Women In STEM (W-STEM)

The College is a lead partner in a £1 million international project aimed at getting more women into STEM related subjects in higher education. The W–STEM project was conceived to improve the recruitment of women into STEM subjects primarily in South American universities. The College is both the only Further Education institution to be involved and the only institution from the UK. Led by the University of Salamanca in Spain there are fifteen partners from Ireland, Finland, Italy, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Northern Ireland.

We recognise the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and have embedded STEM subjects into our curriculum focussing on the practical and industrial application of the subjects to help promote employment opportunities. Our STEM curriculum provision has expanded to include Higher Level Apprenticeship in Computing, Construction and Engineering and various STEM-related events and activities take place throughout the year to engage with key stakeholders to explore and promote the range of STEM opportunities at the College.

The College has so far been actively contributing to the planning and management of the project as well as collecting and sharing benchmarking data.  In addition to delivering more female-focused STEM events, future involvement for the College will be to lead a work package for the project to map admissions processes and positive interventions that encourage successful enrolment.

Examples of annual events/activities include:

Ballymena Rotary Club Schools’ Technology tournament
Work placements
Skills Competitions
BringITOn 
Hour of Code, part of Computer Science Education Week
STEM US Scholarship

International Women’s Day, Ruth Walker, Assistant Head of Department

This project is funded under Key Action 2 of the programme. Strategic Partnerships, Capacity Building in the field of Higher Education.