PowerPointPrsentation

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Supporting female leadership potential in the
field of engineering and natural sciences -
Development steps and critical factors for
success of the Femtec - University Career Center
for Women Berlin Baltimore, June 14 2005, Dr.
Marion Esch
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Femtec.University Career Center for Women Berlin
Starting position
Goals and concept
Target groups and programs
Cooperation model
Success and critical factors for success
Future perspectives
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Starting position

• high educational level in high school and
  university studies ...
• high school and university degrees 50 women
• high horizontal educational segregation
• female high school students major in physics 4
  major in chemistry 9
• about 20 female university students of
  engineering
• less than 10 female students of electrical and
  mechanical engineering
• female engineering students study faster, receive
  better grades, drop out less frequently (men 27
  women 19)

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Starting position

• disadvantages in the professional development
• 4 female engineers in the field of machine and
  vehicle construction
• 5 female engineers in the field of electrical
  engineering
• precarious employment contracts
• high unemployment-rate (women 20 men 7)
• 20 lower income
• 6 female top managers of major enterprises,
• 4,5 female top mangers in the field of vehicle
  building

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Starting position

• Obstacles on the way to technology studies
• no technical preschool and school education
• lack of interest and self-confidence
• lack of female role-models (real life and media)
• lack of support by school and family
• gender roles
• negative male image of the engineer profession
• low attractivity of science and engineering
  curricula different learning preferences
• Obstacles within the employment situation
• employers prejudices
• male-oriented profession culture and career paths
  
• lack of compatibility of professional life and
  family life
• lower hierarchical career advancement
  orientation different professional attitudes

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Starting position

• Promotion approaches
• various singular projects
• BUT
• few institutionalized and differentiated
  promotion strategies at schools and universities
  
• no special promotion for high-potentials
• Challenges
• Decline of labor force potential due to
  demographic development
• until 2010 by 12 - until 2020 by 45
• small number of university students (38 ), only
  15-20 of all university students are students
  of engineering)

future war for talents science and
business need the female potential!
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Goals and concept

• to acquire talented young women for engineering
  and natural science studies
• to prepare high-performance female students of
  engineering and natural sciences for leadership
  positions through qualifying and network-building
• to test innovative models of cooperation between
  universities and enterprises in the educational
  field
• higher quality and attractivity of university
  education
• better promotion of female elites at public
  universities

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Goals and concept private-public-partnership
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Goals and concept focus on shared interests of
partners (stakeholders)
what GIRLS WOMEN wish

• practical experience
• activating teaching methods
• key qualifications
• management competence
• career consulting
• reflection on the consequences of
• technology
• social and environmental responsibility

what EMPLOYERS demand
what UNIVERSITIES do not offer
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Target groups and programs
female high-school students nationwide
Try it! 4-day-program 8 program runs / 160
students)
With our programs we give the necessary
equipment to future female engineers and natural
scientists that is needed today to be
professionally successful besides excellent
specialized knowledge. Dr. Helga Lukoschat,
managing director of Femtec

female university starters at TU Berlin
Career-building program, 5 year program (5
program runs / 100 students)

Career-building program for a successful career
entry 2 year program (4 program runs / 80
students)
female advanced university students at
network-universities
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Try it! Young women conquer engineering
Encouraging high-school girls for engineering
studies Target group high-school girls at two
educational key stages (selection of high-school
majors selection of university majors) Program
elements
studying at university one day with a female
student at the Technical University Berlin
experimenting and experiencing workshops in
different fields
It was great, to hear women leaders chat about
their professional and private live. It
encourages to develop own visions. Banu Basdere,
student of industrial engineering

getting practical experience visit at a technical
enterprise
learning from the experienced shadowing female
engineers in der daily work, talks with female
engineers

preparing for campus life mentoring at partner
universities
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Career-building program for the female leadership
potential in the field of engineering and natural
sciences key program elements
key-qualifications and personality development,
corporate social and environmental
responsability trainings and lectures on
leadership
Business know-how and management
competence management trainings and virtual
innovation workshop
Ive been studying machine building at the
Technical University Berlin for a year. It helps
to have learned some tricks on structuring my
work and managing my time at the Femtec. Malene
Lazar, student of machine building

application of new teaching and learning methods
practical experience field trips, internships,
final thesis
career planning and personality development
mentoring coaching and consultancy

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Time frame 2 years
Network career-building program for a successful
career entry program structure
events
virtual communication and learning
winter/ summer school I (10 days)
5 partner universities local student selection
supra-regional career-building program
virtual innovation workshop
coaching
winter/ summer school II (10 days)
mentoringshadowing
e-networking
winter/ summer school III (4 days)
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Cooperation model tasks of the partner
organizations

• Femtec takes responsibility for
• process planning and network management,
• curricula development and quality management,
• program coordination and running,
• part of the trainings

• Partner enterprises
• offer field trips, internships, final thesis
  opportunities,
• participate in innovation workshops,
• offer mentoring for the career entry,
• contribute their expertise to the program design,
  
• support Femtec financially

• Partner universities
• send five selected program participants per
  semester
• assign one university professorship responsible
  for running one training module (3 days per
  semester)
• provide the regional supervision and support of
  the students (consulting, coaching)

2003-2006 financial support by the Federal
Ministry of Education and Research
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Success and critical factors for success
high satisfaction of all program participants and
partner organizations

• key effects of Try-it!-program for female
  high-school students
• 98 of the participants chose technical
  university majors

• key effects of career-building programs for
  female university students
• 100 of the participants had an immediate career
  entry into outstanding professional starting
  positions in industry and research
• 60 entered into partner enterprises

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Success and critical factors for success
benefits for the stakeholders
benefits from the STUDENTs perspective

• benefits from the UNIVERSITYs perspective
• higher attractivity for female high-potentials
• improved employability

• benefits from the EMPLOYERs perspective
• establish contact and commitment, recruitment of
  high-potentials
• feedback on employment attractivity

• professional skill-building
• broader career perspectives
• motivation / self-confidence
• personal development
• contact establishment with practice
• network of mutual
• support
• encouragement
• promotion

shared use of resources
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Success and critical factors for success

• win-win-situation
• focus on female high-potentials
• excellent and influential interest partners
• early involvement of partners from both the
  private and the public sector
•     Dont start with public funding only!
•    Dont grow too fast!
• top-down and bottom-up implementation
• optimal bundling of the partners know-how and
  resources
• professional resource and quality management
• transparent and trustful cooperation
• high flexibility and process openness

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Future perspectives of Femtec
Extension of the network and program structure

• Extension step-by-step and internationalisation
  of the network
• Fall 2006 program for first-year students of all
  partner universities
• Fall 2007 International Summer University
  focusing on global leadership education

• Fall semester 2006 femtec-career-building
  curricula as regular university curricula
  (Bachelor/Master)

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Future perspectives of Femtec
Conferences and Research

• October 2005, Berlin International Conference
  Where are Girls and Women in Science and
  Technology?
• February 2006, International Conference on
  Gender-Mainstreaming in Quality-Management of
  Engineering Education
• Ongoing Research on the Career-Development of
  Femtec-Participants
• Spring 2006 Women at Technology Research on the
  Situation of Female Engineers in Industry and
  their Impact on Technology-Innovation