Leaving Engineering: Lessons from Rowan University's College of Engineering

Journal of Engineering Education, Jan 2006 by Hartman, Harriet, Hartman, Moshe

It is interesting, however, that leavers do not have less confidence in their engineering abilities and competencies than do stayers. Nor do they have less self-confidence in their overall academic ability or in their communication skills. Their lower self-confidence seems to be centered in their fit in the engineering niche rather than a more generalized lack of self-confidence.

E. Satisfaction with the Engineering Program of Stayers vs. Leavers

Satisfaction with the engineering program was measured by over 20 questions relating to various aspects of the program and interpersonal climate. A factor analysis of the questions resulted in seven factors, for each of which a student received a factor score. The first two factors related to satisfaction with the programmatic aspects of opportunities and choice offered by the program ("Satisfaction with Program Opportunities") and the classwork load required ("Satisfaction with Coursework"). The next three factors related to satisfaction with how the program was applied: the engineering clinic set-up ("Satisfaction with Engineering Clinic"), the emphasis on teamwork ("Satisfaction with Teamwork"), and the laboratory work ("Satisfaction with Labwork"). The last two factors dealt with satisfaction with the interpersonal climate as related to fellow students ("Satisfaction with Peers") and student-faculty relations ("Satisfaction with Faculty-Student Relationships"). More detail on the creation of these indices can be found in the Appendix.

Leavers are less satisfied than are stayers with the opportunities the program offers and the choices within the program (Table 6). However, they do not show more dissatisfaction with the course workload than stayers. Further, leavers are not less satisfied with the clinic program in general, with the emphasis on team or group work, or with the laboratory work. Leavers are just about as satisfied as stayers with the faculty-student relationships and with peer relationships.

It should be noted that most of the differences in satisfaction are relatively small and are not statistically significant. This is especially important as an evaluation of the special emphases of the program: students apparently are not leaving because of the clinic program, the emphasis on team or group work, or the extensive laboratory work integrated into every semester; nor are they dissatisfied with the student-faculty relationships which Rowan faculty work so hard to achieve, and they are well integrated into the peer climate.

F. Academic Achievement of Stayers vs. Leavers

One way in which leavers significantly differ from stayers is in their GPA. Leavers have lower GPAs in both fall and spring, and report lower engineering grades as well (Table 7). It is important to recognize that this finding is mainly true for the male students leaving the program; female students do not show the same degree of difference, as we shall show below.

G. Expectations about Engineering of Stayers vs. Leavers

Students were asked ten questions about their expectations from an engineering degree. These questions were factor analyzed, and three factors resulted, for which each student was assigned a factor score. The first factor ("Social Usefulness") expressed what might be seen as the "social usefulness" expectations from a job that a degree enables. The second factor ("Personal Freedom") expressed expectations that the job would allow personal freedom. The third factor ("High Income") expressed expectations regarding the kinds of monetary rewards a job in engineering would bring (more detail on these factors may be found in the Appendix).