Retaining talent, addressing diverse requirements: Academic writing for engineering students

In the light of the anticipated and much-discussed shortage of skilled labor and university graduates in the STEM fields, attracting students for technological studies is an important strategic aim of German universities and engineering faculties. Currently, the so-called “doppelter Abiturjahrgang” (a result of reducing school years from 13 to 12) plays into their hands by releasing twice the amount of high school graduates into the study and work market in Germany. Still, dropout rates among students of engineering sciences are higher than in other subject fields and, consequently, universities and employers are losing potential engineering graduates despite the fact that the total number of enrollments increased. Among the factors considered to be responsible for university dropout are lacks of social and academic integration. Furthermore, formats such as mass lectures that are often part of undergraduate studies in engineering prevent teaching approaches that deal with individual requirements of students. However, a more individual approach is what the increasing diversity among university students would call for. Against the backdrop of an increasingly heterogeneous student body, academic writing presents one of the biggest challenges in engineering studies. In order to support students during their first semesters but also in writing their final theses, the project ELLI is currently implementing a multi-level concept to foster academic writing in engineering studies. At the Ruhr-University Bochum, quantitative and qualitative research was done among students and faculty members of the three engineering faculties, based on which a guidebook for writing final theses was developed. Moreover, a seminar for academic writing for undergraduate engineering students was designed, which will take place for the first time in the winter term of 2014.