High participation in Uptown Tech
An impressive 254 female upper-secondary school students attended Uptown Tech at the Ångström Laboratory on 13 –14 November. The aim of the weekend was to inspire young women to become engineers and give them a feel for what it is like to study engineering in Uppsala. The event is part of the faculty’s investment in broader recruitment.
Photo: Private
“Above all, we want to show young women that they have a potential future with us and in the engineering profession,” explains Elin Eriksson, project manager for Uptown Tech.
This was the third year in a row that the event has been held and it attracted not only young women from the Uppsala area but even those from further afield, so places were at a premium.
“We are well aware that there is considerable interest in visiting us so we increased the number of places this year. Despite this, all places were booked after only two hours and we had a long reserve list.”
The programme for the weekend included workshops held by those programmes that had less than 25 per cent registered women for the autumn semester 2020. Participants also attended a panel discussion between students, an inspirational lecture by an alum, as well as an education fair at which all programmes in the Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology were represented.
“After their visit, 71 per cent of participants stated that they were more interested in studying an engineering programme, so Uptown Tech is obviously an important forum,” concludes Elin Eriksson.