The influence of gender stereotyping and demographic factors on academic choice: The case of the University of Debrecen

Education is the proven guarantor of gender equality and sustainable development. Empirical evidence from previous studies in European countries (Favara, 2012; Geerdink & Dekkers, 2011; OECD, 2009) shows that women are incompletely represented in many areas of technical and scientific education. This study examined the impact of gender stereotypes and factors related to family background, university criteria, and the main factors influencing students’ academic choices at the University of Debrecen. The research question was: what is the impact of gender stereotypes and demographic factors on students’ academic choices? The research relied on a qualitative approach. 12 qualitative interviews were conducted with international students at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The research used semi-structured interviews with five main blocks of questions. The dimensions explored included the following: 1. introduction and context of the interviewee, 2. gender stereotypes, 3. family background, 4. university characteristics, 5. factors motivating academic selection. After data collection, the transcripts were analysed using an open coding method, which involved line-by-line and word-by-word analysis (Khandkar, 2009). This helped to identify the most important factors influencing students’ academic choices. The socio-educational role of the family, the scholarship Stependium Hungaricum, the facilities and services of the university, the geopolitical academic location, the UNIDEB ranking, the quality of life and study, the scholarships, the realistic, materialistic goals of future life, and the impact of gender stereotypes expressed by the students (as a product of society, choice and belief, the liberal generation) influenced the academic choice of the international students at the University of Debrecen.

Pelatihan dan pendampingan Dai muda sebagai upaya penyiapan benteng dakwah wilayah muslim minoritas Papua Barat

[Bahasa]: Pengabdian masyarakat ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kualitas dai muda di wilayah minoritas muslim Papua Barat. Metode dampingan menggunakan Participatory Action Research (PAR). Peserta dampingan sebanyak 20 orang mahasiswa IAIN Sorong. Pendampingan ini menggunakan empat tahapan yaitu, tahap perencanaan, tindakan, observasi, dan refleksi. Hasil pendampingan menunjukkan bahwa kompetensi dai muda peserta pendampingan mengalami peningkatan cukup signifikan (18%). Pada kondisi awal, memiliki kompetensi kurang baik (58,1%) dan berhasil ditingkatkan menjadi baik (76,0%). Kesimpulannya, pendampingan dan pelatihan dapat menjadi pilihan akademis dalam penyiapan dai muda sebelum berkontribusi di masyarakat, khsusunya pada wilayah minoritas muslim di Papua Barat. Kata Kunci: pelatihan dan pendampingan, Dai, minoritas muslim [English]: This community service aims to improve young preachers' quality in the Muslim minority area of ​​West Papua. The mentoring method used Participatory Action Research (PAR) and involved 20 students of IAIN Sorong. It followed four stages, namely, the planning, action, observation, and reflection stages. The mentoring results showed that the young participants' competence in mentoring had increased quite significantly (18%). They initially had low competence (58.1%) and were successfully upgraded to good (76.0%). In conclusion, mentoring and training can be an academic choice in preparing young preachers before contributing to society, especially in Muslim minority areas in West Papua. Keywords: training and mentoring, Dai, muslim minority

A Cultural Psychological Model of Cross-National Variation in Gender Gaps in STEM Participation

Gender gaps in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) participation are larger in societies where women have greater freedom of choice. We provide a cultural psychological model to explain this pattern. We consider how individualistic/post-materialistic cultural patterns in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democratic) settings foster a self-expressive construction of academic choice, whereby affirming femininity/masculinity and ensuring identity fit become primary goals. Striving to fulfill these goals can lead men toward, and women away from, STEM pursuit, resulting in a large gender gap. In Majority World settings, on the contrary, collectivistic/materialistic cultural patterns foster a security-oriented construction, whereby achieving financial security and fulfilling relational expectations become primary goals of academic choice. These goals can lead both women and men toward secure and lucrative fields like STEM, resulting in a smaller gender gap. Finally, gender gaps in STEM participation feed back into the STEM=male stereotype. We discuss the implications of our model for research and theory, and intervention and policy.

Algorithm-Aided Design with Python: Analysis of Technological Competence of Subjects

Difficulties in learning computer programming for novices is a subject of abundant scientific literature. These difficulties seem to be accentuated in students whose academic choice is not computation, like architecture students. However, they need to study programming, since it is part of the new academic curricula. The results presented here are part of a PhD research, which investigates the achievement motivation and the acquisition and transfer of programming knowledge from an online environment designed on the basis of the 4C-ID instructional design model. These results are a sociodemographic analysis, and the technological competence of these subjects. We concluded that most of the students of our sample do not know how to auto assess their ICT expertise level, because they believed that they had sufficient computational knowledge for their needs. However, most of them told that they had difficulties creating codes. However, they recognized the importance of learning to program, thought it was valuable for architectural students, and felt motivated to acquire this new skill.