Being female and an engineering student in Qatar: Successes, challenges, and recommendations

Within the context of socio-economic transformations in the Arab Gulf and the development of knowledge-based economies in the region, this faculty-student collaborative study investigates the experiences of female engineering students in Qatar at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ). This project looks at personal experiences and institutional strengths and challenges –at university and industry levels, so as to present recommendations on how to better support, encourage, and prepare our female students for working in engineering-related careers. By examining TAMUQ students’ experiences within engineering, this research aims to contribute to the scholarly literature pertaining to women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in the Middle East, and particularly in the Gulf region.

This mixed-method study draws on data collected in spring 2017. It includes anonymous online surveys completed by TAMUQ’s female students. Additionally, it draws on a series of focus groups with female students in order to examine the participants’ perspectives on their academic and social experiences in relation to the university’s institutional strengths and challenges in supporting female students for working in engineering-related careers.