve their university trajectory. The objective is to propose improvements to female students' university experience to increase the percentage of students who complete their studies in Construction Engineering successfully and increase women's participation in such a profession. This qualitative study will have three sequential phases: session of students with an expert, a survey of perceptions for students, and in-depth interviews. The expert session seeks to bring closer and broaden female students' visions about the professional environment by knowing the trajectory, uncertainties, experiences, and current work. The 5-point Likert scale survey collects data on the perception and level of satisfaction of the 23 female students in the Constriction Engineering Program to help them complete their studies successfully. These 23 women represent 100% of female students of the program. Finally, three semi-structured interviews go deeper into students' expectations of the program and the support to complete their studies, female students of 1st, 3rd, and 5th year. Experts will also be interviewed to find out what motivated them to finish their studies. The talk with an expert offers that the students identify themselves and broaden their vision about the profession. Surveys reveal student interests, needs, and expectations about their academic path. The interviews offer a deeper understanding of students' perceptions about the career in different stages: beginning, in the middle, at the end, and as a professional about perceptions, interests, and expectations. It is concluded that this study reveals the interests, expectations, and needs of female Construction Engineering students so that the program visualizes initiatives that improve the student trajectory. For example, increasing the inclusion of problematic contexts raised involving social and environmental issues in a sustained way allows the identification and broadening of the students' vision throughout their careers.