The gender ratio is heading to a balance in technical universities.
The number of female students is increasing in Politehnica University Timișoara, especially in IT specializations
- Within the specializations offered by Politehnica University Timișoara in the IT field, there are 40% female graduates in bachelor programs, and 45% in master programs;
- The statistics include the Faculty of Automation and Computers and the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications, and Information Technology;
- The percentage of women working in IT improved all over Europe, but in Romania, the increase is owed mostly to the high demand of specialists on the labor market.
The number of female students at Politehnica University Timisoara has increased every year, especially in areas specific to the IT field. This balancing took place for economic reasons, because IT jobs are very well paid and then become attractive. In fact, the labor market has demanded more specialists, and access to information is much easier, regardless of gender. Therefore, we have seen an increase in the number of graduates, which has led to a change in the concept that technical universities are for men only.
Currently, four out of ten people who complete their studies in IT at Politehnica University are female, compared to three out of ten as in the past. If we take into account the fact that then there were 5-year studies, now equivalent to a bachelor's degree plus a master's degree, we can speak of an increase of over 40% in the percentage of female graduates from IT engineering faculties.
„They generally prefer everything related to software development, be it project management, software engineering, programming, QA testing. They have good ideas, are creative and made a place for themselves in a world previously considered for men. Everywhere the number of women improved but it is obvious that in Romania, compared to the west, the increase is more significant. Companies abroad improve these coefficients by acquiring Romanian companies, which constitutes one of the advantages of our market, apart from the costs.” – Associate professor Florin Drăgan, Ph.D., the rector of Politehnica University Timișoara.
Conversations with representatives of multinational companies from the west of the country show significant differences between the percentage of employed women in IT companies from Romania compared to the rest of Europe. In Western Europe, the female employee percentage is between 22-25%, while in Romanian headquarters of the same companies, the percentage is between 37-40%.
As far as competitiveness is concerned, the specialists from Politehnica University Timisoara noticed that female students became more interested in participating to contests and hackathons. We are talking about competitions that emphasize creativity and unique concept development, and which saw an increase in participating women.
“This is, in fact, their first contact with companies. Many companies sponsor competitions and notice their skills. Considering the need for specialists on the market, companies are happy with their interest because this means, in the end, a larger selection pool for recruitment. If in the past, getting hired in IT offered men an advantage over women, nowadays I believe that gender is no longer a factor that could pose a disadvantage for employment in this industry” – associate professor Florin Drăgan, Ph.D., the rector of Politehnica University Timișoara.
Women have a more serious and detail-aware approach
To better understand the phenomenon and adapt to the needs of the market, the representatives of Politehnica University Timișoara talked to the representatives of the largest companies in the western region of the country. For example, in some multinationals, the percentage of female employees in Romanian headquarters is almost double that from the origin country.
“Ladies are more attentive to the projects they work on; they are more detail-oriented and have a higher effort capacity – as characterized by their superiors. They also have communication and empathy skills that make them valuable managers who can contribute significantly to economic growth. The main problem, however, is the low presence in leadership positions. On the other hand, the positions are longer-term, and given how the number of IT specialists has increased, I also expect the number of women in management and top managements positions to increase in the next years.”, has concluded associate professor Florin Drăgan, Ph.D., the rector of Politehica University Timișoara.
